Okuma Machine Tools in the Spotlight at IMTS 2018

IMTS TV: I’m Kim Brown with IMTS TV and we’re here in the Okuma booth with Paul Kingsley and Errol Burrell. Paul, will you tell me about the MU-8000V LASER EX, please?

Paul: The MU-8000 is our five-axis, trunnion-style machining center. It’s an 800-millimeter pallet machine. Basically, an 800-millimeter work envelope. This particular machine is equipped with a turning function, grinding, gear hobbing, skiving, and our newest feature is the LASER EX additive system. Okuma has partnered TRUMPF Laser from Germany and we’re offering the TruDisk 4000 laser system to go on this machine. It allows us to do additive, or with a different optic we can do hardening also. This particular machine has just additive. We’re adding features to a part that already exists to give people some different options about how to produce some pretty hard-to-make parts. It’s running over here now. If anybody wants to see it, we appreciate everybody coming.

IMTS TV: What are some examples of parts that might be made on this, or some solutions that this machine can provide for a customer?

Paul: What I’m showing now is a mock-up of like a turbine engine housing where the traditional methods of manufacturing would be a pretty complicated forging process or a lot of machining time. What we’ve done here is we’ve taken apart and basically just turned it to replicate a near net ring without the features. We use the laser to add the features to it and then we go back and finish machining the whole thing. We’ve reduced the cost of what a forging would be and we’re still not using the amount of time that it would take to machine it from a solid billet.

IMTS TV: What industries would this new machine serve?

Paul: Right now, the possibilities are basically limitless. The technology is new enough that everybody is learning as we speak where we can apply it. This is just a particular application that I thought this would be beneficial to somebody. But we can add coatings. We can hard surface parts. We can harden existing parts like in mold and die industry. Aerospace, mold and die, pretty much anything. Repair work, if you have a damaged part, we can machine away what’s damaged, add material back, re-machine it and make a new part instead of having to replace the whole thing. Right now, we’re still learning where it could all go but it’s definitely going.

IMTS TV: Great. Thank you so much. Errol, what are you going to tell us about today?

Errol: I’m going to tell you about the GENOS M460V-5AX. It’s our affordable 5-axis machine. We use the term “affordable” because it’s still built to the same qualities and principles of the design of all our Okuma machines. It’s based on a bridge-style construction and the best example of our bridge-style construction is our double-column machine which is over to our right. What we’ve done we’ve actually put a package together, a one-size-fits-all type of thing, 15K spindle, scales, thermal comp software, hypoid gears on the C- and the A-axis. It’s a very, very well-built machine. It’s been a bit of a show stopper. We’ve put it right in the front of the booth. As people walk-in, it’s one of the first machines that they’re going to see. This will be a stepping stone to our bigger five-axis machines. So far, we’ve been selling for nearly a year now and the results have been fantastic. It’s no different to this show as well. It’s still probably one of our favorite machines.

IMTS TV: Great. What industries will this machine serve?

Errol: It’s a general-purpose machine so aerospace, power generation, oil and gas, automotive. At the moment, we have an automotive demonstration of the machine right now but right across the board, it’s a general-purpose machine so it’s designed for a job shop.

IMTS TV: What sets this machine apart from others that may be in its class or maybe a competitor’s machine?

Errol: 5-axis is the buzzword right now. It has been a buzzword for the last five, six years. Everyone’s got their own version of a 5-axis machine so everyone – our competitors are like, “We have an entry level 5-axis machine.” What they’ve done is they’ve compromised on the design to get the price down. We’ve not done that. The way we differentiated ourselves, we’ve kept the same quality design, quality design and we kept a really reasonable pricing. That’s what we’ve done. We’ve not compromised and now we’ve made the machine.

IMTS TV: Great. Is there anything else for visitors to see in the Okuma booth here at IMTS?

Errol: Many things. I think this year we’re doing special focus on automation and I’m going to take people over there to have a look anytime they want.

IMTS TV: Great. Thank you so much. Visit the Okuma Booth 338500 or you can learn more at okuma.com. I’m Kim Brown with IMTS TV. Thank you for watching.