A very flexible, continuous five-axis, bi-rotary milling head machine has been designed for aerospace, mould and die, graphite or resin-type applications.
Launching the continuous five-axis bi-rotary milling head machine from Fidia for aerospace, mould and die, graphite or resin-type applications, where maximum advantage involving the total flexibility of the head and its 60,000 revs/min capability can be achieved, 600 Centre of Shepshed near Loughborough brings one of Europe's leading single source solution companies for machine building, control and software engineering to the UK. The Fidia K165 can also be specified with an indexing bi-rotary head having 17kW, 30,000 revs/min or in a more simple three-axis format with an 18kW, 24,000 revs/min drive. In all three versions, the machine is constructed around 'high bed' technology which enables constant operational forces to be maintained and optimisation of servo settings are constant and totally independent of workpiece weight.

'High bed' also gives the Fidia design superior dynamic performance due to its low moving mass, particularly in the 1,000 mm linear X-axis.

Building on its reputation for advanced control technology, Fidia has been able to match its class C control to maximise the performance of the Pentium III and Motorola processors and the Windows NT operating system.

This enables multi-tasking sequences to be performed including digitising and networking its tool presetting software, Hi-MILL (registered trademark) 3-D cam software and teleservice support.

And, with the capability to match and optimise control system and drives with an exceptionally rigid machine build, Fidia claim 20 to 30 per cent improvement in speed and accuracy through the ability to adapt the specific dynamic characteristics of the machine through the 'active' tuning and damping software functions.

Each of the spindles in the K165 range uses ceramic ball bearings with temperature controlled cooling.

The continuous bi-rotary head is very compact having a width of just 368mm.

It has a B-axis travel from +110 (degrees) and a 360 (degrees) C-axis.

Axis feed rates are 5,000 (degrees per minute) and the 60,000 revs/min drive is powered by a 6 kW motor with HSK 40E taper.

The indexed bi-rotary head has an HSK 50E taper with 17kW, 30,000 revs/min spindle giving a universal operational capability with B-axis travel of + 25 (degrees), a B-axis pitch of 5 (degrees), a C-axis travel of +180 (degrees) to - 177 (degrees) and a C-axis pitch of 3 (degrees).

In three-axis mode, the K165 is powered by 18kW electro spindle developing 24,000 revs/min at the HSK 63 taper tool drive.

The Fidia K165 machine has overall travels in X, Y and Z of 1000mm by 620mm by 500mm with 40m/min rapid traverse in X and Y and 30m/min in Z to a positioning accuracy of 0.008mm.

Acceleration of the milling head is 10 (square metres per second) which falls in line with the high dynamics of control and drive system.

Tool change is carried out within the bed of the machine where it is protected from coolant and swarf and tools can be easily loaded to the 20 or 42 tool option chain conveyor from the rear of the machine.

In addition to the three options for head type, high capacity suction is available for graphite and resin machining and incorporated in the basic design of the K165 is total freedom from slideway contamination due to their positioning away from the working area.