Dial In Your Double Column & Dial Up Dollars
Steve Williams 08.07.2013
In today’s manufacturing environment users of double column machining centers are seeking tighter tolerances than ever, and must consistently achieve these tolerance levels to remain competitive. Over time, this poses some challenges. As you use any CNC machine tool through the years, it will experience normal wear, and possibly a degree of settling depending on its size. As wear or settling occurs you may experience an inability to hold the tolerances you once were capable of on your CNC machine. Another factor that can affect tolerances is when the machine is bumped or crashed. You might be tempted to correct all this through offsets, but when fundamental alignment is compromised, this leads to destructive wear and unnecessary “bad parts” costs. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to get your machine back to delivering tight tolerances.
Why Recertify Your Double Column Machining Center?
In order to minimize wear and production costs, it makes good sense to have your double column machining center recertified by an Okuma Service Technician or your qualified local distributor. During recertification your machine will be brought back to the specifications required during its initial installation. This involves leveling plus all accuracies are brought back to within the micron tolerances specified for that particular axis or area of the machine. Here are a few examples of what is actually being checked :
- Leveling of the double column machining center is brought back to original spec. This eliminates any twist that may have occurred due to settling which can lead to additional wear on the gibs and ball screw.
- Gibs is adjusted to ensure straightness of the axis movement while maintaining proper load for efficient position accuracy.
- Squareness of the machine is checked and brought into tolerance if needed.
- Cross rail level is checked and corrected if necessary. Often this is out due to bumping or crashing by the operator, who then corrects through offsets rather than alignments. If these incidents are not reported, this leaves the owner or company unaware of the possibility of additional wear caused by this condition. This can lead to damaging ball screw or ball nut and gib wear.
- Head change alignments and Home positions are checked to ensure heads are not rubbing during exchange and no damage is occurring to the spindle spline shaft.
- Head position accuracy and run out of bearings are checked.
- Tool change alignment between the magazine and spindle are checked and corrected if necessary.
There are many more accuracy checks that are performed during this process. But as you can see from the items highlighted above, this is a thorough machine recertification. Bringing your double column machining center back to within its original tolerance performance allows you to maintain the accuracy you’ve come to expect from an Okuma, and keeps you ahead of your competition.
Do you have a “before and after” recertification experience to share? Comment below, or contact us or your local distributor if you’d like to learn more about the process.
Steve Williams is Field Service Technician, Okuma America Corporation.