[imaginemw]

I will soon be starting a production run machining thousands of parts that will require hundreds of thousands of 4-40 tapped holes into aluminum. For the time being, I will start the run with my Fadal 4020 until I get a new multi pallet system set up.
Is there any issue with running the machine day in and day out rigid tapping? I will probably require around 3000 holes a day. My initial concern is the braking system overheating. Any thoughts?
On a second note, any recommendations on HMC machines and set-ups? At some point I will need to produce 100's of 10"x30" aluminum parts a day, (drilling/tapping upwards range of 20,000 holes a day, and some contour slot milling ). Pro/Cons with any machine manufacturers? Thanks in advance for any advise, Dan.

[Delw]

I am not sold on the rigid tapping on a fadal for production. I think in your case you would be better off running a tapping head by tapmatic, I did that on 8-32 holes for years, it was much faster cause I never broke taps and you have much more control over the tapping pressure. not to mention time wise the spindle never reverses as the tapping head does. until I bought that tapping head for the fadal, I could tap them in a hand mill faster using the tapmatic vs the rigid tapping on the machine. again probally do to NO reversing of the spindle.
Thats just my opinion

Delw

[scadvice]

I am not sold on the rigid tapping on a fadal for production. I think in your case you would be better off running a tapping... for the fadal, I could tap them in a hand mill faster using the tapmatic vs the rigid tapping on the machine. again probally do to NO reversing of the spindle.
Thats just my opinion

Delw

I agree with Delw in theis case...we tapped 10000 holes in one job with a Fadal and though it will do that...its not productively fast. For the wear and tear the cost a tapping head it is the way to go time wise...even used in the Fadal.

Much faster, and this alone is enough to more pay for the cost of the tapping heads.

Steve

[GM81]

I love using our tapmatic head on parts with more than 10 holes, we run small stuff and sometimes have 6 or more running at a time, it can shave quite a bit off of your cycle time. I wish we had more than one head!

[Chuck_jaws]

Hi All, I was doing some plates on my VMC4020 that had 40 1/4-20 tapped holes and every cycle, after it got done tapping, it would alarm out. (At least it waited until it was done!). So anyway, that quantity of parts would be a nightmare, at least on this machine. If you are looking at HMC's the Okuma Horizontals are rock solid and would blow that job out of the water.

[underthetire]

I agree, with that qty, a tapping head would be faster and less damaging to the machine. Think of your power bill, starting, reversing, stopping, etc that much. Bet the tapping head would pay for itself in 2 weeks. BTW, its my opinion that a tapping head would be better on any machine for that QTY, not just a fadal.

[Chuck_jaws]

These tapping heads you speak of, can you tool change with them

[Smudge RN]

You should look at getting a tapping head such as Emuge's switchmaster or GRN series, these cut out the reversal in the spindle saving time and money. They also help get the best out of your tap.
You Can tool change with these aswell. I wont lie they are pretty expensive but for a big production these could save you alot of time and wear on your machine. EMUGE - Products | Tap Holders | Type SWITCH-MASTER

[Chuck_jaws]

tapping head sounds like a great idea. Talking about HMC's and setups, if you had a 600 mm machine with pallet changer you could fixture up 6 or more pieces per pallet, and change parts on one pallet while running on the other. Perhaps this job could pay for such a machine, then when the job is complete you have a paid for machine that can do 4 times the work as a vertical. Beings as the original post is 4 months old, what did you end up doing?

[imaginemw]

The tapping head has been my answer for now. Since then I've purchased a second VMC to help with production. Waiting to see where things go, but the multi pallet HMC is next on my investment list.