Vertical Jig, Boring, Drilling Machine Machines Five Sides of Workpiece

Methods Machine Tools offers the Yasda YBM Vi40 five-axis vertical CNC jig, boring and drilling machine designed for hard milling applications and complex dies, molds and components in the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical and electronics industries. According to the company, the machine produces good surface finishes without requiring secondary finishing and performs five-sided machining in a single setup.

The machine provides simultaneous five-axis cone machining circularity of 2.32 microns, Y-axis accuracy of 0.89 micron, and indexing accuracies of ±0.50 sec. on the B axis and ±0.20 sec. on the C axis. A 24,000-rpm, 40-taper direct-drive spindle offers precision throughout the entire speed range.

Spindle bearing preload self-adjusting technology optimizes preload at the full range of spindle speeds. Yasda has developed a mechanism that applies a large preload during low-speed rotation; the preload decreases according to the amount of heat generated by the spindle bearing during high-speed rotation. 

The machine’s feed drive system features large diameter ball screws and high-speed interpolation control. The X, Y and Z travels measure 35.4" × 19.7" × 17.7" (900 × 500 × 450 mm), with a vertical rotation of 360 degrees and a horizontal rotation of ±100 degrees. A rotary B/C axis mounted on the Y axis machine bed promotes machining stability, even when adding up to 400 lbs of weight (including the fixture and part). An automatic toolchanger holds as many as 60 tools with an option to hold 100 tools. A thermal distortion stabilizing system maintains all axes to within ±0.2°C of ambient temperature.

Greater workpiece access allows for shorter tool lengths, the company says, enabling higher feed rates. Other features include a high-speed TCP, a command for tilted working plane indexing and a rotation center-calibrating function. The machine is equipped with FANUC FS31i-B5 control and the included CAMplete TruePath software enables analysis, modification, optimization and simulation of five-axis tool paths in an integrated 3D environment.