各种瑞士转弯机的应用趋势

The old perception that Swiss turning machines are designed solely to produce millions of simple, 30-cent parts is changing—just ask the people at Northwest Swiss-Matic Inc. (Minneapolis, Minnesota). This high precision contract manufacturer uses 19 CNC Swiss machines plus an array of more than 70 production line machines. The shop's production system includes both dedicated and semi-dedicated manufacturing cells designed to provide flexibility in producing a variety of parts.

在这些细胞中，根据特定零件要求，混合并匹配了CNC瑞士类型，多个纺锤体，CNC Chuckers，水平和垂直加工中心，Escomatic电线机和其他设备。各个单元中的每个单元都可以生产大约60个单个零件的品种或输出完整的零件组装组。蜂窝制造方法产生了连续的零件流，质量一致，以满足客户的严格交付要求。西北专业的螺丝加工零件的直径范围从0.010到2.625英寸，长度范围从1/16英寸到3英尺不等。该商店的一些典型产品包括线轴，袖子，活塞，阀门组件和螺丝机零件家族。

Northwest成立于1962年，是汽车，运动控制，军事，液压，气动和电子制造商的供应商。它产生的零件的成本从不到30美分到每张3美元以上。

Two main trends have been observed in Swiss turning that seem to correspond to a shop's size. Big shops tend to emphasize unattended operation and consistent accuracy, while small shops need machines that are versatile enough to make any type of part. "Both trends exist," says Northwest's vice president of manufacturing, Terry Haubrich, "but it's all a question of cost. You can't really separate different sizes of shops and say that they want different things. Both seek the same results by using available technology to obtain the best quality at the lowest cost. The difference may be that smaller shops have less capital resources available to purchase the more expensive, higher technology machines."

对于这些较小的商店，对多功能性的追求可能是双刃剑。添加更多工具来增加瑞士机器的多功能性，还增加了工具更改的数量，并增加了对操作员干预的需求。但这一定会导致“捕获22”情况？

Not according to Mr. Haubrich. "By combining a series of machine operations—such as by having several bar loaders in a shop—a large amount of operator time can be eliminated," he says. "Because the operator doesn't have to manually load machines, more time is available to change or sharpen tooling. This upgrades the operator's work to a higher and more productive level."

商店瑞士部门负责人斯科特·拉尔森（Scott Larson）表示，金属加工设备的进步已大大改变了运营商的角色。他说：“我们在工作台上使用计算机来进行部分布局，机器编程和统计过程控制。”他补充说：“这使操作员成为设计和生产过程中更具组成部分的一部分。”“我们的运营商是非常熟练的技术人员，尤其是应用数学，几何和复杂的计算机技术。”

但是，那些仍然喜欢较旧且较不成熟的机器而需要更少运营商培训的商店呢？拉尔森说：“尽管这是一种选择，但技术进步最终将超过这种方法。”“从长远来看，升级设备和员工技能水平是以最低成本实现高质量的最佳方法。”

Much has been said and written about the difficulty of finding good machine shop personnel. While admitting that staffing represents a problem for almost every shop, Mr. Larson sees light at the end of the tunnel. "We believe that the combination of more highly automated equipment and better-trained operators is a partial solution to the labor shortage," he says.

"Because of the computer, there's really no end to how far an operator can go. The opportunities for beginners in this field are unbelievable. Operators who want to learn advanced skills can integrate computer and software features into their machines and processes. But even operators who don't want to learn the higher level skills can become proficient, because available machine control software is easy to use."

As someone who has personal experience with the transition from conventional lathes to Swiss turning machines, Mr. Larson is familiar with the learning curve that operators face. "A lot of the principles for both types are the same, except that more operations are happening simultaneously on a Swiss machine," he says. "Speeds and feeds are different on a Swiss machine because, in most cases, you don't make separate roughing passes. The main spindle completes roughing and turning at the same time, so you're taking everything off in one pass."

除了多个同时加工操作外，运营商还必须适应瑞士机器的进料速率和更深的削减速度。但是，瑞士机器确实具有优势，包括生产成品零件的能力，从而消除了以前需要的二级操作和其他机器。由于许多瑞士机器上的每个实时工具都由其自己的伺服电机驱动，因此可以使用更高的rpm，并且现在可以使用单个设置使用以前需要使用单独的机器的操作。

Programming Swiss machines is also easier. "You don't have to buy expensive and complicated CAD/CAM software to program these functions on the new Swiss machines, because this capability is incorporated into their programming software," says Mr. Larson. "When you do need more complex software—such as GibbsCAM for example—to design a part, you can download your design to the machine and operate it using the same software."

瑞士转弯机对螺丝机店的生产力产生了巨大影响。Haubrich先生观察到近年来这种趋势的影响。他补充说：“我已经看到一些以前不是瑞士机器房屋的竞争对手现在购买这些机器以生产完整的零件而无需任何二次操作。”“结合当今可用的改进的酒吧装载机，越来越多的公司至少在一部分时间内无人看管。”

例如，如果商店可以增加无人值守的夜班，则每天立即获得8至10个小时的机器使用情况。在处理典型的长期工作时，瑞士机器和高性能棒喂食器的组合代表了一项在短时间内取得的投资。说到底线，豪伯希先生说：“成本，预算和盈利能力是我们评估的主要因素。如果数字可以整合更好的技术，我们将继续前进。”