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Duplex 5-axis cell boost JCB's machining efficiency
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13/03/2008
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JCB has installed a twin-spindle, 5-axis SHW machining centre (Geo Kingsbury) with pre-cycle probing to assist in the manufacture of steel booms for its Loadall telescopic handler range.
Each welded fabrication is slightly different, making it difficult to align the component prior to commencing the milling and drilling program. In the new installation, before a cutting cycle can start, the control awaits the results of an automatic probing cycle that determines the exact position of the fabricated component and of welded bosses along its length. The control then calculates the best fit with a 3D CAD model of the relevant boom, and applies offsets in X, Y and Z to ensure the most accurate machining possible.
Installed last year at JCB Rocester, the machine operates round the clock and has improved quality, efficiency and reliability.
With a working envelope of 16 by 1.6 by 1.3 m in X, Y and Z, the SHW Powerspeed 5 Duplex is essentially two travelling-column, 5-axis machining centres installed on either side of a fixed, ground-level table. The configuration allows a boom to be machined in one hit on both sides simultaneously, without having to rotate or reposition the component.
The long X-axis of the table gives sufficient space for a boom to be machined at one end while another is being clamped at the other end. The fixtures, which are automatically actuated from the machine control, are designed to accept inner and outer sections of six variants of boom, all of which are between six and seven metres in length.
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Author
Andrew Allcock
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