MILL/TURNING AND DEEP HOLE MACHINING CAPABILITY WITH CITIZEN’S C32 SLIDING HEAD AUTO

Adding the cost-effective production of turned and milled features to components up to 32 mm diameter, which also have deep hole drilling and boring requirements, will determine the ideal user for the latest C32-VII CNC sliding head automatic lathe from Citizen.

The new machine, now available from NC Engineering of Watford, is able to produce deep holes up to 60:1 length to diameter ratio which equates to a 200 mm depth for holes of 3 mm diameter. Power to the 8,000 revs/min main and 7,000 revs/min sub-spindles is high for a sliding head machine at 7.5 kW and 3.7 kW respectively and the highly flexible tooling arrangement enables very short cycle times to be achieved especially with the advantage of its simultaneous cutting capability using up to three tools.

The C32-VII has two gang tool posts. One has five turning tool and four, 1 kW, 4,500 revs/min driven tool positions while the second gang tool slide will accommodate four front machining tools in conjunction with the main spindle and has five positions for operations at the secondary spindle. As an example of its simultaneous machining capability, while the current part is held in the main spindle, the outside diameter can be turned from the gang tool post while it is drilled from the second gang tool slide at the same time as the back tool position of the same slide is used to machine a feature at the secondary spindle.

This type of high productivity mill/turning is achieved through Citizen’s latest control processing unit and control system which incorporates newly developed high speed macros. Features of the control include a fast program check capability, high speed threading and rigid tapping cycles.

To maximise the deep hole drilling capability of the machine, program controlled high pressure coolant delivery at up to 2,000 psi ensures optimised tool penetration rates with good surface finish and extended tool life through precise control over any swarf generated by the tooling.

As an option, a 1 kW rotary tool drive can be fitted to the second gang tool post which will enable features on the front face of a component, such as pitch hole drilling and slot milling, to be performed in-cycle. The rotary tool drive spindles can be sleeved to also accommodate fixed tools.