Trends in CNC Lathe Development

2024-12-30


Since entering the 21st century, with the continuous development of CNC technology and the expansion of its application areas, it has played an increasingly important role in the development of some key industries (IT, automotive, light industry, medical, etc.) that are vital to the national economy and people's livelihoods, as the digitization of equipment required by these industries has become a major trend in modern development. Overall, CNC lathes show the following three development trends:

High speed and high precision

High speed and precision are the goals of machine tool development. With the rapid advancement of science and technology, the update speed of electromechanical products has accelerated, and the requirements for the precision and surface quality of parts processing are becoming increasingly high. To meet the demands of this complex and ever-changing market, machine tools are currently developing towards high-speed cutting, dry cutting, and near-dry cutting, with processing precision continuously improving. On the other hand, the successful application of electric spindles and linear motors, as well as the introduction of machine tool functional components such as ceramic ball bearings, high-precision large lead hollow internal cooling, and ball screw pairs with strong cooling and linear guide pairs with ball retainers, have also created conditions for the development of machine tools towards high speed and precision.

CNC lathes use electric spindles, eliminating belts, pulleys, and gears, significantly reducing the rotational inertia of the main drive, improving the dynamic response speed and working accuracy of the spindle, and completely solving the vibration and noise problems of the transmission during high-speed operation. The use of electric spindle structures allows spindle speeds to reach over 10,000 r/min. Linear motors have high driving speeds, good acceleration and deceleration characteristics, excellent response characteristics, and following accuracy. Using linear motors for servo drive eliminates the intermediate transmission link of ball screws, eliminates transmission gaps (including backlash), reduces motion inertia, and improves system rigidity, allowing for precise positioning at high speeds, greatly enhancing servo accuracy. Linear rolling guide pairs, due to their zero axial clearance and very low rolling friction, have minimal wear and negligible heat generation, providing excellent thermal stability, improving overall positioning accuracy and repeat positioning accuracy. By utilizing linear motors and linear rolling guide pairs, the rapid movement speed of machine tools can be increased from 10-20 m/min to 60-80 m/min, reaching as high as 120 m/min.

High reliability

The reliability of CNC machine tools is a key indicator of the product quality of CNC machine tools. Whether CNC machine tools can exert their high performance, high precision, and efficiency, and achieve good benefits, largely depends on their reliability.