lathe machines 1

[dodhy1]

Can somebody please direct us to where we can find mechanical repitition lathes. Or small "universal cam" lathe machines. We are looking to upgrade our macchine shop.

Dodhy

 

[jclough]

Do you mean a screw machine?

 

[jwarren]

I'm not sure what you mean by mechanical repition or "universal cam" lathe. Are you refering to turret style lathes. This is a relativly old type of high production lathe that is all but non-existant with the introduction of CNC.

 

[dodhy1]

Basically, yes the turret type machines. We also remain aware that they are all but obsolete. Unfortunately there is no abundant and easy support or service for CNCs in our part of the world and we have no choice but to go for this type. If it can be of help, we have a photograph of the machines we are looking for. These were from a company called "Britan" in the UK.

 

[sbra]

Hi
I think you mean a Cam Automatic Lathe which uses
cam's which have profiles which control the movement
of the machine slides and also the advance/withdrawl
of the turret slide.
There are still the most Ecomical..Repedititive..way to
manufacture volume Turned Part's. Single Spindle or
Multispindle type of machines are used. Also for slender
eg 1 to 3mm dia with length eg 20--30mm are usually
made on Swiss Style of machine which was used mainly
for watch and miniture part's but these machines have
mainly been updated to cnc control for today's need's as
generally alot of Industry cannot find people with the
Skill to do work on any machine other than cnc operated.
The Cam machine when Quantities are eg 5,ooo to 1million
are very productive but as wage cost's have increased alot
of this work is done in lower wage countries and this has
helped the decline of this way of making large volune parts
on these machines as well as electronics has seen more and
more the decline in usage of the volume of turned parts needed today.
Well enough of the History of these machines but against today's cnc machines if a part is required in say Marine
Grade Stainless Steel these cam machines are way ahead of
any Cnc (built 1980--2002) in output, accuracy as far as
large qty's are concerned 5k---50k. But for small qty the cnc is favourable.
What type of sizes in dia are you doing?
What lengths?
Depending on complexity of parts a different model may be
favourable and also different type.

 

[bill1898]

In order to meet your requirements you need to contact some used machinery dealers in your part of the world. If that is not possible you can find many dealers in USA, Asia or Europe who collectively have many items to offer. Shipping costs may be prohibitive however.
The machines you are referring to were the productive wonders of the world until electronic controlled machines came into being.
In certain circumstances the cost per part may still be less when produced on the machines you refer to compared to CNC machines when you take into account the initial cost of the control, programming cost and the ongoing maintenance costs.
Good luck in your search.

 

[sbra]

Hi There,
I am familar with a machine named Britain as I
have worked with them in the past. I think from they
are Dia max 32mm and are good for small work if this is
the type you have in mind. Please give some more info and
as I am based I can make enquiries as I am in UK.
These are not too common these day's but I do see some
ads with some for sale but against a machine such as
Herbert or Ward Capstan these small machines are alittle
dependant upon the skill of the OPERATOR if reasonable
good accurate work is required as all tool movement's are
lever based so constant pressure and feel against the slide
Dead Stop's is required and after some time fatigue can give
erratic dia's /length's. The Her/Ward use lead screw to move
slides and are alot more easier and more accurate and possibly easier to find and against the Britain weight for weight are Sturdier when doing heavy work as the Britain
is good for Brass and high spindle speed's and so alot
depend's upon the nature of the work you need this machine
to do.
Regard's.

 

[dodhy1]

Dear sbra,

Yes, you are right that the tool movements are by levers and that it depends upon the skill of the worker. we already have some of these and the workers are trained on these.

we are normally using Brass (according to BS 2874 CZ121) and the diameter ranges from betwenn 9.0 to 32.0 mm in round and hex sizes. We have only one size bigger i.e., 42.0 mm but we already have a cam lathe for that. Our part lengths are never more than 50 mm.

What are these Herbert/Ward machines as we are not familiar with these names. Could you please please point out any website where we may see some pictures of these.

We would really appreciate if you could keep an eye out in the UK for these/similar machines.

Look forward to your response.

 

[sbra]

Hi There,
I will over the next week or so see what is
around being advertized on the market in UK for these
machines. At the moment business is not good for alot of
machine shops (auto-turning co's) and alot are not even
bothering to have Auctions or Public sales they just offer
machinesto people they know in the business and scrap the
left over's. Even the machine dealers are not buying up
machines so quickly only adding a percentage and directing
the buyer to the co who are selling the machines.
Machines that had sales value ie £15,000 stg are being
offered for £5,000 or less for fast sale.
Multispindle and single Auto are being offered way below
prices 2 yrs ago ie Wickman 5/8" with Pick-up good running
order approx £7,000 stg.... 1" Single Spindles £1,000 to
£1,500 stg each in reasonable working order. One problem
is being there at the right time with payment as usually
all method's have being tried to secure better prices and
this is last resort before these machines are offered to disposal and I have seen multispindle as well as machining
centre's that had being producing work up until a few weeks
before being virtually removed as scrap to be crushed as
the premises and building was needed to sell or new buyer was ready to use for their purpose. Sorry for being so
negative but as the price of Stg is making life hard for
the best of eng co's not many people especially student's
and young people are going into this career as so much of
this business is closing down and they do not see a good
career in this work.
I will see if I can locate some photo's info on machines
for you.
Regard's