Americanmachinist Com Sites Americanmachinist com Files Uploads 2012 07 88859 Am0628 Magt 00000061302
Americanmachinist Com Sites Americanmachinist com Files Uploads 2012 07 88859 Am0628 Magt 00000061302
Americanmachinist Com Sites Americanmachinist com Files Uploads 2012 07 88859 Am0628 Magt 00000061302
Americanmachinist Com Sites Americanmachinist com Files Uploads 2012 07 88859 Am0628 Magt 00000061302
Americanmachinist Com Sites Americanmachinist com Files Uploads 2012 07 88859 Am0628 Magt 00000061302

The King of Hard-Metal Machining

June 28, 2012
Developed for the machining needs of aerospace, energy and heavy equipment manufacturers, MAG's T-Rex spindle is engineered with 130-mm (5.1 in) ID bearings to handle the 42.3-kN (9,500-lb) cutting thrust capability of the HMC 1250/1600 series horizontal machining centers.
Developed for the machining needs of aerospace, energy and heavy equipment manufacturers, MAG's T-Rex spindle is engineered with 130-mm (5.1 in) ID bearings to handle the 42.3-kN (9,500-lb) cutting thrust capability of the HMC 1250/1600 series horizontal machining centers. A new, high-torque spindle, available on MAG’s four-axis HMC 1250/1600 machines, can deliver up to 2,600 Nm (1,918 lb-ft) torque into a cut to produce extreme metal removal rates on large workpieces of hard materials, such as titanium, Inconel, and Carpenter 465. Developed specifically for machining the high-strength materials now in standard application for aerospace components, but also for parts manufactured for energy systems and heavy equipment, the T-Rex spindle is engineered with 130-mm (5.1 in) ID bearings to handle the 42.3-kN (9,500 lb) cutting thrust capability of the HMC 1250/1600 series horizontal machining centers.

The T-Rex spindle is available now on four-axis machines, configured with 80-kW (107.3-hp) driving power and two speed ranges up to 5,000 rpm.

According to MAG, the T-Rex spindle recently demonstrated triple the metal removal rates over previous spindle designs for an aerospace customer machining Carpenter 465 hardened to 50-52 Rc. The demonstration utilized a 75 mm (3 in) diameter Harvi inserted endmill with five flutes and 13 inserts per flute. The cutting parameters were 100 mm (4 in) axial depth of cut, 24 mm (0.95 in) radial depth of cut, and 0.5 mm/rev (0.020 ipr) feedrate.

"This cut produced an excellent surface finish with no sign of chatter and virtually no vibration, using only one-third of the available spindle power," stated MAG’s director of product development Pete Beyer. "The power of this spindle is so great that it easily handled the full Y-axis thrust of the demonstration machine, which can be equipped with higher torque axis motors to produce even higher metal removal rates. This power, coupled with the stiffness and vibration damping of the machine chassis, puts the HMC 1250/1600 in a class by itself for large hard-metal parts."

The HMC 1250/1600 is engineered by MAG to produce large parts quickly, such as pumps, valves, turbines, off-road equipment, and railroad or aerospace parts. Major machine components, including the X-bed, Z-bed, and column, are ductile iron castings, with pallets up to 1,600×2,000 mm, headstock and rotary table housings of cast gray iron. The 360,000-position full-contouring rotary table provides a rigid work platform, and a rugged worm gear drive with clamp securely holds axis position. Rotary table positioning accuracy is 10 arc seconds, repeatable to 5 arc seconds.

Meeting industry needs for tighter part tolerances and greater machining accuracies, the HMC Series comes standard with linear-scale feedback in X, Y and Z axes, providing 8-micron (0.0003 in) positioning accuracy and 5-micron (0.0002 in) repeatability. Heavy-duty hardened and ground roller guideways help the machine to achieve a rapid traverse rate of up to 40 m/min (1575 ipm) with high acc/dec rates, double the load capacity, and nearly 10 times the wear life of ball-type ways.

Eight spindle options include: 6,000 and 8,000 rpm/46 kW (61.6 hp) tilt-spindles with +90/-120 degree A-axis travel; a 10,000 rpm/46 kW (62 hp) spindle; high-speed 24,000 rpm spindle; T-Rex high-torque 2600 Nm/80 kW (1,918 ft lb) spindle; and two live spindles (110 or 130 mm diameter.)

The high-torque T-Rex spindle is specially engineered for hard-metal cutting, while the live spindles extend W-axis reach by up to 800 mm (31.5 in), enabling deep-cavity milling to high precision with shorter, more rigid tools. Standard on the live spindle, MAG's exclusive Z-axis thermal compensation system offsets spindle growth dynamically to maintain correct axial position regardless of spindle temperature.