Elettromeccanica Giordano Colombo: high speed spindles and five axis heads for machines

CLEANING

Keep spindle body, fans and airways clean to allow the cooling system to function correctly.

Keep tool tapers, shafts and collets scrupulously clean.

Collet life is <700 hours. Minor contamination can cause tool misalignment, out of balance, tool slip and poor quality cuts.  Tool slip leads operators to overtighten collet nuts and damage theads.

COOL DOWN

Allow cooling system (fan, compressed air or liquid) and bearing pressurization (if fitted) to run for 10 minutes after stopping work.

This minimizes condensation as well as contaminants being drawn into the bearing supports.

WARM UP

Do not apply load to a cold electric spindle. Run the spindle at 9,000 rpm for 10 minutes or until the spindle bearing supports reach 98 degrees F (human body temperature).

This allows bearings, supports and shaft to reach their designed dimensions. Applying load to a cold spindle will cause premature failure of bearings.

TOOLING

Use only balanced tools and tool holders. Rebalance all tools after each sharpening. Vibration from unbalanced tools can rapidly destroy bearings. The balance standard is 1.0 g (ANSI 1940/1).

Replace any worn, scratched or deformed tool holders and collets with new items to prevent tool slip (heat) and imbalance from run-out.

Keep tools sharp to reduce forces, heat and to maintain cut quality.

Monitor increases in electric current to the spindle to detect loss of tool sharpness.

Heat generated from tools can overheat bearing grease, evaporate its essential components and lessen bearing life. Maximum bearing temperature of bearing supports is 150 degrees F. Excess heat will cause tool holders to jam in automatic tool change spindles. Be sure all spindle sensors operate to avoid damage.

CAUTION: All GC spindles are designed to accept only ISO or HSK tool holders. BT tool holders are not interchangeable.