Setup slasher: Turning Performance
The VMT-1000+Y vertical mill/turn center eliminates the need for multiple setups.
Besides combining vertical and horizontal five-face milling with vertical turning capabilities, a machine tool from Taiwan-based You Ji Machine Industrial Co. Ltd. is designed to provide rigidity and high torque.
So says Lorain, Ohio-based Absolute Machine Tools Inc., which has added the machine, called the VMT-1000+Y vertical mill/turn center, to its line of large vertical turning lathes from You Ji Machine Industrial. The VMT-1000+Y offers five-sided and 4+1-axis milling and turning of workpieces in a single setup.
“Traditionally, a standard vertical lathe had either two or three axes,” said Klaus Miller, vice president of sales at Absolute Machine Tools. “Not until the last five or six years did they come up to five and even six axes sometimes.”
Absolute Machine Tools points out that the simple design of the five-axis VMT-1000+Y doesn’t require belts and gears for the axes. Instead, servomotors drive 2″-dia. Class 3 precision ballscrews during machining.
Also notable are the heavily ribbed Meehanite castings used to make the machine’s vertical column and base. These castings minimize thermal distortion and dampen vibration, according to the company.
The VMT-1000+Y vertical mill/turn center reduces the number of setups needed to machine medium- and large-size parts. Image courtesy of Absolute Machine Tools
In fact, Miller said one of the main selling points of the machine is its construction. Featuring a rigid box guideway structure, the one-piece unit is built like a boring mill-type column, he noted.
“This is not a light-duty machine,” he said. “It’s an extremely heavy machine, far heavier than other machine tools like this.”
For smooth operation, the machine includes a forced lubrication system. In addition, the mating surfaces of the box guideways are hand-scraped and coated with Turcite-B.
Another feature touted by Absolute Machine Tools is the machine’s 20 hp, 50-taper milling spindle. Powered by a two-speed ZF planetary gearbox spindle drive, the 30 hp double-wound Fanuc P series main spindle motor delivers more torque at lower speeds than a 50 hp single-wound motor, according to the company.
The VMT-1000+Y also includes a standard 24-tool arm-type automatic toolchanger with a 55-lb. tool weight capacity.
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