When searching for a manufacturer to produce a part, you are looking for a number of things: cost, quality, timing, and so on. One of the most important factors you need to satisfy is precision, and rightfully so — if you receive off-tolerance or lower quality parts, your finished product may not function properly or could fail unexpectedly.
Bracalente Manufacturing Group (BMG) is a manufacturing solutions provider known across the globe for our commitment to quality and precision.
Multi-Spindle vs. CNC Machining
A large part of our capabilities is made up of our CNC turning offerings.
Automated CNC turning is, at its core, a lathing process. Work material is spun along its longitudinal axis at a high rate of speed while stationary rotary and non-rotary cutting tools in a variety of shapes and forms are used to remove material, ultimately resulting in completed parts. CNC turning is a highly versatile machining operation that is capable of performing any number of different cutting functions.
One of the few downsides to CNC turning is that it has a relatively high idle time, the amount of time that no cutting actions are being performed. Time spent changing cutting tools, realigning cutting tool heads, and feeding bar stock is all considered idle time. This is where multi-spindle machining becomes important.
A multi-spindle machine, also known as a multi-axis turning machine, is exactly what the name implies: a CNC turning machine with multiple spindles. Each spindle — normally numbering 4, 5, 6, or 8 per machine — can be equipped with a cross-slide tool, end-slide tool, or both. As the spindle rotates, the tool or tools at each station perform their functions one step at a time, resulting in a constant flow of completed parts.
Aside from drastically reducing idle time in the turning process, multi-spindle machining carries a number of benefits. Many of them stem from the advent of CNC multi-spindle machining, as opposed to cam-driving multi-spindle machining.
Cutting operations that are similar or complementary to each other can be grouped at a single station, increasing efficiency and accuracy. Feed rate can be precision controlled and spindle rotation speeds can be programmed on a per-station basis, allowing speeds to match cutting operation to increase the efficacy efficiency of each process.
Multi-Spindle Machining at BMG
To learn more about the CNC multi-spindle machining operations that BMG offers at its manufacturing facilities, located in Trumbauersville, PA, contact BMG today.
