Made by Buffalo Machinery of Taiwan (see video), which has been manufacturing machine tools since 1997 (the company was established in 1979), the first machine, the Ward CNC-available G8 model, incorporates a Kessler (Germany) 800 mm diameter table for workpieces weighing 1,300 kgs and X, Y and Z capacities of 670, 820 and 600 mm.
The machine’s positioning capability of 0.008 mm and repeatability of 0.004 mm are provided via direct servo-driven double roller-type linear guideways and linear measurement feedback scales (0.0001 mm resolution) on the X, Y and Z axes, with pre-loaded double nut ballscrews a feature.
The Y-axis has twin linear guideways, drive and measurement system, and the Z-axis incorporates a three-guideway design for enhanced rigidity and cutting performance. Available feed rate in X, Y and Z is 60 m/min.
Oil-cooled rotary torque motors drive the rotary C-axis, with dual torque motor drive on the swivelling A-axis (+/- 5 secs of arc-sec rotary scale feedback). The 360º C-axis positions at 100 rpm and the A-axis (+/- 120 º) has a positioning speed of 80 rpm. Hydraulic brakes are incorporated in every element to enhance cutting capability when static. The 800 mm diameter tee-slotted table platen is prepared with three 80-bar hydraulic ports and a 6-bar pneumatic port for fixture and workholding management.
The G8 design incorporates 24 individual temperature sensors to feedback operational thermal status to the CNC system, for accuracy performance enhancement. The machine also has specialised coolant delivery, flushing and swarf management.
Two Kessler HSK A63 synchronous motor spindles options incorporating air/oil lubrication are available - 39 kW, 15,000 rpm, 187 Nm and 35 kW, 20,000 rpm, 130 Nm. The spindle has 20 bar through-spindle coolant as standard, with options up to 70 bar pressure and higher, including stepless programmable pressure, cartridge and paper band filtration plus additional coolant management features.
Twin automatic tool exchange carousels with 32/64, 48/96 or 60/120 tools are mounted in the machine behind the spindle, offering an automatic toolchange capacity up to 120 tools.
Two laser toolsetting options are available – U-type table-mounted for high accuracy or wall-to-wall type with auto protection covers for enhanced protection.
The G8 is ergonomically designed to provide good user-friendly features for the operator, such as automatic sliding roof to facilitate loading and unloading by overhead crane, and close access to the worktable and spindle.
There is a choice of CNC system – Heidenhain iTNC 530 or TNC 640, Siemens 840D or Fanuc 31iMB5 – and innovative Smart Technology control functionality is embedded in the machine’s Industry 4.0 strategies.
Standard features include Kinematics, Dynamic Collision Monitoring, Tool Centre Point Management, Tilted Working Plane, Collision Avoidance, 5-Axis Transformation and much more. Additional AXILE features include:
[] TPC - Tool-tip Positioning Control – real-time direct displacement measuring/monitoring for enhanced accuracy;
[] SVS – Spindle Vibration Supervision – spindle vibration monitoring and real-time control technology offers three levels of spindle vibration monitoring;
[] MRRO - Metal Removal Rate Optimisation – chatter-free machining via cutting force monitoring;
[] AAC - Axial Accuracy Control – thermal monitoring and compensation provided by 24 strategically-mounted thermal sensors.
Options include automatic workpiece measurement, and automatic compensation of linear and rotary axes displacement via Heidenhain Kinematics functionality. As standard, the machine is supplied with chain-type chip conveyor.
