new technology in cnc automatic lathes drives higher ... sizes down to 3 mm and up to 38 mm and even...

May 2014 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 75

You don’t have to look too hard to find a Swiss-

style CNC automatic lathe to productively

machine precision parts for medical devices.

Parts are typically 12–20" (305–508-mm)

long, with length-to-diameter ratios of 12–15×,

and machined from bar from 10 to 32-mm

diameter. Outlier sizes down to 3 mm and up to 38 mm and

even larger are available for specialized applications. Swiss-

machined parts of these types require support with a guide

bushing along their entire machining length to allow removal

of a large amount of material in a single pass.

The new large capacity 8-axis XD38HII

Swiss-type turning center from Hanwha

Machinery America has bar capacity up

to 38 mm at the main and subspindle.

New Technology in CNC Automatic Lathes Drives Higher Productivity A fully programmable B axis is the latest advanced technology for Swiss machines

Jim LorinczSenior Editor

Swiss Machining for Medical

But there are some new innovations in the marketplace

that are worth a fresh look, such as advanced Swiss machine

technology with a fully programmable B axis, which provides

the user with capability to machine complex shapes and drill

angles and mill profiles. New developments in CNC automatic

lathes aren’t limited to the Swiss-type, however. CNC auto-

matic lathes that are convertible from Swiss to fixed headstock

machines (often with changeover time as fast as 15 min-

utes) have been introduced by leading

machine builders. These machines

allow machining short parts close to the

headstock and save material cost by re-

ducing the remnant of expensive ground

bar that is left by Swiss machines.

Medical Applications Offer a Sweet Spot

When Honor Med Maskiner Corp.

(Elgin, IL) was looking for a new

machine to replace the company’s

older equipment, it chose the Tsugami

B0326-II. “We wanted a machine that

was extremely versatile and could hold

tight tolerances,” said Patricia Hirsch,

owner. “The three most important fac-

tors that made us choose a Tsugami

were the capabilities of the machine,

price and support. The modular live

rotary tool units, live tooling speed and

the option to run without a guide bush-

ing are just a few of the reasons why

Tsugami was the best option for us,”

said Hirsch.

The Tsugami B0326-II Swiss-type

machine can be quickly and easily

converted from a direct-drive guide

bushing bar-fed operation to nonguide

operation when fitted with the chucker

kit option, making it well-suited for

short or prismatic part machining. “The

chucker option is increasingly popular

for relatively short parts like hardware,

fasteners, electrical connectors, and

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76 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | May 2014


“There is no question that in the Swiss market, the

machine side is driving the programming side.”

even medical parts like spinal hooks and short instruments,”

said Ron Gainer, Tsugami Rem Sales (Windsor, CT).

“The sweet spot in the Swiss machining market volume

is the 20-mm machine, especially for medical applications

where the heaviest volume is,” said Gainer. “We have a new

32-mm Swiss-type machine, the SS327-5AX model with full B

axis that is convertible and can be run as a chucker. The 32-

mm machine has great appeal for job shops because of the

variety of work it can handle. Shops don’t want to be limited

and it gives them good Swiss capability.”

For single setup solutions for complex parts, Tsugami has

introduced the SS20M-5AX 20-mm multifunction machine. It

features vertical machining capabilities, five-axis simultane-

ous control, and continuous B-axis movement. The Tsugami

SS20M-5AX combines the versatility of a CNC automatic

lathe with the functionality of a vertical machining center. It is

capable of producing highly complex parts up to 20 mm in di-

ameter and is equipped with a 24-tool automatic toolchanger

and vertical tool spindle that performs multi-angle operation

on main or subspindle workpieces.

Machines Are Getting More Complex

“There is no question that in the Swiss market, the

machine side is driving the programming side,” said Gary

Legal Notice

If you bought Steel Products from one or more Defendants between April 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007, you may be affected by

three Class Action Settlements.

What are the Settlements about?Eight steel manufacturers, ArcelorMittal, Nucor Corporation, United States Steel Corporation, Gerdau Ameristeel Corporation, AK Steel Holding Corporation, Steel Dynamics, Inc., SSAB Swedish Steel Corporation and Commercial Metals Company (collectively, “Defendants”) were sued by several businesses (“Plaintiffs”) who allege that the Defendants conspired, in violation of the U.S. antitrust laws, to restrict their output and therefore raise or “fix” the prices for certain steel products sold for delivery in the United States between April 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007.

Settlements have been reached with three of the Defendants: Commercial Metals Company, AK Steel Holding Corporation, and Gerdau Ameristeel Corporation. These “Settling Defendants” collectively will pay $15.9 million into a Settlement Fund. The Settling Defendants deny the allegations. The litigation is continuing against the other five Defendants.

Who is a Settlement Class Member?You are a Settlement Class Member if you Purchased certain Steel Products directly from any of the Defendants or their subsidiaries or controlled affiliates at any time between April 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007 for delivery in the United States.

In general, “Steel Products” include carbon steel slabs, plates, sheet and coil products, galvanized and other coated sheet products; billets, blooms, rebar, merchant bar, beams and other structural shapes; and other steel products derived from raw carbon steel and sold by Defendants. The terms “Steel Products” and “Purchased” are more specifically defined in the full Notice and the Settlement Agreements.

Will I get a payment?If you are a Settlement Class Member and do not opt out, you will be eligible to file a claim at a later date to receive money from the Settlements.

What are my rights?If you are a Settlement Class Member and do not opt out, you will release certain legal rights against the Settling Defendants, as set forth in the full Notice and in the Settlement Agreements. If you do not want to take part in the Settlements, you have the right to opt out. To opt out of the Settlements, you must do so by June 16, 2014. Settlement Class Members have the right to object to the Settlements. If you want to object, you must do so by June 16, 2014. Information on how to opt out or object to the Settlements is contained in the full Notice and at www.SteelAntitrustSettlement.com. You may speak to your own attorney at your expense for help.

When is the Approval Hearing?A Final Approval Hearing to consider approval of the Settlements and Plaintiffs’ request for reimbursement of litigation expenses is scheduled to be held in Courtroom 2503, Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60604, on July 10, 2014, at 12:00 pm. You may appear at the hearing, but your attendance is not required. The date and location for this hearing may be changed on further Order of the Court.

This is a Summary, where can I get more information?You can get complete settlement information, including a copy of the full Notice and the Settlement Agreements, by visiting www.SteelAntitrustSettlement.com.

www.SteelAntitrustSettlement.com

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Traub's TNL 18 CNC automatic lathe has a B axis and a

top turret that can swivel 100° for accurate positionoing

of the tool tip.

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orp.

Hargreaves, vice president, business development, Mas-

tercam/CNC Software Inc. (Tolland, CT). “In the past, the

majority of these machines were programmed manually

because they were very high volume, running for months

at a time, and the user had a lot of time to get the next

part programmed. What has changed is that due to CAD/

CAM and the ability to program much faster, smaller shops

are picking these machines to do much smaller quantities,

sometimes as little as a thousand parts and they need faster

turnaround,” said Hargreaves.

“A lot of people are using these B-axis equipped ma-

chines for basically 3+2 type of work where positioning is in

three axes and pocket or drilling operations are performed.

Even if they are just the drilling and pocketing, they don’t

have to set up additional tools, making the machine that

much more efficient,” said Hargreaves. “The next step is

machining complex shapes and surfaces. We’re seeing an

evolution where customers are moving from using it as a

programmable fixed axis to actually starting to change the

design and look of some of their parts so they have much

more complex shapes that require simultaneous motion and

CAD/CAM systems to program and machine. Fortunately for

us we had a great suite of toolpaths that we were using in

the traditional five-axis market that we were able to plug into

our Swiss product,” said Hargreaves.

B Axis Offers Versatility Across Product Lines

“Our new M4 Series of machines is available in 16, 20

and 32-mm versions,” said John Antignani, executive vice

president, Marubeni Citizen Cincom Inc. (Allendale, NJ).

“They have three machining sections: a slide on the main

spindle; a turret that can work either on the main spindle or

the back spindle; and a Y-axis slide which is predominantly

for the back spindle. All the machines come with or without

B-axis capability, with B-axis capability on both front and back

spindles of our machines.”

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Typical applications for angular B-axis machining include

dental parts, instruments for arthroscopic surgery, trauma

devices like bone screws with angular features and medical

applications that require angular drilled holes. “The newest

thing in the medical industry is double-lead bone screws that

require higher pitch angles, so we developed a plus or minus

25° helix angle thread whirling unit for our machines. Thread

whirling units are available on all our machines series includ-

ing the L, M, and A series,” said Antignani.

“The L series is our most popular machine series. Last year,

we introduced the Type 10 machine which has a back spindle

Y axis. You can use the Y axis on the front and the back. So

we didn’t apply the Y axis to the toolpost, we applied the Y axis

to the actual subspindle, allowing the Y axis to be used on the

front or the back and producing more simultaneous machining.

Also the L20 Type 12, which was introduced at the last EMO

show, is a B-axis capable machine, very similar to the B axis

that we offer on the M series machine,” said Antignani.

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Owner Patricia Hirsch purchased a Tsugami B0326-II for

Honor Med Maskiner Corp., manufacturer of precision

components for the medical, firearm, and pneumatic

industries. “We save material on the bar ends since the

machine operates as a chucker and there is no need to

use ground stock.”


Continued on page 83

Medical Is Always on the Technology Lookout

“Complete milling on Swiss machines is something that is

desirable for medical, defense or gun applications, as well as

aerospace. The medical market is always looking for more of

everything, more tools, more axes, and

more capability,” said Bob Erickson,

regional manager, Hanwha Machinery

America (Franklin, WI). “That’s not

unusual. The heart and soul of the mar-

ket, about 80– 90% of market needs,

are satisfied by the standard 7-axis

machine, at least what we call 7-axis.

We have a C axis standard on the main

spindle and on the subspindle.”

Hanwha has introduced a large ca-

pacity eight-axis Swiss-type turning center,

the XD38HII with Y2 axis. “We have taken

our standard 7-axis machine and added

a Y axis on the back working station,

adding more tooling capabilities. The large

capacity 8-axis XD38HII Swiss-type turn-

ing center has bar capacity up to 38 mm

at the main and subspindle and features

high rigidity and cutting accuracy.

“The other big buzz in the mar-

ketplace is the programmable B axis,

which is driven more by aerospace and

medical applications. The program-

mable B axis helps in any type of ap-

plication where angular drilling, milling,

three or four-axis simultaneous milling

capability are desired. Our new H2

series platform has the Y2 as standard

and the B axis optional,” said Erickson.

“We also have two different styles

of machines that are 11-axis machines

that are available to those who want to do some pinch milling,

turning, pinch drilling, or tool up with a lot of tools for machin-

ing many different parts. In addition to our newer machines

in the H2 series, we’re also introducing the XE 20 entry-level



“The sweet spot in the Swiss machining market volume

is the 20-mm machine, especially for medical applications where the

heaviest volume is.”

Continued from page 80

See us at IMTS Booth #E-5602

machine with limited live tooling to bridge the gap between

the 7-axis and 11-axis machines,” said Erickson.

Complex Medical Parts Require B-Axis Capability

“In medical applications, Swiss machining is being

called upon to meet quality requirements that are increas-

ing because parts are getting smaller and the tolerances are

getting tighter,” said Hans Koschig, technical sales, Index

Corp. (Noblesville, IN). “Geometrical complexity of these parts

is requiring a B axis. It’s very important that you are able to

touch the part with the tool, because you need all three or four

axes X,Y,Z and the B axis in the tool.”

Koschig said that one very simple example is an injection

medical needle with a tight tolerance. The 12-mm long part

with a wall thickness of less than 0.1 mm has to be drilled

with a 0.5-mm diameter gundrill 24× D. “Any alignment error

in the tool and you won’t be able to drill the part. For other

medical applications like machining bone screws, thread

whirling with the B axis brings the thread whirling head into

the right pitch angle, something that had to be done manually

in the past,” said Koschig.

Traub’s TNL 18 and 32 CNC automatic lathes are es-

sentially the same machine in two sizes. “Both machines

have B axis and on the top turret that can swivel 100°,

which means we can achieve each point on the part. The

additional Z axis and the ability to swivel the B axis in one

position means the tip of the tool will move and be brought

into the right position,” said Koschig. Traub TNL series

CNC automatic lathes can be used as sliding headstock

and fixed headstock versions. You can run each machine

with and without guide bushings.

Gear Hobbing Demonstrates Machine’s Rigidity

“The ZPS Swiss CNC 32 machine is designed to push

the envelope of performance for high-end Swiss applications

like machining difficult-to-machine parts and material for



the medical, aerospace, and automotive sectors where other

Swiss machines aren’t likely to be competitive,” said Olaf

Tessarzyk, managing partner, ZPS America (Indianapolis, IN).

One application that isn’t normally associated with Swiss ma-

chining is the ability to do gear hobbing, which the ZPS Swiss

machine’s rigidity allows it to do.

The solidly built machine’s cast iron base weighs in at

11,000 lb (4989 kg). It has the ability to put up to four tools

in the cut simultaneously and has 12 axes with 23 tool posi-

tions. Gang tool slides on the front of the machine allow pinch

milling, pinch turning, which are time savers. They allow the

machine to rough and finish while the part is pushed through

the guide bushing. “At the same time, end working attach-

ments from the front, driven or static, can work off-center and

have three tools in the cut while working independently with

the subspindle doing the backworking machining. Front and

back sides of the part can be worked independently with a

subspindle that has the same power as the main spindle,”

said Tessarzyk.

ZPS America has its own software. “It’s not a post, and

that’s important because on a post you have to go back and

forth and never are able to emulate the machine program

100%. What we did was get a European manufacturer of a


Designed for machining difficult-to-machine parts and

materials, the ZPS Swiss CNC 32 has the rigidity to do gear

hobbing, an application that isn’t normally associated

with the Swiss-machining capability.

CAM post to build it into our machine control. As a result we

can use our software on the computer as an exact machine

replica and go back and forth without losing any data, like

clearances, safety positions, tool crash avoidance and the

like,” said Tessarzyk.

ZPS design for the Swiss 32 employs several features,

specifically aimed at heavy-duty milling. ZPS uses a spindle

disk brake for heavy mill cutting rather than using only a C-

axis clamp that wouldn’t be likely to hold up under heavy C-

axis milling. Also a programmable guide bushing isn’t slotted

on the inside, it’s slotted only on the outside to prevent de-

bris from contaminating the guide bushing. “The pneumati-

cally actuated guide bushing is virtually maintenance free.

Again, if you do heavy milling, you want to lock your spindle

in position and lock the guide bushing so you can use it as

a fixed headstock. The other advantage is that in the open

position you can advance material and run standard stock

that isn’t ground,” said Tessarzyk. ME



Hanwha Machinery AmericaPh: 414-421-2300

Web site: www.hanwhamachinery.com

Index Corp.Ph: 317-770-6300

Web site: www.indextraub.com

Marubeni Citizen-Cincom Inc.Ph: 201-818-0100

Web site: www.marucit.com

Tsugami Rem SalesPh: 860-687-3400

Web site: www.remsales.com

ZPS AmericaPh: 317-452-4030

Web site: www.zpsamerica.com

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new technology in cnc automatic lathes drives higher ... sizes down to 3 mm and up to 38 mm and even...

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