Saturday, September 3, 2016

Fascinating Video Of Modern Crankshaft Machining.. Totally Automated....






















6 comments:

  1. It's unreal what these modern machines and software can do.
    Man, did the chips fly when it was turning the main and rod bearing journals early on in the video!
    And I seriously WANT a set of those freaking drill bits they were using to drill out the oil passages through the rod journals. Holy Fuck I've never seen a hole drilled that fast through solid steel!
    The part that really blew my mind was when they were turning down that rusty shaft with 0.250 passes!
    Are you fucking kidding me? 1/4 inch passes?!!

    The old POS mill we have a the shop is crying it's eyes out if you try to go more than 0.010 at a time.

    It's a long video for sure but there is some pretty cool shit in it, like when the robot puts that sleeve on.

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  2. Interesting. My Dad would have loved to see this. Just think that only 50 years ago they were made by a Master Machinist using a micrometer. Thanks for posting, Irish!

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  3. So many industries where the digital age has replaced human talent.
    Everybody's a programmer now.

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  4. I wonder if the high purchase cost of one of their cars is due to having such expensive machinery making them.
    Steve

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  5. Really fascinating video. The crankshaft factory (China?) was incredible. Everything bright white and shining metal, as clean as a hospital. I was just shocked at how fast they drilled through the journals, like Phil was saying, in one motion with no peck drilling, no messing around, just drill a long, deep hole. The cutters that compensate their motion for the journals' offsets from the axis of rotation, so that they don't need to recenter the work constantly to cut them really blew my mind. That's the CAM software, and it's amazing.

    Likewise that enormous shaft (drive shaft?) that they turned as fast as they did.

    Probably the biggest thing for us small shop guys is they don't differentiate between lathes and mills. They'll turn the part and use a stationary cutter, or stop the part and rotate the tool. The same machine does everything. For the cost of that hardware, you save setup costs on everything you make. Makes the machine more expensive, but makes everything you make with it cheaper.

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    Replies
    1. My guess is they are using "coolant through" drills for the journals. Also, there seems to be high pressure air and mist coolant for all the cutting. This minimizes dealing with regular coolant maintenance. Mist collectors pull all the moisture from the air at the machine.

      Amazingly clean facility.

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