Italy-based Iemca has introduced a bar feeder designed to maximise productivity during the unattended turning and mill-turning of larger diameter components in single-spindle, fixed-head lathes.

Called Maestro 80, the long bar feeder is available in the UK and Ireland through sole agent 1st Machine Tool Accessories.
Among the innovative design features incorporated in the new magazine, three have been granted patents. One such patent protects ABACOS (Adaptive BAr COntrol System), a self-adjusting bar clamping arrangement. ABACOS is designed to perform different operations, namely guiding the material, damping vibrations and tightening on the pusher, all without changing the guide channel, over a material range of 10 to 80 mm diameter.
The ABACOS system can also handle non-round material – 10 to 65 mm hexagonal or 10 to 50 mm square – with a quick change of the bushes. Material length options are from 1000 mm to 3200, 3700 or 4,200 mm, subject to a maximum single bar weight of 180 kg. The widest spread of bar diameters that could previously be guided in one channel was 20 to 80 mm, an attribute of the Iemca Master 80 HF magazine. A limitation of that model is that when feeding smaller diameter bar, especially when it is not straight or of poor quality, it is necessary to reduce the rotational speed. Otherwise vibration can occur, compromising surface finish and/or dimensional accuracy of the component being produced.
On the Maestro 80, this is avoided by another patented feature, the Vibra-Damp Collet with interchangeable inserts. Vibra-Damp Collet damps bar vibration by reducing its oscillation amplitude, and lowers bending and torsional stresses on the bar.
A third patient has been granted to Iemca for its HandyLoq quick-change collet system, which allows manual exchange within three seconds without the need to use tools.
For further information www.1mta.com