The Problem
DiPaolo Machine Tools was approached to re-manufacture their travelling column milling machine. The customer had experienced issues with the machine since it was delivered.
- Overall rigidity of the machine
- Rigidity of the spindle resulting which limited cutting capacity and productivity
- Reliability of the Automatic tool changer
The Solution
- DiPaolo proposed that a full re-manufacture was needed including:
- Conversion of the Tychoway bearing guiding system to Turcite B Slydway on boxway guiding system
- A new spindle cartridge with bigger bearings
- A new cam-driven ATC
Approach
The machine was removed from production and shipped to DiPaolo’s main workshop. There the machine was completely dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up.
After a thorough engineering analysis, it was deemed that the original headstock wouldn’t be suitable to rebuild. A new casting was designed and built to house a new SETCO Spindle. The spindle characteristics were HSK 100 taper, 5400 RPM and mist lubrication.
As the machine assembly was being finalized, a completely new electrical installation was fitted to the machine featuring a Siemens 840Dsl CNC control, motors, and drives.
Result
Eight months after the start of the project the machine was returned to the customer. In 3 weeks the machine was put into production with 98% up-time and higher productivity than when the machine was installed.
