August 2008 Edition

IMTS product preview

T&P Readers’ Choice Awards!

Announcing the winners in Tooling & Production’s 2008 Readers’ Choice Awards Program! These are the products readers chose as being of the most interest at IMTS from those submitted by exhibitors and published in T&P’s January through July issues and on T&P’s website, www.toolingandproduction.com. Congratulations to the winners! We look forward to seeing you in September at Booth D-4353 at McCormick Place.

CUTTING TOOLS

SANDVIK COROMANT

Sandvik Coromant’s CoroMill 490, the first in a new family of versatile shoulder milling tools, will cut the cost of face and shoulder milling operations in small to medium batch sizes.

The CoroMill 490 offers lower tool costs, reduced tool inventories, flexibility, high precision, and improved tolerances. It features four-edge inserts with unique geometry design and new grades. The insert design produces less cutting force on the component, providing better operational stability while requiring less horsepower.

To minimize tooling inventories and operational expenses, the CoroMill 490 was designed for several milling operations. The tool can be used for contouring and edging, semi-finish and finish boring with cylindrical or helical interpolation, and slot milling. By providing performance across milling applications, the insert can replace expensive stocks of specialized tools and simplifies production control.

The CoroMill 490 maximizes the potential of Sandvik Coromant’s New Insert Generation milling grades. When combined with unique geometries, these new grades machine quality components while holding tight tolerances. Booth F-2000

WATERJET / LASERS / MANUFACTURING CELLS

TROTEC LASER

Trotec’s FP 100 has a host of new technologies, enabling increased speed, flexibility, quality and longer product life. The FP 100 is a flatbed, gantry-based laser containing a pulsed fiber laser source. It is one of the fastest lasers in its class as a result of Trotec’s robust High-Speed Ramp Up-Control, and is capable of a full 2m/sec at a maximum resolution of 1000ppi. Materials that can be processed include coated and bare metals and many plastics. Booth B-6049

WORKHOLDING/TOOLHOLDING

BIG KAISER PRECISION TOOLING

The Unilock Clamping System from BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc. helps reduce set-up time and part-processing time. Unilock’s clamping concept provides a comprehensive system to position and clamp workpieces for part loading. The clamping mechanism uses spring pressure to drive wedges against a tapered wedge lock (clamping knob). Air pressure is used to compress the springs, releasing the wedge lock.

Unilock can be used on workpieces of any size or weight. For small part machining, the system eliminates the need for repeated clamping and unclamping, minimizing unnecessary labor and the chance for errors. For large work, a crane can be used to position a heavy workpiece into an exact position in minutes.

The system can be used in any configuration and in almost any process. Multiple receiver sizes are provided so the system size can be matched to the process. A load, lock, and cycle start scenario cuts down time. Booth F-2114

QUALITY/INSPECTION

FARO TECHNOLOGIES

FARO Technologies Inc. has launched its all-new metrology software: CAM2 Q.

FARO’s CAM2 Q has been built from the ground up with a CAD translator and the Parasolid CAD engine. Noteworthy facets of CAM2 Q are the core design aspects and user benefits — freedom, efficiency and simplicity.

CAM2 Q eliminates the lag time between measuring and reporting that is common with other metrology software. When a feature is measured, users can instantly see exact dimensions and geometric properties. The reports allow production decisions to be made immediately.

In addition, the software incorporates CAD translators, as well as NIST- and PTB-certified fitting routines, which certify that its geometry calculations are accurate to 0.0005mm (0.00002"). Booth D-4525

GRINDING / ABRASIVE MACHINING

TOYODA MACHINERY

Toyoda Machinery’s SelectG is a universal grinder designed for flexible, precise work. The grinder’s newly developed CNC grinder control, the GC50, has been redesigned to improve the operability and reliability of all Toyoda grinders, with special functions dedicated to delivering high machine performance.

The GC50 allows users to store data for up to 64 different work pieces in its resident memory, three times the capacity of the original GE series. A USB port has been added to the control pendant, allowing for simple program uploads and downloads. This expanded data storage minimizes the need for frequent data backup and replacement. Booth A-8131

MACHINING CENTERS / TURNING

HARDINGE

Hardinge Inc. is expanding its line of turning centers with the GS 200 MSY and GS 250 MSY Performance multitasking turning centers. The GS-Series expands levels of functionality to address complex parts resulting in increased throughput and reduced cycle time in a single setup.

The multi-axis machines include dual wound spindle motors featuring 30hp (22kW) on the main spindle and 20hp (15kW) on the sub spindle, 10hp (7.5kW) live tooling with C-axis, Y-axis, and spindle orient as standard equipment for complex multitasking operations.

Both the main and sub spindles feature wraparound high torque motors designed for optimum thermal stability. Booth A-8032

SOFTWARE

CGTECH

CGTech’s Vericut software enables NC programmers to reduce errors, potential collisions, and areas of inefficiency for fast, clean production machine simulation detects problems before they occur for machine tool components such as axis slides, heads, turrets, rotary tables, spindles, tool changers, fixtures, work pieces, cutting tools, and other user-defined objects. Vericut enables users to perform 3D simulation to create accurate collision-detection, making for cleaner production and a safer, more efficient environment. Booth D-3035