Convert Your Existing 3 Axis Machines Into 4th or 5thaxis Machines

In the movie, The Lord of the Rings, while marching on to Minas Tirith with huge thundering army of Orcs, Gothmog, lieutenant of Morgul (The land of the Dark), announces ‘The age of men is over. The time of the Orc has come.’

Gothmog’s confidence resonates with the situation of 3 Axis machines in the Metal Cutting Industry today. An industry which turned around with the advent of the Computer Numerical Control technology and the introduction of Vertical Machining Centres (VMC) and Horizontal Machining Centres (HMC) has now hit a plateau in its development of 3 axis machines. And while there have been developments in the form of 4^th axis and 5^th axis machines, these machines are yet too expensive to completely replace 3 axis machines.

3 axis machines themselves have a few distinct advantages such as Rigidness of construction, lesser machine cost as compared to 5 Axis machines, Manual Chucks availability of trained manpower, standard work holding and tools available at reasonable costs and service support. While these advantages make 3 axis machines the most popular machines in the metal cutting industry, flexibility for angular machining is still a major lacuna.

UCAM’s rotary tables are a ready solution to improve the flexibility of 3 axis machines.

UCAM’s solutions include:

·        4^th Axis Rotary Tables – for positioning or continuous interpolation of job

·  4^th& 5^th Axis Tilting Rotary Tables for compound angle positioning and interpolation of job

·        Multi Spindle Rotary Tables for multiple part machining simultaneously 

·        Large Size Rotary Tables for heavier and voluminous components

These solutions are available in standard configurations but may also be customised to serve your machining needs.

Following are advantages that UCAM’s CNC Rotary Tables for Machine Builders offer to your existing 3 axis machining system:

1.  Indexing and Machining at angles: Machining at different angles on a 3 axis machine is difficult and time consuming. Rotary tables provide this much needed flexibility for your 3 axis machine. For component positioning and machining at angles, UCAM’s CNC Rotary Table or Multi Spindle Rotary table would be an ideal solution. For mass volume automotive components UCAM’s Rotary Production System is the right choice. For high speed and precision machining of components the Direct Drive Rotary Table with zero backlashes is an ideal solution.

2.     Setup time Reduction / Elimination: A process which may usually take 2, 3 or more setup changes for a standard automotive part machining, may be completed in just a single setup. This reduces or even eliminates the time taken for part setup and fixture change.

3.     Lowering Throughput Time:  The business of automobile part machining is all about lower throughput time. With the need to change fixtures or transfer parts eliminated, using UCAM’s Rotary Table or Tilting Rotary Table, the throughput time is reduced effecting into lower cost per component and increasing the profits.

4.     Dedicated Workstation to Flexible Workstation: In a routine shop floor 3 axis machines are dedicated to a certain metal cutting process. This may be due to setup changes required in machining or to balance the production line. With UCAM’s solutions, each machine becomes an entire production line in itself. With the need to change setups drastically reduced or even eliminated, the 3 axis machine becomes a flexible workstation completing part machining in one go.

5.     Reduced Rejections: When a part is machined partially and moved or transferred to a second setup, an inaccuracy is added due to the changed position (location, resting and clamping of the part). UCAM’s Rotary Table and Torque Motor Rotary Table solutions allow the machining to be completed in a single setup thus reducing the stack up of inaccuracies and hence component rejections.

The metal cutting machining world is moving fast towards intricate designed geometries and precision machined components. The demanding customer now requires such precision machined parts faster. Through UCAM’s well engineered solutions you can deliver and exceed your customer’s expectations. With UCAM…you can!

You may reach one of UCAM’s representative onmarketing@ucamind.com or check their Product offerings onwww.ucamind.com

INTERNET OF THINGS APPLICATIONS IN ROTARY TABLE

INTERNET OF THINGS APPLICATIONS IN ROTARY TABLE

The Internet of Things, or IoT, refers to the billions of physical devices around the world that are now connected to the internet, collecting and sharing data. A lightbulb that can be switched on using a smartphone app is an IoT device or as serious as a self driving car, or as complicated as a jet engine that’s now filled with thousands of sensors collecting and transmitting data back to make sure it is operating efficiently. At an even bigger scale, smart cities projects are filling entire regions with sensors to help us understand and control the environment. IOT adds a level of digital intelligence to devices that would be otherwise dumb, enabling them to communicate real-time data without a human being involved, effectively merging the digital and physical worlds.

The term “Internet of Things” was coined by entrepreneur Kevin Ashton, one of the founders of the Auto-ID Centre at MIT. Since 2012, major changes in sensors have led to rapid maturing in the Internet of Things market – fuelling digital transformation for many businesses.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 are all names given to the use of IoT technology in a business setting. The concept is the same as for the consumerIoT; to use a combination of sensors, wireless networks, big data and analytics to measure and optimise industrial processes.

Stage IoT architecture which are:

STAGE 1: Sensors and actuators: sensors collect data from an environment/Machine and turns it into usable data.

STAGE 2: Internet gateways and Data Acquisition Systems: Data acquisition systems (DAS) are responsible for aggregating and converting the data. It connects to the sensor networks, aggregates the output, and converts the analog data to digital data. 

STAGE 3: Edge IT Data Processing: enhanced analytics and pre-processing is performed,Edge IT systems also use machine learning and visualization technologies, it generates useful results and only pass those to the next stage. 

STAGE 4: Datacenter and cloud: all the data that needs more in-depth analysis without requiring immediate feedback goes to cloud-based data centers. These data centers are capable of analyzing, handling, and storing huge amounts of data. 

We at UCAM, make Rotary Table smart and IOT enabled. IOT will help avoiding unplanned downtime — Using analytics to predict equipment failure ahead of time to schedule orderly maintenance procedures otherwise known as Predictive Maintenance can help mitigate the damaging economics of unplanned downtime.

Monitor UCAM Product health live by monitoring different parameters like over pressure limit/under pressure limit,oil level status,critical temperature data,humidity data,Clamp/unclamp feedback. Analyzing the parameter will contribute in improvement of Product Performance.

UCAM is India’s largest manufacturer of CNC Rotary Tables, Rotary Production System, Multispindle Rotary Table, Direct Drive Rotary Tables, Tilting Rotary Tables, HMC Rotary Tables, Large Size Rotary Tables which are used for enchancing the productivity of VMC’s. Nimble Machines – A division of UCAM designs and manufactures high speed high precision CNC Gear Hobbing Machines. Nimble Electric – a division of UCAM designs and manufactures Torque motors.

Author:

Lalith Prasad N.

Lead Engineer R&D

UCAM Pvt. Ltd.