Hardinge welcomed more than 750 attendees to its machine tool technology show in Elmira, New York on June 6 and 7. The event showcased more than 50,000 square feet of displays, including turning, milling, grinding, automation, rotary, and workholding applications. The twenty machines on display included Hardinge models as well as the company’s Bridgeport, Kellenberger and Jones & Shipman brands. Plant tours and presentations offered insight into recent organizational changes geared toward implementing lean initiatives and right-sizing the facility, the company says. It adds that support from distribution partners helped bring in twice as many customers and industry partners and provide four times more floor space than last year’s event.
Turning highlights included eight different part processes including small part manufacturing on the Hardinge® QUEST GT 27 SUPER-PRECISION® turning center, super-precision hard turning on a Hardinge T42 SP SUPER-PRECISION® turning center, and high production automation featuring a Fanuc M-10iA robot provided by Gosiger Automation, and Renishaw’s new “Equator” comparative gauge used in the post process gauging of the hydraulic spool valve components used in the application on the Hardinge T51 SUPER-PRECISION® turning center.
Bridgeport® vertical machining centers, ranging in table sizes from 300 x 400mm up to 1600 x 700mm, demonstrated small to large part production with versatility to include automatic pallet changers, fourth-axis capability and multiple part processing in a single set up.
Hardinge rotary tables and indexers were included in machining and grinding applications and on several freestanding displays. Highlights included the Hardinge GD-5AX-210 dual-axis, tilting rotary trunnion and their direct-drive, zero-backlash rotary tables.
Grinding highlights included Kellenberger® Kel-Vista and Kel-Varia universal OD/ID cylindrical grinding, Jones & Shipman TechMaster Easy surface and profile grinding, and SUPREMA 650 external grinding applications.
An abundance of workholding products were on display including spindle tooling for all makes and models of machine tools. Custom workholding engineers were on hand to discuss individual gripping requirements for special applications. Also present were Hardinge experts for custom machine solutions.
