Design & development

One of the main tools in today's competition is to sell products on the value of novelty. The average product life cycle on cars today is 4 years, computers and accessories 1.5 years, hand phones 3 months... One of the prerequisites of this development of fast design changes and rapid product development time is the HSM technique. 

Complex products

There is an increase of multi-functional surfaces on components, such as new design of turbine blades giving new and optimized functions and features. Earlier designs allowed polishing by hand or with robots (manipulators). Turbine blades with new, more sophisticated designs have to be finished via machining and preferably by HSM . There are also more and more examples of thin walled workpieces that have to be machined (medical equipment, electronics, products for defence, computer parts)

Production equipment

The strong development of cutting materials, holding tools, machine tools, controls and especially CAD/CAM features and equipment, has opened possibilities that must be met with new production methods and techniques5.

Definition of HSM

Salomon's theory, "Machining with high cutting speeds..." on which, in 1931, took out a German patent, assumes that "at a certain cutting speed (5-10 times higher than in conventional machining), the chip removal temperature at the cutting edge will start to decrease..."

Given the conclusion:" ... seems to give a chance to improve productivity in machining with conventional tools at high cutting speeds..."

Modern research, unfortunately, has not been able to verify this theory totally. There is a relative decrease of the temperature at the cutting edge that starts at certain cutting speeds for different materials.

The decrease is small for steel and cast iron. But larger for aluminum and other non-ferrous metals. The definition of HSM must be based on other factors.

Given today's technology, "high speed" is generally accepted to mean surface speeds between 1 and 10 kilometers per minute or roughly 3 300 to 33 000 feet per minute. Speeds above 10 km/min are in the ultra-high speed category, and are largely the realm of experimental metal cutting. Obviously, the spindle rotations required to achieve these surface cutting speeds are directly related to the diameter of the tools being used. One trend which is very evident today is the use of very large cutter diameters for these applications - and this has important implications for tool design.

There are many opinions, many myths and many different ways to define HSM.

Maintenance and troubleshooting

Maintenance for a horizontal MC

The following is a list of required regular maintenance for a Horizontal Machining Center as shown in fig.5. Listed are the frequency of service, capacities, and type of fluids required. These required specifications must be followed in order to keep your machine in good working order and protect your warranty.

fig. 5 

Daily

Top off coolant level every eight hour shift (especially during heavy TSC usage).

Check way lube lubrication tank level.

Clean chips from way covers and bottom pan.

Clean chips from tool changer.

Wipe spindle taper with a clean cloth rag and apply light oil.

Weekly

? Check for proper operation of auto drain on filter regulator. 

On machines with the TSC option, clean the chip basket on the coolant tank.

Remove the tank cover and remove any sediment inside the tank. Be careful to disconnect the coolant pump from the controller and POWER OFF the control before working on the coolant tank . Do this monthly for machines without the TSC option.

Check air gauge/regulator for 85 psi.

For machines with the TSC option, place a dab of grease on the V-flange of tools. Do this monthly for machines without the TSC option.