The T- Rex from Fives Giddings & Lewis

T-Rex Spindle Crushes Industry Record for Highest Titanium Removal Rate Tuesday, March 15, 2016

A Giddings and Lewis HMC 1600 powered a high-torque T-Rex spindle to achieve the industry’s highest titanium metal removal rate (MRR) for a single spindle—33.1 in3/min.

See a video of the monster spindle in action here.

The video shows a test driven at 245 rpm on titanium 6AI-4V using a Harvi indexable-insert end mill with 76.2 mm tool diameter. The axial depth of cut is 76.2 mm, the radial depth of cut is 25.4 mm, and the feed rate is 1.14 mm/rev.

According to Pete Beyer, director of product strategy and development at Five Giddings Lewis, there was no chatter and very little vibration during the cut. The surface finish was clean and Beyer predicts that the machine could handle a higher torque axis motor to produce higher metal removal rates.

Used for large pieces of materials that are hard to machine, like titanium, the T-Rex spindle delivers up to 2600 Nm torque to achieve it’s extreme metal removal rates. It’s engineered with 130 mm ID bearings to handle the 42.3 kN cutting thrust capability of the HMC 1250/1600 series horizontal machining centers.

The T-Rex spindle provides 60 kW of continuous power. With heavy-duty hardened and ground roller guideways, the T-Rex allows for a rapid traverse rate of up to 35 m/min with double the load capacity and almost 10 times the wear life of ball-type guideways.

This powerful spindle was designed to address the needs of the aerospace, energy and heavy equipment manufacturing industries. All of these industries have been in need for tighter part tolerances and accuracies, which the HMC series and T-Rex spindle can deliver.

Do you have questions about industry advances and where they’ll take the world of machining? Get in touch with our team and we’ll answer any questions you may have.