The tooling area of Tsugami’s SS-20.
Customers from the United States spoke, and Tsugami listened when it designed its SS-20 SuperSwiss-Turn CNC precision automatic lathe. As customers requested, the machine tool company made the machine’s workspace bigger, added more live tooling and developed a modular tooling system that changes tools quickly and easily while it speeds setup times.
The 20-mm SS-20, available in the United States from Rem Sales Inc. (www.remsales.com) grew out of Tsugami’s BS series Swiss-style machines, and rests on a 32-mm machine frame instead of a 20-mm frame. As a result, the space between the main and subspindles is large. The machine has plenty of room for operators to work within the machine.
Long-stroke rotary guide bushings contribute to the SS-20’s ability to accommodate workpiece lengths up to 220 mm. Shops also can discharge such long workpieces from the front of the machine thanks to its 350-mm back spindle stroke.
As one of the heaviest 20-mm machines in the industry, the SS- 20’s cast iron base and rugged main spindle offer significantly shorter cycle times by allowing for maximum material removal. According to Tsugami, this means that, in most cases, it is no longer necessary to separate roughing and finishing passes. And, shops can reduce cycle times further by combining deep cuts with the machine’s special opposed gang slides and the simultaneous operation of its 8,000-rpm main and sub spindles.
As a first for Tsugami, the SS-20 features a modular tooling system of rotary tools and toolholders that let shops freely arrange tools for increased flexibility in working on various types of workpieces. The modular concept is used on the machine’s back gang slide and with the tools that work with its back spindle. Shops also can remove these tools from the back slide and run them in the machine’s front slide. Tsugami said this lets shops take one type of tool out of the machine and replace it with a totally different type of tool. For example, one live spindle can be replaced with a different type of tool, and that live spindle then can move to a completely different position.
Tsugami’s modular tooling concept eliminates the need to keep numerous live spindles on hand. Shops can keep just a few live spindles and move them in and out of various positions within the machine – similar to the way tools are easily removed and replaced on a turret-type machine.
The SS-20’s standard main spindle configuration includes seven turning tools, five cross rotary tools, and five I.D. tools, while the standard sub spindle includes four I.D. stations, two face drills and two cross rotary tools. Shops can change these configurations of main and sub spindle cross rotary, I.D. and turning tools rapidly for more efficient machining of a greater variety of parts. The use of an adjustable face tool attachment makes thread whirling, polygon turning and angular face drilling operations possible.
