On Sat, 2008-02-09 at 16:40 -0500, John Kasunich wrote: > Kirk Wallace wrote: > > Watching this video brought some questions to mind.
... snip > Just guessing though, I have no experience with swiss style machines. > > OK, I decided to stop guessing and ask google. > http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=124584&highlight=swiss+lathe+spindle+design > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYw1J0TLUOg > Dooh. I cudadun that too. > Only one collet, at the headstock - but the headstock is mounted behind > where you think it is, and can slide forward as a unit. What appears to > be the spindle nose is really just a guide bushing. Some bushings > rotate, some don't. The bar stock diameter has to be tightly controlled > for a good fit in the bushing. > > > How is the live tooling powered? There doesn't seem to to be enough > > space for a motor at each live tool spindle. A gear train would have > > slop and some of the live tools seem to be able to index. > > I'm guessing integral motors in each spindle. > > > > > How long does it take to pay off a loan for one of these machines? > > > > If you have to ask, you don't want to know the answer. > > On a more serious note - if you are making many parts of a class that > those machines can do, they probably bring in a lot more money than they > cost. They are the kind of machine that you set up for a particular > part, then run for at least a couple of days, and maybe a couple of > weeks, making the same part over and over again. > > Regards, > > John Kasunich I ran a Mori Seiki lathe for a couple of weeks, for a batch of 50,000 enconel parts. They wanted to hold a couple tenths each way because the part had to be turned around and re-clamped to do the other side. The inserts had to be replaced at about 50 to 70 parts and I had to measure each part, guess at the trend and dial in a tool offset before the next part change. The cycle time didn't leave much time to rest. The biggest problem was to stay focused twelve hours a day six days a week. One day an oil line broke and the machine was down for a half hour. I enjoyed the break, but it showed up in my daily performance report. I have a fair amount of respect for the other guys there, that had been doing it for many years. This also reminds me, that it would be nice to have near-real-time tool offset adjustment in EMC2. -- Kirk Wallace (California, USA http://www.wallacecompany.com/machine_shop/ Hardinge HNC lathe, Bridgeport mill conversion, doing XY now, Zubal lathe conversion pending) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
