Shot at the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Centre (NAMRC) in Rotherham, the video depicts a 1.5-tonne steel billet being machined to leave a component weighing nearly two-thirds less at just 565 kgs.
Generation of complex turned profiles using the C-axis of the torque table whilst simultaneously interpolating the trunnion’s swivelling A-axis is demonstrated, a feature that Geo Kingsbury says is unique to Hermle machines.
Heavy rough turning of the outside diameter of the component uses a 4 mm depth of cut, 330 m/min cutting speed and a feed rate of 0.3 mm/rev. Deep hole drilling is completed at 95 m/min cutting speed and 0.34 mm/rev feed rate.
The video also shows how the machine is capable of mechanical edge profiling, allowing components to be precisely and automatically deburred and radiused or chamfered in-cycle. The expense of a second, manual operation is eliminated and so also is the variability that hand dressing would undoubtedly introduce.
Another innovative feature from Heidenhain built into its TNC 640 is adaptive feed control, as the footage demonstrates. It reduces production times by continuously adjusting the feed rate to keep the spindle load constant as the milling cutter moves into different parts of a cycle.
