Grinding Spindle Promises Professional Grinding Capacity

Posted on Mar 30, 2020

Grinding Spindle Promises Professional Grinding Capacity

In the field of machine tools, the application of spindles is an important topic, and grinding spindle is also a topic of interest to buyers. As an important part of modern machine tools, the spindle is designed in many forms, which are basically based on the drive mechanism and other power systems.

There are mainly belt drive, motorized, gear drive, direct drive, built-in, etc. Compared with other drive mechanisms, the direct drive spindle design has greater torque power, faster and more accurate activation, and has a larger coverage area. Generally, a machine tool can contain multiple spindles, such as the headstock and tailstock spindle on a bench lathe machine, and the primary spindle is usually is the biggest one.

 

Spindle Qualification

As a result, if the spindle is referenced without further limitation, it means that the target object is the primary spindle. Some machine tools dedicated to mass production have 2, 3, or more spindles. These are called multi-spindle machine tools, such as gang drills and screw machines. Although a bench lathe machine has more than one spindle (the primary one and the one installed inside the tailstock), it is not called a multi-spindle machine. Moreover, machine tools with DD spindles are usually designed with larger machine body, so that they can accommodate with the larger and longer spindle body, which eventually offer greater machining strength onto the work pieces. Some spindles are specially designed for certain models or machine types, such as grinding spindles, turning spindles, milling spindles, drilling spindles, etc. Only with an appropriate installation of the spindle, can machine tools able to perform the designed capacity.

:: Read more : How Spindles Determines Your Machining Quality

 

Besides The DD Design

In addition to direct drive motors, examples of spindles include many other designs. On a lathe, whether it is a wood lathe or a metal lathe, the spindle is the heart component of the headstock. In rotating-cutter woodworking machinery, the spindle is a component part, equipped with a profiled cutter, used to cut features (such as rebates, beads and curved contours) into shaped products and similar wood products. Similarly, in rotating-cutter metalworking machine tools, the spindle is the shaft where the tool (ie drill or milling cutter) is connected to the machine, only as part of the whole (through the chuck). The types of spindles include grinding spindles, electric spindles, machine tool spindles, low-speed spindles, and high-speed counterparts.

:: Read more : The Heart of Machine Tools: Machine Tool Spindles

 

The Belt-Driven Counterparts

On the other hand, for the belt-driven spindle, it consists of the spindle and the bearing shaft held in the spindle housing. The belt-driven spindle is driven by an external motor rather than a built-in motor, nor is it driven by the shaft through a pulley system. With this design, the pulley is not as stable as the direct drive mechanism, so the belt material becomes one of the key variables involved in mechanical operation. In addition, the external motor that drives the belt drive spindle can range from 12,000 RPM to 15,000 RPM. The average limit of RPM limits the performance of the belt-driven spindle, just like the torque problem. The built-in spindle usually installed on the most high end lathes would provide better torque and fast cutting, although the most practical match is belt-driven.

:: Read more : A Comparison of Direct Drive Spindle and Belt-Driven Spindle

 

Built-In Spindles

If compared with the built-in spindle known for its fast performance, the most excellent capability of the direct drive spindle is the torque
it can generate, which is much more powerful than other types of spindles. Even if the machine has been working for a long time, most direct drive spindles can handle heavy cutting tasks with excellent accuracy. The excellent durability of heavy duty cutting capabilities makes DD spindles widely accepted by machine tool manufacturers on high end models.

In the modern machine tool industry, the spindle is the rotating axis of the machine tool and usually designed with a shaft at its center. The shaft itself is called the spindle, but the term is often used in the market to refer to the entire rotating unit, including not only the shaft itself, but also the bearing and anything around (or attached to) to it (such as chuck, cylinder, etc.). Many of spindles for grinding are driven by its built in motor. In this point of view, the built-in grinding spindle is one of the top spindles. Due to its electric drive characteristics, it can be self-electrified and designed with the power unit close to the spindle case box. The machine tool can be equipped with several different spindles, such as the headstock and tailstock spindles on a bench lathe, or primary spindle and secondary spindle on machining centers. The main spindle is usually the biggest one installed at the primary machining unit. Some machine tools dedicated to mass production models have a set of four, five or even six spindles. These are called multi-spindle machine tools. For example, gang drills and many screw machines are multi-axis machine tools that can be processed simultaneously. Although a bench lathe has multiple spindles, it is not called a multi-spindle machine tool.

 

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