Ball Screw Shaper Drives

[adamm]

Is it common for late-model CNC gear shapers to run the shaping slide with linear ways and ball screws? This video has a shaper set up that way. The machine looks commercial, but also pretty lightly built compared to some of the old 50's vintage mechanical shapers I've see. Is this the new way? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pVN0u8rjSSc

 

[vmipacman]

I see a stepper in that video too on the head.!?
splines look nice though…

 

[Mud]

Neither the tool nor the work is rotating so I wonder if that's a slotter with the added ability to index the tool. Not much in the way of cutting oil splash and recovery guarding either. Slotters seem popular everywhere except the USA according to google search results and I've seen some that sort of resemble that machine, including CNC slotters. Could be a modified slotter with the stepper added. Interesting way to make the tool if it's not generating the spline by turning.

 

[Mud]

I found this - says it's a prototype

 

[Garwood]

I agree it looks like an old slotter with a homemade cnc slide adapter.

Ballscrew should be fine doing stuff like that if it's big enough, mounted, lubed and driven properly.

 

[lobust]

20+ years ago there was a company advertising CNC slotters in the trade magazines here in the UK. I was doing a fair bit of slotting at the time, so they caught my eye and I remember them. Don't remember the brand name though, but they were built from the ground up as a fully CNC slotter that could do profile broaching as well as slotting. All ballscrew driven with a rotary table.

They seemed to quite quickly drop off the face of the earth though. I think they were obsolete before they started, as you can do the same and more on a b axis multitask machine quite easily. I think I have posted some of my broaching work that I did on the NTX on here before.

 

[Vancbiker]

…..

Ballscrew should be fine doing stuff like that if it's big enough, mounted, lubed and driven properly.

Yep, we had 6 axis press brakes up to 80 tons that used 2 ballscrews to drive the ram. IIRC, on the 80 ton machine they were about 4” diameter driven by 12kW servo motors.

 

[adamm]

Good find on that other video. For a prototype, that looks cleanly built.

That's interesting to hear about CNC slotters. I've never heard of such a machine before.

 

[Mud]

CNC Slotter on google turns up lots of results. They seem to all be Chinese made. Here's a company with up to 5 axis slotters.

https://www.keywaymaster.com.tw/eng_product_overview.asp

 

[Mud]

This one is amazing - helical slots, blind slots, conical slots. Wish I could do this.

 

[adamm]

Those are pretty cool machines. Looks like the last one can run as a gear shaper for externals with a rack cutter. The Keyway Master machine looks like it uses BT50 tool holders, and can rotate the tool with the work, so maybe it could be a shaper for internal gear cutting.

 

[Garwood]

That blind keyway stuff is a neat idea.

I can't help think any old vmc could do the keyway stuff and a gear shaper is better at the gear and spline stuff.