The Tornado 220 two-axis CNC lathe range is faster, heavier by almost 20 per cent and more rigid, to provide a consistent turning operation from part to partWith the launch of the Tornado 220 Colchester Lathe is moving its two-axis CNC lathe range, which has been one of Europe's major turning machine success stories, into a new chapter. While maintaining the price to performance ratio that has been a prime factor in its success, Colchester's introduction of the second generation machine, initially to replace the mid-range 210 Tornado, brings a larger capacity and power rating. The machine is faster, heavier by almost 20 per cent and more rigid to provide a consistent turning operation from part to part at purchase price some 15 per cent lower than before.
Available in chucking and bar configurations, the introduction of the 'Lights Out' machining package giving higher productivity with extended unattended running meant stability and consistency had to be high on the 220 design agenda.
Now used across the CNC range, Colchester Lathe's development of the engineered concrete polymer base fill, which is sealed to resist the ingress of moisture, is key to the stability and high performance of the machine.
The base makes use of strategic reinforcement while a network of ribs and inserts create an equilibrium within the structure to provide unmatched consistency of operation.
To the user it provides the foundation for more aggressive turning cycles, maintenance of high tolerance, finer surface finish and extended tool life.
The base foundation interacts with the structure of the 60o cast iron slant bed with the advantage of heavy ways that contribute to the generation of improved static and dynamic stiffness and unrivalled thermal stability.
With this construction, the machine has a predictable and slow reaction to changes in ambient and cutting temperatures which is unheard of in the 'price competitive' lathe sector.
In addition, the added stiffness of the structure is able to accommodate more powerful and higher torque motors, higher specification drives for spindles and axis motion and quicker turret indexing.
As part of the design improvements to the Tornado 220, the cross-slide assembly is more dynamic and 'squat' using linear ways in place of the previous dovetail design.
And, consistent with the Colchester philosophy, high specification propriety equipment complements the basic turning platform with Fanuc supplying controls and drives, Gamet the spindle bearings, turret from Sauter and linear ways from INA and Star.
In the Tornado 220 the maximum turned diameter is 260 mm by 540 mm turned length.
Rapid traverses are increased to 25 m/min in X and 30 m/min in Z and a new design of heavy duty cast iron spindle housing is connected to an equally large, 22 kW AC Fanuc motor.
The new 12 station turret design is based on VDI 40 tooling system with a station to station index time of 0.3 secs that is a further contributor to increased productivity.
Chuck size is 210 mm with a 254 mm option and bar capacity is 65 mm.
The Tornado 220 can also be specified with the fully integrated Colchester designed MBF 1000 bar feed magazine programmed and operated directly from the machine's Fanuc 21i control system.
Indeed, this system also forms the nucleus of the Colchester 'Lights Out' package which includes swarf conveyor, Renishaw system based in-process gauging, tool monitoring utilising axis torque load to initiate sister tool replacement and production scheduling software.