Hardinge mills

[Scott_bob]

jbo,

I share your opinion that, a lot of factors affect our ability to go fast in feed rate.
We cut a lot of 6061 t6 aluminum, and a tool steel material called Ramax.
It is a magnetic stainless steel for molds, thats good for us as the humidity alone in the air ends up rusting our molds if we make them out of P20. Similar characteristics though to p20, hardness of Rc38 to 40, it is pre-hardened so we don't harden after machining and it is free of impurities that cause cutting tool failure (hard spots). It polishes nice too, holds up well in our high pressure, high volume molding operation.

Our VMC is a Fadal w/ a new retrifitted control called a Rubicon or Numeryx, it has 15k RPM, is programmable to 700"/min. or 17m/min. feedrate.
On the aluminum part side, we are able to machine accurately (within .005") up to 500"/min or 12m/min.
On the mold steel side, accurate (within .001) up to 150"/min or 3.8m/min.
Only light cuts of course, at finishing scalop height or step overs.

Personally, I think the CNC control is the biggest contributor to the equation of high speed machining. And I have been wondering about the performance of the Siemens...

[gus]

heidenhain

oh yeah, I run a 3 flute pm end mill Ticn, 8000 rpm, full width 1/2"depth 110 to 150 ipm, finish at 300 ipm 12k kinda fun to watch


25 inch x travel, can accel run the length and stop in about a second.

or about a second faster than you can hit the emo

[jbo]

Scott Bob

We have found the siemens to be a great control, can be a bit tricky at times and we dont have the greatest of support down here.
The control is very powerful and has a lot of things to be fiddled with which can be a problem.
My control is the 810D which is only a single proccesor, the 840D is a twin processor and is very fast indeed.
We can machine faster than I have stated, but have found the previously mentioned speeds and feeds suit our sitiation at present.
We are trying a few different approaches at present from heavier depths of cut with a moderate feed to smaller depths of cut with a much faster feed.
We machine alot of D2 tool steel which is fairly tough and can be savage on cutting tools, so finding a balance is tricky.
JBO

[jbo]

Hi Gus

I believe the hiedenhain to be a very good control.
A good friend of mine runs them and he produces some fantastic work.
Do you guys run any CAD CAM softwares and if so which ones?

JBO

[leupp1]

I own three hardinge VMC's ... purchased all at once ... VMC1000II and two VMC600II ..... My 1000 is great(2004 demo model) ... it is one year older than the two 600 .... The 600's are 2005 models and have positioning problems (under warranty) .... in the morning it will have a .006 shift until it gets warm ... the right half side of the table does not repeat on both machines ... it will vary by .005 about once an hour ... about 2 or 3 times i noticed that my Z shifted by .002 exactly ..... This is noticed in both machines .... we keep our precise parts on the left side and rough with the right side .... I would buy another .. but after seeing this I will invest in a japanese machine next time. I do get some noise in the spindle on my 1000II , but was told it is just a belt problem. If anyone has similiar problems .. please let me know, thanks

[jbo]

Hi Leupp1

do your machines have siemans controls

[leupp1]

I dont think whether you have a siemens or fanuc makes a difference ... both should not have a repeatablity problem or a large temperature shift.

[jbo]

I can only comment on the siemens control from expierance, but our machines require regular tunning ( every 4-6 months ) or they lose there repetability. Our VMC600 gets the gitters when machining a circle, this disappears when the machine has been tuned but creeps back over time.
I have been told that this is not possible but yet it occours.
Our service agent does not have an answer.
I know some one that has had a faunc controlled machine for 12months longer than my VMC600 and they have never had to have there machine tuned.
It should not need tuning like ours do but they do.
We have had this problem since there commisioning and we have shifted plant and the problem still is there.
Our spindals are driven by lugged belts which become very noisey after a while and need regular tensioning the keep the noise to an exceptable level.
We had the twin V belts but these were changed because of belt slip and wear causing the belts to fail.
We do get some funny noises from our spindles some of which are belt related some not.
While I have had my fair share on trouble I still believe the machines to be good value for money compared to other machines in its price bracket but next time i will by jappanese

[leupp1]

Wow .... i didnt know anyone else had the same problems i have. Yeah im starting to have belt noise or some kind of banging noise in the head ... im told its just the belt .... sounds like bearing crunching sometimes ... these machines are brand new and have the new paint job that makes them look so good .... they are very inexpensive ... From what im told ... they are really YANG machines from taiwan with the hardinge name slapped on it ... i guess you get what you pay for .... i havent had the problem of jitters when machining in a circle ... i hope i never do ... if that happens, im dumping all my machines. Its too bad that such a quality name is on such machines ... thats why i bought them thinking it would be superior quality. My machines are under warranty and for about 8 months they still have not fixed my problems. I have ladder problems with my 1000II VMC ... the tool changer in manual mode does not work ... and they dont know why ... they dont even have a record of my machine .... i really expected more from hardinge ... i left HAAS for Hardinge .. thinking i would get something better .. now im rethinking HAAS again ....

[Depoman]

ZPS will not disappoint you.
Try some glass scales next time!
The accuracy will out live the casting/fabrication.