T-Bed Improves Versatility with Programmable Boring Bars

The Giddings & Lewis T-bed horizontal boring mill is available with a range of contouring heads and programmable boring bars. These add machining versatility to live-spindle horizontal boring mills by providing a programmable axis capable of turning and performing complex machining operations. The company asserts that contouring heads and programmable boring bars improve quality while decreasing cycle time and manufacturing costs by reducing the number tools and setups required.

With the programmable axis, feed-out tools can machine part features of varying sizes with a single tool. The live spindle’s Z-axis motion moves the attachment cross slide, providing radial feed to the tool. A single tool can machine bores, tapers, grooves, chamfers, phonographic finishes and recesses of differing sizes. The T-bed boring mill is available with contouring heads able to produce bores as large as 1,250 mm (49.2") in diameter. The cutting range of the programmable boring bars is 150 to 580 mm (5.9" to 22.8"), depending on the bar size. The ability to do turning operations without the need to move the part to a lathe may improve part quality by reducing the potential for errors.

The boring mill has a 10,000-kg (22,000-lb) capacity and a 1,250 × 1400-mm (49.2" × 55.1") contouring rotary table. The 130- or 155-mm (5.1" or 6.1") gear-driven spindles are available with drives of up to 45 kW (60 hp) and 3,380 Nm (2,493 foot-pounds) of torque.