b'Twin spindles present significant advantages to pretty much any high-volume shop.single-spindle machining center youand the machine can be equippedfor example, he said. As a coun-can find in any job shop, twin spin- with either a dual five-axis trunniontry, the U.S. has been slow in com-dles are purchased with one thing inor a w-style table, or rotary palletmitting to this market. Automotive mind: maximum spindle utilization.changer. manufacturers, however, have fi-For that, you want either a palletThe FZ/DZ 25 targets large elec- nally woke up to the fact that EVs changer or robotic part handling. tric vehicle partsbattery trays,are coming and begun investing Why W?An additional difference in the world of twin spindles is the pres-ence of a w-axis. In Jtekt Toyoda Americas case, this provides up to 20 mm (0.787") of independent z-axis travel to compensate for anyDC160differences in tool length. A w-axis is a nice feature, though its proba- Maximum precision and bly less important than it once was.The people interviewed for thisprocess reliabilityarticle said offline tool presetters have made setting up a twin spindle easier. So has zero-point workhold-ing, which allows shops to tool up a range of parts and quickly swap fixtures and vises as needed. For these two reasons above all others, twin spindles deserve a second look from those whove discounted them as only automotive machine tools.Chiron America Inc., Charlotte, North Carolina, is enjoying similar demand for twin spindles and has released a machine model, the FZ/DZ 25, in response. Ross Clark, ac-count manager and product spe-cialist, said the FZ/DZ 25 is a bridge-style machine that boasts 800 mm (31.496") between spindles, with each spindle able to traverse inde-pendently in the x- and z-axes. ToolXD Technology: Deep-hole drilling up to 30Dc without peckingchanges are independent as well,Margins located in advanced position to ensure rapid guidance in the holeRemarkable positioning accuracy due to the innovative new thinner webUniversal application on all material typesabout the author Kip Hanson is a contributing writer for CTE.walter-tools.comContact him at 520-548-7328 or kip@kahmco.net.ctemag.com/cteguide.com25Multispindle.indd 25 3/16/20 12:54 PM'