CNC Design has completed in 2003 and 2004 the CNC conversion project of two re-engineered Morando Vertical Borer, for a steel manufacturing company in NSW. The machine is a vertical borer, manufactured by Morando, Italy in 1970. It is installed at manufacturing workshop for profiling and machining of wheel sets for wagons and locomotives.

Originally the machine was a conventional vertical borer used for machining of train wheels which profile was generated using a copy template. This machine had been re-engineered and refurbished by Acumat Australia in 2003. In this process significant sections of the machine had been re-assembled with components and systems of new design providing an upgrade of previous functions and completely new capabilities. The major respective area is CNC equipment, replacing the previous mechanical copy functions.

CNC Design was responsible for the complete supply, installation and commissioning of new Siemens SINUMERIK 840Di CNC system controlling 1 x 88kW main drives (6RA70 drive and original DC motor) and 6 feed axis (1FK7 with integrated Alpha Gearbox).

Maximum client benefits have been injected into the machine:

• Increased productivity with 60%.
• Improved machine reliability, easy for servicing, self diagnostics.
• Improved end cutting surface
• Less broken tools
• Friendly interface for operation

Through the proven in-house experiences in wheel lathe automation technology, CNC Design had successfully integrated 3-channel machining, all in the same time. Now simultaneous machining of the one wheel with three tool slide pairs is possible. Each slide is driven by a separate ballscrew and AC servo motor.

This project enabled the customer to achieve the capability, life and productivity of a new machine for approximately 50% of the cost.(TB 11/2004)

Relevant link: CNC Conversion from CNC Design