GANTRY OFFLOAD SPEEDS CITIZEN MILL/TURN CYCLES

The development by Citizen of an automatic gantry-based unloading system for its top of the range M-Series CNC sliding head automatic lathes not only prevents potential damage or marking of finished mill/turned components by controlling the unload cycle, it reduces coolant loss and swarf contamination on components and also enables cycle times to be reduced.

The totally programmable and servo-controlled system, now available on the M16-III and M32-III and V versions of the Citizen range of machines through NC Engineering of Watford, can handle parts up to the respective (16 mm and 32 mm diameter) capacity of the machines by up to 200 mm long. And, because the unloading operation takes parts directly from the machine’s sub-spindle, rather than having a delay while the spindle eject parts to the parts collector, the unload cycle can be performed while the turret and gang tooling slides are simultaneously working on the next component in the main spindle.

The arm is an additional CNC axis, therefore fully programmable and can even be arranged to pass components on to additional automation for subsequent processing. In operation, the arm and gripper moves to a datum position and the sub-spindle feeds forward to interface with the fingers of the gripper. The sub-spindle collet opens and the part is collected by the fingers ready for the arm to carry the part outside of the working area.

Due to its movement, cutting oil that would normally be carried over with the parts is mostly shaken clear and swarf tends to fall away to leave a clean component outside of the machine guarding. As an option to fingers on the gripper of the loader, a split basket can be supplied.