Fond du Lac, Wisconsin – The Giddings & Lewis T-bed horizontal boring mill, introduced last year at IMTS 2016, is now available with a range of contouring heads and programmable boring bars also known as feedout tools.
Feedout tools add an extra level of machining versatility to live spindle horizontal boring mills. Providing a programmable axis capable of turning and complex machining operations, contouring heads and programmable boring bars improve quality and decrease cycle time and manufacturing costs by reducing the number tools and setups required.
Because they are a programmable axis, feedout tools are able to machine part features of varying sizes with a single tool. The live spindle Z-axis motion moves the attachment cross slide providing radial feed to the tool. Bores, tapers, grooves, chamfers, phonographic finishes and recesses of differing sizes are just some of the operations possible with a single tool.
Giddings & Lewis T-bed boring mills are available with contouring heads able to produce bores from 0mm to 1,250mm (0” to 49.2”) in diameter. The cutting range of the programmable boring bars is 150mm to 580mm (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 improves part quality by reducing the potential for errors.
Engineered for flat-floor installation, small footprint, and low ceiling clearance, the boring mill is configured with a 10,000kg capacity (22,000 lb) 1,250mm x 1,400mm (49.2” x 55.1”) contouring rotary table. The 130mm or 155mm (5.1” or 6.1”) gear-driven spindles are available with drives up to 45kW (60hp) and 3,380N•m (2,493 lb-ft) of torque.