Now THAT'S a lathe

[ericpmoss]

Cutting through metal like butter. [VIDEO]

It's the antithesis of the handmade thread, and it gets better the further in you follow it. It's impressive to me, at least.

[Nathanrtaylor]

I watched the whole thing wondering what amazing thing they were building until I realized it was the machining equivalent of a demo reel.

Either that or they made a left fluxion coupler for a superencabulator.

[rabo]

Watched the whole thing. Blew my mind. I learned in school to prepare punch tapes so the CNC machine could do some basic two dimensional tasks.
What would a machine like that cost? 3 million?

[11.4]

Those are used for milling large precision valve systems in titanium for nuclear reactor cooling systems. Everything is designed to be opened and closed at incredibly high temperatures in an amazingly corrosive environment where no lubricants can survive and where one simply cannot open the system and replace a component if it fails. Basically everything HAS to be perfect going in and is tested, but when operation starts, you never get to touch it again.

[Rayburn Shaun]

Would suck to be the machine operator who dropped the workpiece on the way to the pallet.

[WadePatton]

I want that job who is hiring? (i can braze/weld on the weekends).

[progetto]

Why no coolant? If a tool bit breaks or is missing on a CNC, does the machine know and stop the process? I know nothing of machining.

[11.4]

Why no coolant? If a tool bit breaks or is missing on a CNC, does the machine know and stop the process? I know nothing of machining.

When you're doing a complex CNC program, you do what's known as a "dry run," which is what's happening here. You run at much slower speeds and dry so you can take interim measurements, make sure tool exchanges are going correctly, and so on. This project is being run on Siemens NX CAM, a rather nice software package that lets you program this kind of sophisticated turning. In real life, the piece would be turning not at a few hundred RPM but at closer to 10,000 RPM and yes, then you would want a coolant. Running slower you can do it without coolant and still get the precision so interim metrology will tell you that the program is working properly.

In addition, Europe is much more sophisticated than the US in implementing dry or near-dry machining. They can run an item at a slightly slower speed but save coolant costs and avoid all the cleaning and environmental costs, plus the equipment is immediately available for the next piece. The biggest single reason for coolant is to avoid what is known as "built up edge," or BUE. It creates a ridge in front of the cutting tool that increasingly slows turning and reduces precision. It's a big problem with aluminum and some steels, where the "edge" can build up and actually weld itself to the leading surface of the cutter. If you have high-positive rake angles on your cutters, plus refined steel alloys (which the cutting surface shows this one clearly is), BUE isn't an issue anyway. Additionally, using some of the better Ti alloy cutter materials, they actually prefer higher cutting temperatures so they work better without coolant. At least a couple of the cutters I could see in the video were definitely European TiAIN. The future of sophisticated turning is dry, and this is an example of how it can be done well.

[Mike Mcdermid]

Why no coolant? If a tool bit breaks or is missing on a CNC, does the machine know and stop the process? I know nothing of machining.

we had two of those only much bigger at the Boeing AMRC it was like the DMG showroom ,when i left they were installing the biggest waterjet in europe

Machines have tool breakage sensors and tool wear sensors which work on the harmonics of it

the dry machining thing is about carbide and getting rid of heat in the chip not the tool ,

[progetto]

Thanks guy's.

[Jeffrey Borisch]

When you're doing a complex CNC program, you do what's known as a "dry run,"...

Super informative and interesting. Thanks!

On a related note here is a project some friends of mine were involved in fabricating. Sort of a Steampunk version of the Siemens?

[11.4]

Would suck to be the machine operator who dropped the workpiece on the way to the pallet.

There's worse.

[WadePatton]

well something failed and somebody was supposed to check it, hey did you do that Lane? ref satellite pic.


(he says as he ambles off to weld on a grass mowing machine)

[Nathanrtaylor]

There's worse.

"Send 'er up. We'll have a work crew fix it on site."
- overheard in the Hubble build shop.

[dgaddis]

My favorite NASA fk up was the Mars rover that plummeted into the surface of the planet. The software and instruments didn't use the same units, one was English and the other Metric.

Whoops!

[rabo]

How can they stay in tolerance with those dry cuts with the piece heating up / expanding?

[dgaddis]

How can they stay in tolerance with those dry cuts with the piece heating up / expanding?

I'm no machinist, but I'm guessing they account for the thermal expansion when programing.

[EricKeller]

my guess is they don't account for it and then if it turns out to be a big problem they don't fix it until they call in a consultant to tell them what they already knew. Not that I've seen this happen or anything

[11.4]

How can they stay in tolerance with those dry cuts with the piece heating up / expanding?

It's being run slow and with cutters that are very heat resistant. You don't have a big heating or expansion issue.