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