Mill/Turn Machining Center

A multi-station mill/turn center – the ICON 6-150 offered by ICON Technologies, a division of Hydromat – is designed with four machining stations and two dedicated loading/unloading stations, and was developed around flexible machining principles. Equipped with a 6-position table, it shuttles pallets to four machining modules for fast, ultra-precision cutting.

Each of these four machining modules is equipped with one cartridge-style motor spindle. Each spindle type is selected based on the type of cutting to be performed at that station. ICON offers high-torque spindles in 10,000rpm, 20,000rpm, 42,000rpm, and 60,000rpm. The spindles are air-purged and liquid-cooled, or permanently grease lubricated, and virtually maintenance free.

The machine is equipped with four servo-driven, direct drive B-axis motors, installed on stations 2, 3, 5, and 6 and featuring a position accuracy of ±4 seconds. Each table is equipped with a zero point clamping system, made by Erowa, which securely and accurately clamps the base pallet to the B-axis motors. The positional repeatability of these pallets is 0.002mm. An optional 350Nm disc brake can be added for precise positioning during heavy cutting at an elevated level of force. Stations 1 and 4 are for loading, unloading, gaging, A/B loading, and inverting for sixth-side machining.

The four cutting stations produce 5-sided machining with 4-axis interpolation, and six sides if the idle station is used for workpiece inversion. Each machining unit is equipped with its own HSK E40 size, 12-tool changer allowing for maximum tooling flexibility. HSK E32 size is available as an option.

An additional heavy cutting B-axis motor type is also offered for profile machining utilizing the fourth-axis. With a more stout design, it has a more rigid profiling capability with increased torque. Power is driven through a zero-backlash worm drive gearbox rather than the direct drive of the standard B-axis motor.

The ICON 6-150 also can come equipped with a fifth-axis machining unit that features a high-speed integrated direct-drive motor spindle, one created by the designers at ICON Technologies in conjunction with the Fischer Precise spindle company. Available with this optional fifth-axis, the ICON 6-150 mill/turn center is designed for medical applications and other precision-machined parts.

Workpieces are mounted by hand or robotics on pallets that are transferred to each station by the rotary table. At each of the four machining stations, the B-axis motors engage with the pallets for indexing or turning of the workpieces. Part sizes can range up to 150mm in diameter and the height is dependent on part configuration, workholding, and more.

ICON Technologies, a division of Hydromat
St. Louis, Mo.
http://icon.hydromat.com