Zone: Multi-Spindle Screw Machines

Competing On A Multi-Spindle

For many high-volume applications, multi-spindle automatics are the right technology for production machining. Increasingly, that production efficiency has been pressured by changes in the needs of shops in the form of shorter run jobs and higher tolerances. This article looks at some of the steps one OEM has taken to address quick change-over issues on its multi-spindle machines and their tooling.

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Six are Good, Eight are Better
11/18/2011 Production Machining: Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} At the recently completed EMO Hannover, the multi-spindle builder Index, headquartered in Esslingen, Germany, unveiled its new eight-spindle, CNC automatic production lathe.
A Multi-Spindle and Swiss Combination
10/20/2011 Production Machining: At the recently completed EMO show in Hannover, Germany, the world’s machine tool and metalworking industry put on the biggest exposition on earth.
Manufacturer Stays True to 106-Year-Old Niche
8/19/2011 Production Machining: Finding a niche and sticking to it sounds like common sense. Sometimes, however, companies get distracted, even bored, with a niche. That’s never been a problem for the Fischer family.
Beefed-Up Backworking on New CNC Multi-Spindle
6/20/2011 Production Machining: This CNC multi-spindle automatic lathe includes a quillstock with six tool carriers and one counter spindle opposite the main six-spindle drum, allowing machining of complex workpieces in a single process.
Making Locks Since Lincoln
8/25/2010 Production Machining: For 150 years, padlock manufacturer Wilson Bohanan has done one thing and done it well. Spanning much of the Industrial Revolution, this company has survived and prospered by adapting to change both in product and process as evidenced by the company’s recent installation of a CNC multi-spindle.

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Overview Of:
Multi-Spindle Screw Machines

As an automatic lathe, the multi-spindle screw machine allows multiple tools to cut multiple pieces of material simultaneously. Usually configured in 4, 5, 6 or 8 spindle models, each spindle is attacked by a cross-slide and end-slide tool effectively making each spindle a 2-axis lathe. As CNC is applied to some or all slides on these historically cam actuated machines, their ability to machine complex and high accuracy parts has grown significantly. Numerous attachments are available for use on one or more stations for specific metalworking operations. The multiple spindles are carried in a precision machined drum that rotates in a horizontal orientation. In production, the operations needed to be performed on a part are divided among the number of spindles. Because each spindle station is being machined simultaneously, when the drum indexes from one station to the next a complete part is produced. In other words on a six-spindle multi, six parts are completed with one full rotation of the drum. While the cycle time on a single spindle machine is additive--it’s the sum of the operations performed—because the multi-spindle is cutting six parts simultaneously its cycle time is simply whichever is the longest single operation performed. Multi-spindles are either automatic bar or chucker depending on the raw stock being used. Bar machines uses a drum feeder that aligns the machine’s spindle number. On a chucker the first station is loaded externally using a feeder system and increasingly, a robot or gantry loader. Bar machines usually employ collets to hold the raw stock while chuckers use either collets or external chuck to secure the workpiece. Multi-Spindle Trends: Individually programmable spindle motors Linear axis motors on tool slides Internal gantry load/unload and palletization In-process gaging and sensing Quick change tooling Closed loop feedback for tool compensations Compound slides for single point turning Robotic loaders