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Chris Felix

The parts that are produced on Swiss machines these days amaze me. But it’s not just the turning operations on extremely miniscule diameters that are impressive. It's the complex capabilities of the live, B-axis tooling, synchronized subspindles and various attachments that have brought Swiss machines into a whole new light. Truly, the latest generation of Swiss machines can typically be more accurately described as multitasking machines.

Tsugami's S207 20-mm gang-tooled Swiss-type is an example of such a machine that is able to produce complex, sculpted shapes on both the main and subspindle. It offers a servo-driven B-axis tool post that can move vertically and swivel in a 135-degree range around the part being machined. The B axis works in conjunction with the C-axis rotation to enable continuous cutting across virtually any area of the protruding barstock.

Read “Swiss-Type Sculpting Serves Complex Parts Complete” for more details about what gives the machine the ability to produce parts complete in one setup. A video clip also shows the machine in action.