Rotary transfer machine can be bar-fed up to 60 mm diameter

Material up to 60 mm diameter can now be fed into the latest Mikron NRG-50, 12-station multi-axis rotary transfer machine supporting six-face component machining capability. This development provides a serious production alternative to the CNC multi-spindle lathe and single spindle CNC sliding head mill/turn lathes by providing a high volume, medium and small batch production capability that will also be able to accommodate frequent changeover requirements. By developing the Mikron TB-600 unit, that can be installed between the loading station of the machine and a barfeed/stocker unit, two options are now available that further enhance levels of production flexibility. The barfeed unit can be utilised to feed directly into the collet or fixturing unit, carried on the 12 station rotary indexing table of the machine or, with the addition of the Mikron TB-600 3-axis machining unit, additional out-of-cycle operations can be performed on the bar. With the direct bar feed connection to the Mikron NRG-50, once the material is located in the workholding fixture or collet, carried on the rotary table, it is then automatically sawn from the bar to provide a billet ready-positioned for machining with the Mikron TB-600 unit, able to create a pre-operation cycle. This enables a six-face, single cycle production scenario to be carried out where the pre-machined end face is used as the datum in the collet or fixture. Further flexibility can be added to the pre-machining cycle by including a toolchange to the auxiliary unit to perform milling, turning, drilling and tapping, for instance. The fully CNC controlled, up to 140-axis Mikron NRG-50, is a highly flexible and productive rotary transfer machine able to carry up to 96 tools and produce parts at rates up to 30 per minute with 30 tools cutting simultaneously in a single automatic cycle. Incorporated into the machine construction are high orders of accuracy such as table indexing within + 1.5 microns and with the addition of Mikron’s Advanced Thermal Stabilisation Technology (ATS), any possible influence of ambient temperature is accounted for. In-cycle processes can include five-axis machining, multi-diameter turning, milling, spiral milling, drilling, multi-spindle and deep hole drilling, threading, broaching, in-process deburring three-axis contouring, measurement and correction as well as assembly tasks.