CNC trepanning machine saves material for re-use
1 min read
Mollart Engineering's TPA-600 and TPA-1200 CNC trepanning centre supports the production of bores between 80 and 300 mm diameter by up to 1.2 m deep, from solid, through raw material up to 600 mm and allow the recovery of the core for further.
The trepanning centre uses a hollow endmill style rotating cutter head with the larger TPA-1200 machine powered by a 45 kW motor through a three-speed gearbox. The material to be processed is held stationary in a hydraulic fixed chuck and is supported using a steady on the bed.
The toolhead has a relatively narrow cutter width to produce a kurf of 10 mm, achieved through a series of standard ISO insert cartridges equi-spaced on the inner and outer diameters. On a 250 mm cutter, for example, up to eight cartridges would be utilised to enable a balanced cut to be performed. The cutter is fed by two, 300 litre/min capacity coolant pumps to clear swarf created from the high penetration rate of feed and to prevent the material packing and eventually jamming. Filtration, chip conveyors and chillers are all included in the machine's specification.
The stroke of the TPA-1200 machine is 600 mm, however, by trepanning part way, withdrawing the cutter head and rotating the part 180 degrees, the machine can be recycled to produce a total tube depth up to 1.2 m deep, with a typical low level of mismatch at the centre of within 0.5 mm. The cutter head is programmable between 10 and 850 rpm. A typical time to process mild steel with a 250 mm bore by 600 mm deep would be around 8 minutes.
