Tooling not included: ready for a multitasking mill/turn machine? Think tooling first

摘要

In a perfect world, remarks one tooling manufacturer, shops would take a tooling specialist along when shopping for a multi-tasking mill/turn machine. Instead, most shops figure all they need is the machine and fail to realize that partnering it with the right tooling from the start practically guarantees optimized performance. Mill/turn centers are a combina tion of milling machine and lathe. And as such, they present special tooling challenges, two of which are rigidity and toolchange time. Tooling and spindle couplings must provide enough rigidity to handle B-axis-spindle work, while also letting shops quickly change tools in an environment where toolchanges often take longer than actual machining operations.