Vertical Turning Center Adds Gear-Cutting Capability

Mag’s VTC 2500H vertical turning center combines gear hobbing and milling capabilities with its range of turning, milling, drilling, threading and contouring functions for workpieces ranging to 2,700 mm in diameter.

The multi-axis machine can turn blanks and subsequently cut gear teeth, all in one setup, eliminating the need for a separate gear-cutting machine. This reduces labor, part transfers, setups, work-in-process and plant footprint/overhead, the company says

Gear production capabilities include hobbing; form milling of external and internal gears; turn-milling of gear teeth with carbide end mills; and chamfering/deburring. The machine is suited for wind and power generation, mining equipment, marine and other heavy machinery industries.

The hobbing module is fully integrated into the machine to enable turning, milling and hobbing or form milling of internal and external geared slewing rings. Two different heads are available with 36 or 46 kW of power, capable of hobbing modules as large as 24 mm or form milling teeth as large as 28 mm on parts with a 600-mm face width.

In addition to gear cutting, the machine can perform standard and hard turning, as well as live-spindle machining, contouring and part-probing operations on multiple sides and the full diameter of a part.