HORIZONTAL MILLING
Our latest addition at Spacecoast Precision is a Doosan HC400II, and has opened up many new doors for high-speed machining and higher productivity than most ‘job shops’ could ever hope to match. With a 12k RPM spindle that has high-pressure thru-coolant, and twin pallets that are both full 4-axis simultaneous capable, we can attack a part much more efficiently than if fixtured in a standard 3-axis vertical machining center.
What used to take 4 or 5 setups in less-than-ideal fixtures and would only yield a single part per cycle, we can now run 2 or 4 pieces at a time in only two high-rigidity setups that allow for higher precision, faster feedrates, and less operator involvement, reducing the chance of error between setups and less out-of-tolerance parts. And with a pallet change time of under 10 seconds, the machine can be loaded while it is running, and quickly change to the next job or run concurrent jobs on different pallets without interruption.
Our HC400II has Fanuc’s AICC2 high-speed look-ahead, as well as Chick double-sided and 4-sided tombstones that can be quickly swapped from job to job. A 60 station tool changer with quick-change swing arm and shuttle allows for fast changes and primary and backup tooling to be pre-loaded for many jobs. Auto-shut off & broken tool detection allows us to possibly run unattended for hours depending upon the work and volume in question, with the machine automatically powering down at the end of its day, not necessarily the end of our operator’s day . A 400mm (15.75”) pallet allows for many common parts to be loaded horizontally, and can handle a 23” x 31” maximum workpiece if properly secured to the pallet table.