At Siams Amada will present the new Mi8, simultaneous 5-axis turning/milling center. This machine concentrates 70 years of know how designed from the standpoint of customers.
Size matters “Is it a new brand of turning center? Is it a serious one?” This are legitimate questions when we analyze products offers from different manufacturers. Not knowing a brand can come from the fact the company is small and unknown or that can be because a group has a new name and is building a strong brand throughout Europe. With 6’000 workers (1’500 in Europe) and gross sales about 2 billion Euros, Amada is amongst the biggest players in the machine tool industry, definitely not a small player that starts.
The perfect tool for Europe To enter the European market of turning/milling centers, Amada comes with a machine bringing added value to users with a price-performance ratio that will meet the expectations of a lot of companies. Mr Scherr, Managing Director and Müller, Project Manager for turning are positive about customers’ reactions at Siams in Moutier (Switzerland). M. Scherr says: “As a leading company in the machine tool business, we don’t stop examining what we can do for customers. Discussing closely with them, we developed the new Mi8”.
More standard features to do more Parts are becoming more and more complex and if possible, manufacturers don’t want to have several clamping to finish their parts. The new Mi8 includes a simultaneous 5 axis control thank to the A-turning axes of the tool main spindle. Slanted hole processing can easily be set up. The turret with 5 tools includes a 20’000 rpm milling spindle and tools are changed automatically with the tool changer than can count 20 stations. Thus the machine offers a true “complete in one chucking mode”. With the A-axis, machining curved parts or complex surfaces is no longer a trouble.
What about quality and precision? Mr Müller says: “The conception of each machine is based on 3d stress analysis, and then the horizontal design as well as traditional scraping have proved to be excellent vibration dampening”. He carries on: “Thermal behavior is another aspect that was particularly analyzed. The build-in spindle includes a cooling unit to minimize thermal influence. The bed of the machine is also protected by a stainless steel cover and a special space to dissipate heat”. These precautions to avoid any heat trouble prove to be efficient; the roundness reaches 0.26 microns while cylindricity reaches 0.8 microns. Mr Scherr concludes: “These facts are only a few figures and we would be delighted to answer any question at Siams, we will be able to go into deeper details”.
Not to be missed at Siams and to be discovered more in detail in Eurotec’s next issue.
Amada Machine Tools Europe Landstrasse 25 42781 Haan, Germany Tel. : +49 (0) 21 29 579 03 Fax : +49 (0) 21 29 579 339
