A one-hit capability, five-axis mill/turning chucking centre with the advantage of automatic part transfer to a second operation sub-spindle is able to provide single cycle machining.

A one-hit capability, five-axis mill/turning chucking centre with the advantage of automatic part transfer to a second operation sub-spindle is able to provide single cycle machining for parts having up to a 200 mm turned diameter. Now available from Colchester Sales, as a ready-to-turn package, the latest Colchester T6MS chucker follows the latest livery and futuristic guarding design that now distinguishes the Colchester Tornado range. It has the option of a 170 mm or 210 mm chuck size, and the main spindle is powered by 15 kW motor with a 130 mm chuck 5.5 kW sub-spindle.

With a maximum part length capacity of 470 mm between both spindle chuck jaws, the machine has the capability to initiate in-phase radial C-axis rotation that enables in-cycle synchronised spindle kissing for part exchange.

A 12 station, all-driven 3.7 kW, 30 VDI mill/turn turret services both chucking spindles controlled by a totally integrated Fanuc 18i-TB CNC unit.

The machine is compact, having an identical footprint to a two or three axis Tornado version and has a swing over bed of 440 mm, a maximum turning diameter of 200 mm by 200 mm turning length with a maximum turned length (Z-axis) of 450 mm.

The sub-spindle has a spindle bore of 43 mm and a fully synchronised drive with the main spindle to provide on-the-fly part exchange which is carried out at a rapid traverse rate of 30 m/min.

There is a choice of main and sub-spindle speeds of 4,000 or 6,000 revs/min and positional accuracy is plus/minus 0.005 mm.

Repeatability is within plus/minus 0.002 mm.

The Tornado T6 MS is also available in a robot-loaded, Lights-out unmanned package, as well as in a bar fed configuration.

In the Lights-out package, swarf conveyor, tool monitoring and sister tool replacement, production scheduling software and in-process gauging with automatic offset adjustment are all included as standard.