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Vid of huge CNC HBM that seems insanely complex
- Thread starter Milacron
- Start date
- Replies 12
- Views 1,544
I once made some fixturing for a similarly complex machine.
My fixture was plenty simple, the machine (while I never saw it run) changed complete heads (angled and straight) much like in your video.
It took the job from being 3 separate set-ups (with tightly held bores just for in process fixturing) with rabbet ring fixturing, along with trying to hold .002" total positional tolerance on a 7.000" dia. bore required allot of checking and offsets for each part.
This fixture I made (3 of them for different parts) You loaded the raw casting
in, and the machine would do all the bores as well as all the secondary tapped holes, in one setting.
So the accuracy of the part is at the limits of the machines capability, as no intermediate changing to make 2nd & 3rd ops.
Unfortunately the machine had a couple of achilleas heels, and was never up and running.
eKretz
Diamond; Mod Squad
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2005
- Location
- Northwest Indiana, USA
That's kinda' how they have to do it for multiple axis work when the parts are the size of a car... Although yeah that sucker is about turtle speed. And I was expecting much bigger when I read the 'huge' comment. That thing is a baby for a floor traveling HBM.
TeachMePlease
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2014
- Location
- FL
Thread closed due to lack of OT in title and chit chat nature. 
eKretz
Diamond; Mod Squad
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2005
- Location
- Northwest Indiana, USA
We had one of these at my last job: https://www.unionchemnitz.com/products-services/p-series/ IIRC, it had 14m of x, 5m of Y and 2m of Z, and the angled heads had quill travel as well.
They are invaluable on really big parts. Unlike a big gantry mill, you are not limited by the clearance between the spindle and the table. You can hang the back end of a big weldment off the edge of the table (which doesn't move). I don't think the head change on the Union was particularly fast, but they did it so infrequently that it hardly mattered.
They are invaluable on really big parts. Unlike a big gantry mill, you are not limited by the clearance between the spindle and the table. You can hang the back end of a big weldment off the edge of the table (which doesn't move). I don't think the head change on the Union was particularly fast, but they did it so infrequently that it hardly mattered.
Yea, not very big. But it looks like it was designed by the same person who works for VW who designs car storage and manufacturing tools that have as their #1 priority the task of impressing people who would buy products based on how much they look like a computer.
bryan_machine
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2006
- Location
- Near Seattle
Based on videos of similar machines (some posted here) and things seen at trade shows, the only really oddly complicated aspect of that machine is it appears to have a tool change (and magazine!) for 2 different sized tools - because just having everything be 50 taper or hsk100 or whatever wasn't good enough.
I recall asking some G&L folks what cotroller an HBM came with, and was told "Heidenhain, or Siemans, or Fanuc, your choice..." What head - <some list, your choice.>
So probably, when we see catalogs or videos of stuff like this, they're trying to show us every option they've ever made for any customer, such that one of them is surely awesome for our needs, and if not, they'll make a different one....
So probably the nutating head wasn't good enough for some specific thing, so presto-chango for other heads.
None of that answers why is the machine, which doesn't look all that old, seem to be slow as cold molasses?
I recall asking some G&L folks what cotroller an HBM came with, and was told "Heidenhain, or Siemans, or Fanuc, your choice..." What head - <some list, your choice.>
So probably, when we see catalogs or videos of stuff like this, they're trying to show us every option they've ever made for any customer, such that one of them is surely awesome for our needs, and if not, they'll make a different one....
So probably the nutating head wasn't good enough for some specific thing, so presto-chango for other heads.
None of that answers why is the machine, which doesn't look all that old, seem to be slow as cold molasses?
5 axis Fidia guy
Stainless
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2006
- Location
- Wisconsin
That might seem unbelievably slow but Parpas caters to moldmaking work, and that head change is much faster than flipping the part, especially since it probably only has one changeover per part.
Always try to buy the control they do a bunch of. My past employer made this mistake once. We were a Fanuc shop and had some of the best Fanuc controls engineers around, so they wanted Fanuc on a post mill instead of Siemens. The builder did it, but it was never as well done as the Siemens would have been.
The head swapping is very valuable as well. Among other things, it lets you have a much more compact, rigid head when you need it. I think the Union had three heads. The first was a straight head for 3-axis work; very compact and rigid. They then had a right angle head with quill. The head changer would set which direction it pointed. Also very compact and rigid. Finally, there was an adjustable head for 3+2 work, but that obviously was bigger and less rigid than the dedicated heads.
bryan_machine
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2006
- Location
- Near Seattle
And when the part is very cumbersome (costly, slow) to move, having the machine reconfigure around it makes sense. So we really only see these attributes on very large machines meant for very large parts.
Tyrone Shoelaces
Diamond
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2006
- Location
- Manchester, England
The last real installation job I did before I called it all a day was the " Correa-Anayak " version of that type of machine. I only did the foundation work and then the installation and initial setting up. " Correa " sent over a specialist to commission the machine. I remember watching it deep hole drilling at 45 degrees with a 1" drill about 24" long. The table moved in one direction and the head went up in the other direction to allow for the pecking action of the drill. It looked weird to me but it worked fine
Regards Tyrone.
Regards Tyrone.
Limy Sami
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Location
- Norfolk, UK
I could probably brown out the entire village with that in my shop