Universal Turning Machine Enables Simultaneous Machining
The Index IT600 65-mm universal turning machine is designed for machining small to medium batch sizes of workpieces including automotive parts, mechanical parts and other job shop assignments.

Flexible Swiss Turning with B Axis
Index’s Traub TNL18 sliding-/fixed-headstock automatic lathe is equipped with seven linear axes and an additional B-axis on the upper tool turret.

Universal Turning Machine For Simultaneous Machining
The Index IT600 universal turning machine is designed for small to medium batches of automotive and mechanical parts.

Compact CNC Multi-Spindle Lathe Performs Turning Center Operations
The Index MS16C compact six-spindle CNC automatic production lathe is designed for the cam-driven multi-spindle market.

New Index Multi-Spindle IMTS Debut
Stop by the Index booth (S-8450) and see for yourself an example of where multi-spindle technology is headed.

Turn-Mill Offers Independent, Five-Axis Subsystems
Index’s R300 combines two complete five-axis machining systems, each with one quill-guided motorized milling spindle and one assigned work spindle, for complete machining of complex parts.

Sliding/Fixed Headstock Lathe Adds B Axis for Complex Machining
Index’s Traub TNL18-7B sliding/fixed headstock automatic lathe features seven linear axes and an additional B axis for particularly challenging machining tasks.

Eight Spindles for Complex Parts
Index’s MS22C-8 from its Multiline series is a modular eight-spindle machine that is designed for machining complex parts.

Road Report: Wish You Were Here, Day 3
Where in the world is Chris Koepfer, editor-in-chief of Production Machining? Today, he's learning about the latest manufacturing technology in southern Germany.

Why Shops Are Looking More to Swiss-Types
These days, more traditional job shops are installing—or at least eyeing—Swiss-types. Here are some reasons why.

Sliding Headstock Automatic for Swiss and Production Turning
The TRAUB TNL18 production turning machine is capable of five-axis machining of 20-mm-diameter bar for long and short parts in a single setup.

Sliding Headstock Automatic Lathes
The TNL18 and the TNL18P are sliding headstock automatic lathes designed to be changed over quickly to produce precision parts with or without a guide bushing.

Sliding Headstock Automatic for Swiss and Production Turning
The Traub TNL18 P production turning machine is capable of five-axis machining in a single setup.

Turn-Mill Designed For Parallel Use
Index’s R200 turn-mill center features two motorized milling spindles that can perform in two independent sub-systems, including five-axis machining.

Turn-Mill With New Fanuc CNC
 The C100 series of production turn-mill centers features the Fanuc 31i CNC option. With three 14-position tool turrets and identical main and counterspindles, the centers are designed for fast, cost-competitive production of medium-complexity turned parts from barstock ranging from 30 to 42 mm diameter, the company says. Said to be ideal for small- to medium-lot sizes, the three-turret machines deliver high performance within a small footprint, and are targeted to handle fixed-headstock work often run on Swiss-type machines.

High Production Turn-Mill Centers
The C100 series of production turn-mill centers are versatile, high production machines linked in real-time to the company’s Virtual Machine programming and simulation suite. Virtual Machine includes user software that is a mirror of the real machine configuration. The data allow users to program, set up and operate the “virtual machine” in exactly the same way as the real machine.

Turn-Mill Touted As Alternative To Swiss-Type Lathes

Consider L:D When Choosing A Lathe For Small Parts
Should shops always defer to Swiss-type lathes to process small, long and often complex parts? Not necessarily. As a general rule, a Swiss-type is most appropriate for machining workpieces with L:D ratios of 4 to 1 or greater. Parts with lower L:D ratios may be machined economically on turn-mills.

Fixed- And Sliding-Headstock Processes In Single Machine

Sliding Headstock Automatic Lathe With Four Tool Carriers

Double-Sided Productivity
Having a bar feeder on one side and a parts carrousel on the other side ensures that a turn-mill machine will achieve maximum productivity, whether the workpieces are mostly milled or mostly turned. In general, smaller parts are machined from bar stock, even if only milling operations are involved. Larger parts are loaded an unloaded by a transfer device fed by the carrousel.

More Turrets, More Tools, Less Cycle Time
On this model, the builder is arranging spindles and tool turrets to reduce cycle time, although flexibility stands to gain as well. The result, the company says, is a turn-mill that can offer cycle times comparable to those acheived on a multi-spindle automatic.

Seeing More For CNC Multi-Spindles
Motor technology, machine design and software possibilities all improve the economies of these sophisticated high-volume machines.

Online Training For Swiss-Style Lathes
This interactive online training course for Swiss-style lathes is designed to help machinists understand how these machines function, as well as how to operate them.

Fixed And Sliding Headstock Turning In One Machine

Unattended Honing On A Vertical Chucker
An air-gage-monitored honing system added to an inverted vertical spindle chucking lathe allows unattended turning, boring and honing on one machine for greater process flexibility.

Bar/Chucker With Open-Front Design And More

Swiss-Type Turning Without A Guide Bushing
The traditional CNC Swiss-type machine is well suited to parts that are long and slender. Here is an alternative for other types of turned parts.

When Does Hard Turn/Grind Make Sense?
Combining different operations on a single machine tool platform is an attractive and increasingly popular idea. It is in practice, however, not always a plug and play substitution. Optimizing distinct metalcutting operations into a single cycle takes planning and a good understanding of the pluses and minuses of each.

Thermally Stabilize Spindles With Air
Heat is the number one enemy of machine tools. The machine tool spindle is one of the prime sources for generating heat in a machine.

Turning Turned On End
Inverted-spindle vertical turning machines take on horizontal chuckers for turning cell applications.

Scope Maker Sights-In Turning Process
Working toward goals of improved efficiency and quality, this Oregon rifle scope maker looked holistically at their manufacturing operation and matched appropriate processes and technology to each operation. Some improvements arevery simple, and some are quite sophisticated.