Three stop ranges

As an extension to the second row of stop, there is the third row of stops. It offers the possibility of CNC-machining centres with Pod and rail table to place workpieces at three different positions on the console.

Issue

At cantilever machines the available machining area is considerably larger when the workpiece is placed at the rear end of the consoles. This effect also applies to most moving gantry machine.

However, the deeper the machine table is, the more difficult it is to place small and narrow workpieces from behind. Most machines therefore have a second row of stops.

This can be located either in the middle of the console or at the front the console.

When positioning at the front the console, the workpiece must be machined in mirror image. If the workpiece is positioned in the middle, it can be machined in its original alignment, but the available depth (Y) is very limited.

Application

Through the third row of stops it possible to use the advantages of a further row of stops at the front as well as in the middle. This improves the ergonomics of the machine and its application possibilities.

In each case, where a workpiece is to be placed on the machine, a Workpiece's reference point must be provided.

Almost all modern machines have a workpiece's reference point on the left and right side of the machine. This can be moved to any existing stop point. This means that two workpieces can be placed at the same time on one row of fences.

If there is now a second or third row of stops, only two workpieces can still be placed on the machine at the same time without additional workpiece's reference point, although the operator can choose from 6 positions.

Through 6 miscellaneous support positions result in the theoretical possibility of 6-field machining. However, in order to be able to implement this efficiently, the consoles would have to be equipped with three vacuum circuits each, which is very complex and therefore only cost-intensive to implement. Therefore, in practice, a multi-field assignment is more likely to be realized via a further stop in the middle.

Images

Machine table with 3 rows of stops
3 rows of stops (Rover C Edge 6.65)
BIESSE, 2006