July/Aug 2002 ISSUE
When Automation Has A Ring To It
How do you automate a CNC lathe? If the job can be done from bar, put a bar feeder behind the headstock and a parts catcher or a robot in the work area. If it is a chucking job, then apply a robot. It seems, however, that once the system is set up and gets going, then the problems start.
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FEATURES
A New Online Leader
Something funny has happened to the used equipment channel for metalworking. A major online player is beginning to turn on the afterburners, turning traffic totals on their ear, empowering our industry with a potential previous online models only dreamed of.
How Much Is Your Business Really Worth?
It's never too soon, but it's always too late if you do not properly value your business. We all know that before a business partnership or corporation begins, the parties involved should agree upon how the partnership will be formed, how it will be operated and how it will be dissolved.
Machines
New Swiss Turning Technology Boosts Productivity For Contract Manufacturer
Technically, this control is not a CNC, but a PNC (parallel numerical control), and that is the difference. The PNC control was developed using a FANUC system that allows each machine axis to be governed by its own chip, which carries the part program.
Old Wine, New Bottle
Too many of the latest generation of machinists are unfamiliar with multispindle automatic bar machines—screw machines—so they lump all of them together as "World War II Acmes." These machines may be old and obsolete, but there is value in the rapid, multispindle "screw machine" design. That concept is like old wine, and some machine shops are discovering how satisfying this old wine can be.
PM News: Youth Get Hands-On Experience
Students at a Vermont school now have the opportunity to use a new manual/CNC lathe right in their classroom. The Harrison Alpha Plus 330S from REM Sales (East Granby, Connecticut) recently was sold to the River Valley Technical Center.
Turning Machines
Scratching Surface Flaws With Automation
Machining parts complete on CNC multi-spindles, with automatic load and unload, is proving the key to nick- and scratch-free parts for this tier-two auto parts maker.
Workholding
So, You Need To Automate Your Multispindle...
You can't decide if you need an integrated loader or a stock reel loader. You've boiled it down to a space versus cost decision. Now what do you do? You basically have two choices: the stock reel loader or an integrated loader.
Machines
Swiss Machines Power Shop's Growth
Wright Technologies, Rosemont, Illinois, is a contract manufacturer that specializes in turned and milled parts in prototype to production quantities.
We're Here To Help
In this issue of Production Machining, IMTS guide and helpful features.
Automation
When Automation Has A Ring To It
How do you automate a CNC lathe? If the job can be done from bar, put a bar feeder behind the headstock and a parts catcher or a robot in the work area. If it is a chucking job, then apply a robot. It seems, however, that once the system is set up and gets going, then the problems start.
Tooling
Why Short Magazine Bar Loaders Are Efficient
So when are long bars and hydraulic magazine barfeeders justified? Typically, the best applications for long bar magazine feeders are found when production quantities are large (where the batch size exceeds 5,000) or when the workpiece is over 8 inches long and there are relatively few changeovers (one every 2 weeks or so). In most other cases, short barfeeders usually tend to be more efficient and a better investment. But let's analyze the reasons and find out why.
