February 24th, 2009 by admin

Most manufacturing facilities nowadays employ the use of CNC lathes for their manufacturing turning applications. Because these CNC lathes can be used either for a single piece manufacture or producing thousands of parts per order, they are very much an integral part of every modern machine shop. However, the capital equipment costs of new CNC lathes can some times be a heavy burden on the cash flow situation of many machine shops. That has led to most machine shop owners turning to used CNC lathes as a means of reducing the capital equipment costs. However, in order to extend the life of your used CNC lathes, certain basic steps need to be taken so that you get the maximum return on your investment. In this article, we will address these procedures.

First of all in order to extend the life of your CNC lathes, ensure that a yearly preventive maintenance program is set in place. This yearly program should incorporate steps for turret alignment, backlash measurement and reduction or elimination, machine guide ways inspection and replacement if necessary, coolant pump inspection and repair and spindle run out inspections and adjustments. There should also be a quarterly procedure to drain out all hydraulic oil and replacement with new hydraulic fluids. Additionally, at the same time, drain out the coolant and replace it with fresh made coolant to proper mixing ratios as recommended by the manufacturer.

In addition to the preventive maintenance procedures as outlined above, the daily operation of used CNC lathes should be adjusted to develop a balance between high productivity and extension of machine life. For example, while most machines are rated for very high rapid travel and super fast indexing, a simple way in which you can extend the life is by reducing and operating at lower rapid rates and slower indexing speeds. Such lower levels of operating speeds may reduce the production rate but will increase the life expectancy of the moving parts inside the machine.

And finally, as a general rule, clean out chips and other debris daily from your old CNC lathes, so they do not start entangling around machine guards and such. Thus, simple practices of good maintenance procedures and gentle operating practices can ensure a long life for your investments in old and used CNC lathes.

The author invites you to visit his site at http://usedcnclathes.blogspot.com for plenty of free informative articles on used cnc lathes

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