Five principles for selecting a five-axis machining center

01

The principle of economic practicality

"Economy"

Economy refers to the fact that the cost paid by the selected five-axis machining center is the most economical or relatively reasonable under the condition of meeting the processing requirements. Economy is often associated with practicality. If a five-axis machining center is chosen to be practical, it will naturally be economically reasonable. It is worth noting that one should not pay a high price for a more complex five-axis machining center that has too many functions and is not suitable. Otherwise, since it causes unnecessary waste, it will also bring difficulties to aspects such as usage, maintenance and repair. Moreover, the update period of numerical control systems is getting shorter and shorter. New systems and new five-axis machining centers will emerge within a few years, and the cost required by then may be lower than it is now. Therefore, when choosing a five-axis machining center, it is essential to act according to the "force".

2. Practicality

When choosing a five-axis machining center, there is always a certain starting point, with the aim of solving one or several problems in production. Therefore, the choice is for use. Economic practicality means that the selected five-axis machining center can achieve the predetermined goals during its operation. For instance, is a five-axis machining center chosen to process complex parts or to enhance processing efficiency? Is it to improve precision, or to concentrate processes, shorten cycles, etc.? Only with a clear goal and targeted selection of five-axis machining centers can practical CNC equipment be reasonably chosen. In the past, when five-axis machining center enterprises developed five-axis machining center products, they often aimed to enhance the versatility of the five-axis machining center, endowing it with more functions and providing users with a wide range of choices when selecting a five-axis machining center. However, this will inevitably lead to a complex structure, increased production costs, longer manufacturing cycles, and an increase in the investment of users in purchasing five-axis machining centers. In the actual use of five-axis machining centers, each specific user often only uses a small part of their functions, resulting in a waste of resources. Therefore, when users choose a five-axis machining center, they need to have clear usage requirements.

02

Principle of Process adaptability

The principle of process adaptability mainly refers to the fact that the functions of the selected five-axis machining center must be adapted to the shape, size, dimensional accuracy and production cycle and other working requirements of the machined parts.

Shape and size adaptability.

The selected five-axis machining center must be capable of adapting to the reasonable shape and size requirements of the machined parts. This point should be carried out on the basis of the process analysis of the processed parts. Here, it should be noted that it is necessary to avoid paying a high price due to redundant functions.

2. Adaptability to processing accuracy.

The selected five-axis machining center must meet the precision requirements of the machined parts. To ensure that the processing accuracy does not exceed the tolerance, it is necessary to assess the accuracy index of the five-axis machining center provided by the manufacturer and guarantee a reserve of one-third. However, it should be noted that one should not blindly pursue unnecessary high precision. As long as the processing accuracy of the parts can be ensured, that's enough.

3. Adaptability to production rhythm.

The decision on whether to complete the processing with one five-axis machining center or multiple five-axis machining centers should be made based on the batch size and cycle time requirements of the processing object. Or choose flexible units or flexible manufacturing systems to complete the processing; Or one can choose flexible production lines, special-purpose machine tools and dedicated production lines to complete processing, etc.

03

The principle of stability and reliability

The reliability of five-axis machining centers is a key concern for the majority of five-axis machining center users. Although this refers to the quality of the machine tool itself, it is related to the selection. It has high stability and reliability. There are problems with both the numerical control system and the mechanical part, especially the numerical control system (including the servo drive) part. If a five-axis machining center cannot work stably and reliably, it will completely lose its meaning. Therefore, when choosing a five-axis machining center, it must be taken seriously. Whether the five-axis machining center has passed the reliability assessment and whether it meets the national standard of mean time between failures. How do most users evaluate the reliability of a certain five-axis machining center? When purchasing machine tools, you can consult multiple users of five-axis machining centers across the country.

04

The principle of rational allocation

The configuration of a five-axis machining center should not only meet the functional requirements of the parts to be processed, but also ensure stable and reliable quality, and be economically reasonable. Whether the mechanical structure has been optimized in design, whether the structure is reasonable, whether it has sufficient rigidity and stability, and whether high-quality materials and effective process treatments have been selected to ensure its stability. These should be inspected. The five-axis machining center manufacturers should be required to provide configuration lists of various key supporting products to prevent them from passing off inferior goods as good ones and affecting the overall quality of the machine. The supporting products should be selected from the high-quality products mass-produced by well-known domestic and foreign manufacturers, especially for the numerical control system, feed servo system, spindle drive system, bearings for spindles and ball screws, ball screw system, PC and electrical components, hydraulic components, etc., which must choose the high-quality mass-produced supporting products.

05

Principles for the supply of maintenance spare parts

For imported five-axis machining centers, users often encounter the problem of difficult supply of maintenance spare parts. Either the supply channels are not smooth and the supply cycle is long, or the original spare parts have been phased out. The price for manufacturers to specifically produce such spare parts is extremely high and it is simply impossible to obtain them. The solutions can be considered in the following situations: First, when placing an order, maintenance spare parts for key vulnerable parts should be ordered simultaneously; Second, suppliers can supply spare parts through the China Spare Parts Bonded Warehouse and purchase them at any time. Thirdly, the supplier should ensure that after the spare parts are phased out, functional replacement spare parts or spare parts originally designed can be provided at a reasonable price. Otherwise, the resulting losses will also be huge.

The above are the five major principles for selecting a five-axis machining center, aiming to remind users of the issues to be noted when choosing a five-axis machining center, understand the complexity of the selection process, and not simply purchase CNC equipment in the same way as ordering a general-purpose machine tool. Many manufacturing enterprises have provided pre-sale shopping guidance services to help users make the right choice of five-axis machining centers. However, to some extent, this is still far from enough. Therefore, users still need to make rational judgments to achieve the effect of correctly selecting five-axis machining centers.