Talking About Swiss Type CNC Lathe
Swiss type CNC lathes go popular in precision machining in recent years and many manufacturers choose CNC Swiss-type machines in the production. What is a Swiss lathe and how does Swiss lathe work? Get into the article and make the choice of whether you should utilize a Swiss machining facility. We’ll also explore the difference between Swiss turning and conventional turning.
What is Swiss type CNC lathe?
Swiss type CNC lathe – the full name of the center walking CNC lathe, also known as the spindle box mobile CNC automatic lathe, economical turning and milling compound machine tool or slitting lathe. It belongs to precision machining equipment, which can complete compound processing such as turning, milling, drilling, boring, tapping, and engraving at one time. It is mainly used for batch processing of precision hardware and special-shaped shafts.
The History of Swiss type CNC lathe:
The first Swiss type CNC lathe machine appeared shortly after the collet chuck was patented when is in the 1870s. Swiss type machines started to be used in lots of other industries around the 1960s and the first CNC Swiss were released in the 1970s. With the development of machines and tools, massive improvements are made to the design of Swiss lathes, gradually, they are used extensively for the production of parts in various fields.
A Swiss style lathe is a type of machine that allows the part to move in the z-axis while the tools keep stationary. The bar stock is held by the collet that is recessed behind the guide bushing and will not directly be exposed to the lathe bed and the tooling, so the material can be turned within the machine rapidly and tightly, this eliminates the deflection and increases the accuracy. Compared to conventional machining, Swiss machining offers lots of benefits.
Swiss Turning vs Conventional Turning – Difference Between Swiss Lathe and Conventional Lathe:
Compared with CNC lathes, the Swiss type CNC lathe has a qualitative leap in processing efficiency and processing accuracy. Due to the use of two-axis arrangement of tools, the processing cycle time is greatly reduced. The table overlap function, the thread chip effective axis movement overlap function, and the direct spindle indexing function during secondary machining can shorten the idle time. The cutting tool has always been processed at the clamping part of the spindle and the workpiece, which ensures the constant processing accuracy.
1. Headstock. Conventional lathes feature fixed headstocks, the bar stock is clamped in a collet or chuck which will extend to the enclosure of the machine or it will be supported on the one end with a tailstock, while Swiss lathes have movable headstocks.
2. Guide bushing. In conventional turning, the workpiece is stabilized in the collet of the main spindle, which is not suitable for long parts due to the deflection of the material, while during Swiss machining, the collet that holds the material can slide along the headstock behind the guide bushing, the cutting tool can operate near the guide bushing, this configuration can prevent deflections and achieve desired tolerances, whether the piece is how long.
3. Capability. Conventional lathes usually feature 3 or 4 axes and not capable of machining a turned part in a single cycle. While modern Swiss-style lathes feature 5-axis control or more axes, and can perform multiple operations in a single machining cycle.
4. Cycle time. Swiss automatic lathes reduce cycle time, especially for complex components.
5. Coolant. In conventional turning, water is often used as a coolant liquid, while in Swiss machining, oil is applied.
6. Programming. The offset programming of the Swiss-style lathe is the opposite compared to the conventional lathe. For turning longer lengths or drilling deeper holes, Z-axis on the Swiss machine requires a “plus” offset while traditional lathes require a “minus” offset.
At present, the maximum processing diameter of the Swiss type CNC lathe on the market is 32mm, which has a great advantage in the precision shaft processing market. This series of machine tools can be equipped with an automatic feeding device to realize fully automatic production of a single machine tool and reduce labor costs and product defect rates. It is very suitable for mass production of precision shaft parts.
Features and advantages of Swiss type CNC lathe:
(1) Shorten the product manufacturing process chain and improve production efficiency. Swiss type CNC Lathe Turn-milling composite machining can realize all or most of the machining processes in one loading, thus greatly shortening the product manufacturing process chain. In this way, on the one hand, the production auxiliary time caused by the change of the loading card is reduced, and at the same time, the manufacturing cycle and waiting time of the tooling and fixture are also reduced, which can significantly improve the production efficiency.
(2) Reduce the number of clamping and improve the machining accuracy. The reduction in the number of card loadings avoids the accumulation of errors due to positioning fiducial conversions. At the same time, most of the turning-milling composite processing equipment has the function of online detection, which can realize the in-situ detection and precision control of key data in the manufacturing process, thereby improving the processing precision of products.
(3) Reduce the floor space and reduce the production cost. Although the price of a single turn-milling compound processing equipment is relatively high, due to the shortening of the manufacturing process chain and the reduction of equipment required for the product, as well as the reduction of the number of fixtures, workshop area and equipment maintenance costs, it can effectively reduce the overall fixed assets. The cost of investment, production operation and management.
Design Features:
Since the structure of the Swiss type CNC lathe is different from that of the traditional CNC lathe, the processing efficiency and machining accuracy of the Swiss type CNC lathe are higher than those of the CNC lathe.
The machine adopts two-axis arrangement of tools. This design greatly saves the processing cycle time. By shortening the tool exchange time between the arrangement of tools and the opposite tool table, the overlapping functions of multiple tool tables and effective axis movement of thread chips are realized. , The direct spindle indexing function during the secondary processing shortens the actual and empty travel time.
In the machining process of the spindle and the workpiece clamping part, the cutting tool has always played a very important role, which provides a strong guarantee for the constant machining accuracy. As far as the Swiss type CNC lathe market is concerned, 32mm is its maximum processing diameter, which makes the Swiss type CNC lathe have a great advantage in the precision shaft processing market.
This series of machine tools can also be equipped with an automatic feeding device to realize fully automatic production of a single machine tool, reducing labor costs and defective products in the production process, and can be used to produce large quantities of precision shaft parts.
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