Fives upsizes features that can be turned on Giddings & Lewis boring mills with introduction of a larger-range integrated contouring head that handles up to 980mm I.D. (38.6 in) and 780mm O.D. Rated at 56 kW (75 hp), the integrated head takes on larger turned features than ever before possible on a boring mill to accommodate the increased size of energy-industry parts in particular.
"The part types have not changed; they are just larger, thus driving the requirement for larger turned features produced with high accuracy" said Pete Beyer, Director of Product Strategy and Development at Fives Giddings & Lewis."This extended travel exceeds anything we could do in the past with a separate contouring attachment, which requires significant operator intervention, a head changing system and a storage solution as well."
The new contouring head has a standard Kennametal KM80 or Sandvik Coromant Capto C8 interface, which greatly reduces tooling costs. It loads tools via the machine's automatic toolchanger for faster processing without operator involvement. The head accommodates tools up to 600mm (23.6 in) long, weighing up to 18 kg (39.6 lbs). It can produce features with repeatability of +/-0.005mm (+/-0.0002 in) and accuracy of +/-0.015mm (+/-0.0006 in). In addition, the live boring spindle can use 50-taper tools as long as 750mm (29.5 in), and an auto-coupler provides the interface for feedout tools, such as programmable boring bars.
The contouring spindle's U-axis slide stroke of 440mm (17.3 in) provides the ability to produce small- or large-diameter features in a single setup on a boring mill, without head changing or manual intervention, allowing complex features to be machined with greatly reduced cycle time and labor. The contouring head can produce features such as bottle bores, valve seats, seal faces, phonographic sealing surfaces, O-ring grooves, straight/tapered threads, chamfers, external profiles and others.
"Some customers are interested in moving turning operations from a turning center to the boring mill with integrated contouring head," Beyer explained. "If the percentage of turning versus milling is small or the part is difficult to fixture or highly unbalanced, it makes more sense to do turning operations by spinning the tool on a boring mill than by spinning the part on a lathe."
The contouring spindle is located immediately above the machine's live spindle, but slightly offset in the Y and W/Z axes to avoid tool interference. A touch probe can be used in the boring spindle or on an auxiliary arm for in-process or post-process measurement of part features machined by either spindle. Standard services, such as coolant supply with high pressure 40 bar (580 psi), are plumbed through the contouring head to eliminate manual intervention and ensure maximum tool life.
Related Glossary Terms
- automatic toolchanger
automatic toolchanger
Mechanism typically included in a machining center that, on the appropriate command, removes one cutting tool from the spindle nose and replaces it with another. The changer restores the used tool to the magazine and selects and withdraws the next desired tool from the storage magazine. The changer is controlled by a set of prerecorded/predetermined instructions associated with the part(s) to be produced.
- boring
boring
Enlarging a hole that already has been drilled or cored. Generally, it is an operation of truing the previously drilled hole with a single-point, lathe-type tool. Boring is essentially internal turning, in that usually a single-point cutting tool forms the internal shape. Some tools are available with two cutting edges to balance cutting forces.
- contouring attachment
contouring attachment
Handwheel-operated mechanism for holding and guiding the workpiece while sawing contours on a contour bandsaw.
- coolant
coolant
Fluid that reduces temperature buildup at the tool/workpiece interface during machining. Normally takes the form of a liquid such as soluble or chemical mixtures (semisynthetic, synthetic) but can be pressurized air or other gas. Because of water’s ability to absorb great quantities of heat, it is widely used as a coolant and vehicle for various cutting compounds, with the water-to-compound ratio varying with the machining task. See cutting fluid; semisynthetic cutting fluid; soluble-oil cutting fluid; synthetic cutting fluid.
- fixture
fixture
Device, often made in-house, that holds a specific workpiece. See jig; modular fixturing.
- gang cutting ( milling)
gang cutting ( milling)
Machining with several cutters mounted on a single arbor, generally for simultaneous cutting.
- lathe
lathe
Turning machine capable of sawing, milling, grinding, gear-cutting, drilling, reaming, boring, threading, facing, chamfering, grooving, knurling, spinning, parting, necking, taper-cutting, and cam- and eccentric-cutting, as well as step- and straight-turning. Comes in a variety of forms, ranging from manual to semiautomatic to fully automatic, with major types being engine lathes, turning and contouring lathes, turret lathes and numerical-control lathes. The engine lathe consists of a headstock and spindle, tailstock, bed, carriage (complete with apron) and cross slides. Features include gear- (speed) and feed-selector levers, toolpost, compound rest, lead screw and reversing lead screw, threading dial and rapid-traverse lever. Special lathe types include through-the-spindle, camshaft and crankshaft, brake drum and rotor, spinning and gun-barrel machines. Toolroom and bench lathes are used for precision work; the former for tool-and-die work and similar tasks, the latter for small workpieces (instruments, watches), normally without a power feed. Models are typically designated according to their “swing,” or the largest-diameter workpiece that can be rotated; bed length, or the distance between centers; and horsepower generated. See turning machine.
- milling
milling
Machining operation in which metal or other material is removed by applying power to a rotating cutter. In vertical milling, the cutting tool is mounted vertically on the spindle. In horizontal milling, the cutting tool is mounted horizontally, either directly on the spindle or on an arbor. Horizontal milling is further broken down into conventional milling, where the cutter rotates opposite the direction of feed, or “up” into the workpiece; and climb milling, where the cutter rotates in the direction of feed, or “down” into the workpiece. Milling operations include plane or surface milling, endmilling, facemilling, angle milling, form milling and profiling.
- milling machine ( mill)
milling machine ( mill)
Runs endmills and arbor-mounted milling cutters. Features include a head with a spindle that drives the cutters; a column, knee and table that provide motion in the three Cartesian axes; and a base that supports the components and houses the cutting-fluid pump and reservoir. The work is mounted on the table and fed into the rotating cutter or endmill to accomplish the milling steps; vertical milling machines also feed endmills into the work by means of a spindle-mounted quill. Models range from small manual machines to big bed-type and duplex mills. All take one of three basic forms: vertical, horizontal or convertible horizontal/vertical. Vertical machines may be knee-type (the table is mounted on a knee that can be elevated) or bed-type (the table is securely supported and only moves horizontally). In general, horizontal machines are bigger and more powerful, while vertical machines are lighter but more versatile and easier to set up and operate.
- toolchanger
toolchanger
Carriage or drum attached to a machining center that holds tools until needed; when a tool is needed, the toolchanger inserts the tool into the machine spindle. See automatic toolchanger.
- turning
turning
Workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a face plate or secured between centers and rotated while a cutting tool, normally a single-point tool, is fed into it along its periphery or across its end or face. Takes the form of straight turning (cutting along the periphery of the workpiece); taper turning (creating a taper); step turning (turning different-size diameters on the same work); chamfering (beveling an edge or shoulder); facing (cutting on an end); turning threads (usually external but can be internal); roughing (high-volume metal removal); and finishing (final light cuts). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chucking machines, automatic screw machines and similar machines.
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