Sigma 8 gets live rotary tools and conveyor system

The Deco Sigma 8 (previously Deco 8sp) now incorporates a motorised unit for live rotary tools and a workpiece conveyor belt to deliver additional productivity options for customers. The new motorised unit enables the user to install a front-mounted and a rear-mounted live rotary tool for simultaneous main and counter-spindle operations respectively. This allows customers to conduct drilling, face milling on or off axis, tangential milling on the diameter with polygon cutting, thread whirling and thread milling currently being researched. Workpieces can be machined on front and rear faces within compact dimensions while retaining every tool position. It also allows rotational speeds to be set digitally as it is powered by the same S11 motor used to drive transverse spindles. The unit has a maximum rotational speed of 10,000 rpm and is suited to ER8 collets with a maximum 5mm tool shank diameter. The unit can be mounted right at the back of the tool system X1/Y1 and can replace the 'L-shaped' tool support for 2 x 4 fixed turning tools (front and back). Whenever this equipment is being employed, an 'L-shaped' bracket can be mounted to hold 6 fixed-position axial tools, 3 at the front and 3 at the back. The conveyor system enables workpieces to be conveyed from the workpiece separating unit, which is located outside the machine with the machined workpieces collected in a perforated tray and, when another sorting system is used such as a turntable or a bucket distributor, a workpiece slide can be mounted in place of the tray. The conveyor belt enables the end user to remove workpieces safely with a conveyor belt speed that can be adjusted to suit the work cycle. The belt feed rate is fully adjustable and can operate from 1.2 to 21 m/min. This unit can be adapted to work with the customer's choice of external workpiece retrieval and sorting system.