GIBBSCAM SUPPORTS TORNOS TB-DECO MACHINE TOOLS

Developed by Gibbs and Associates, GibbsCAM now supports the entire product line of Tornos Deco machine tools, including the innovative TB-Deco model. This recent accomplishment was realized through the combined efforts of Gibbs, Tornos and Productec, the GibbsCAM reseller located in Switzerland.

The TB-Deco line was implemented using pulses because Tornos believes these machines provide customers greater accuracy and repeatability compared to machines which operate off G-code. But, because these specialty machines are not G-code based, they require a unique implementation in order for a CAM system to support them. Tornos has begun to work with a limited number of CAM providers to assist in integrating their CAM systems with the Tornos TB-Deco machines.

The GibbsCAM MTM solution for Tornos Deco required the development of seven custom post processors, which correspond to specific machine tool configurations. Special Tornos functions, such as "tourbillonning" and "polygoning", are supported by the post processors. The series baseline posts developed were: Deco 7/10a with 5-axis, C, 1 spindle; Deco 7/10a with 7-axis, C1, C4, 2 spindle; Deco 7/10a with 9-axis, C1, C4, 2 spindle; Deco 13 with 10-axis, C1, C4, 2 spindle; Deco 20 and 26 with 5-axis, C1, C4, 2 spindle; Deco 20 and 26 with 8-axis, C1, C4, 2 spindle; and Deco 20 and 26 with 10-axis, C1, C4, 2 spindle.

The GibbsCAM MTM Tornos software makes use of Tornos TB-Deco 2007 toolkit, which is expected to be available from Tornos in the first quarter of 2007.