CNC turning lathe, Swiss type lathe original manufacturer since 2007.
Surviving As a Manufacturer in the 21st Century
The golden era of the manual and CNC machine shop has long been forgotten. It leaves many wondering exactly what is 'fair trade'. We spoke to many machine shops and studied 2 shops in depth and the conclusions are startling. Nearly all shops agree that unless something is done to change the way the United States operates with other countries, manufacturing will slowly die out in our country. The biggest concerns and finger pointing was at unions in today's marketplace, 'fair trade', and high restrictions put in place on small businesses.
The labor union, or trade union was a great stepping stone to increasing the quality of life in the U.S. during the 19th century. Unfortunately the common response heard when interviewing manufacturers was that because of increased scrutiny from the government child labor laws, minimum wages, and other laws made the labor union obsolete. Many believe that the UAW(united auto workers) union is what led to the failure of U.S. car manufacturing. It's believed that the workers were over paid and over compensated for the jobs they were performing which greatly affects the price and quality of the product they are making. Some think unions should be abolished in total, while others think it would be impossible because with or without a union there would still be strikes and disagreements which can happen even in non-union shops. It's hard to turn back time and find out what would be different with out it, but perhaps in the future we can look at changes to help manufacturing in the U.S. in the future.
The 'fair trade' act our government has adopted has drawn increased scrutiny from manufacturers in the U.S. Some wonder how it can be considered fair for other counties to over tax products coming from the United States while barely taxing products coming to the United States. Shops claimed that they could get parts completed on CNC machines shipped to them from China for less than the cost of the raw material needed to create the part in the U.S. There were stories of buying containers filled with parts for pennies on the dollar and still saving money by checking all the parts and disgarding over half that did not meet tolerances. With competition like that how is it fair? We hold our country to a high standard of life, high wages, insurance, environmental regulations, but yet don't do anything about products coming in from countries who still promote slavery and destruction of the environment with nearly no regulations. Does the person standing in line at Walmart contribute to the end of manufacturing in our country or is it just a change in tides of our nations economical power?
The last complaint was restrictions put on companies, including workmans comp. It is obviously important to create a fair workplace which does not put an employees health at risk. But with unemployment at a constant high, it seems odd that with all the bail out money nothing was done to help minimize the risk of hiring an employee who could be out to scam the system with a workers comp report or trying to get fired to get back on unemployment. Unfortunately most of those who have taken a risk of starting a business and adding employees know it is ony a matter of time before someone tries to take advantage of the system and put the burden of added costs on you.
Although manufacturers in general are not happy with the way things are going, there are some trying to take advantage of the markets current state. A few CNC machine shops have been buying new and used CNC machines. Some have also embraced buying Taiwanese and Chinese machines like Birmingham and GMC machine tools. Whatever the case may be everyone seems to agree that a lot can be done to help the United States pull itself out of the hole we have dug.
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Daily “Clean + Lubricate” as the Baseline
After each shift, remove chips and coolant residue from the fixture surface and collet jaws with a soft cloth or air gun to prevent corrosion and re-clamping errors. Every eight hours, apply a trace of rust preventive oil to spring collets, guide bushings and other moving parts; once a week, add a thin coat of grease to ball-screw nuts and hydraulic cylinder rods to reduce wear. Before any prolonged shutdown, spray anti-rust oil on internal bores and locating faces and wrap them in wax paper or plastic film.
Precision Calibration & Data Closure
Use ring gauges or master bars every month to verify repeatability of the fixture; log results in the MES. If deviation exceeds 0.005 mm, trigger compensation or repair. For quick-change systems (HSK/Capto), check taper contact percentage every six months—target ≥ 80 %. If lower, re-grind or replace.
Spare Parts & Training
Keep minimum stock of jaws, seals and springs to enable replacement within two hours. Hold quarterly on-machine training sessions for operators on correct clamping practices and anomaly recognition to eliminate abusive clamping.
In short, embedding “clean–lubricate–inspect–calibrate” into daily SOP keeps the fixture delivering micron-level accuracy, reduces downtime, and extends overall machine life.
Six preventive measures
Environment control: keep the workshop at a stable temperature and low humidity; exclude dust and corrosive gases to reduce chemical wear on guideways and screws.
Daily checks: remove chips every shift and inspect the lubrication of the spindle, bearings, ball screws and guideways; act on any abnormality immediately.
Preventive lubrication: replace lubricants on schedule and keep the lubrication system unobstructed to minimize fatigue wear.
Accuracy monitoring: use laser interferometers or ball-bar systems monthly to measure geometric errors and compensate for ball-screw backlash or guideway straightness in time.
Electrical health checks: periodically examine cables, relays and cooling fans to prevent hidden aging caused by overheating.
Data monitoring: onboard sensors record spindle current, vibration and temperature; cloud-based analytics predict early bearing or tool failures.
Why prevention matters
• Ensures machining consistency: eliminating micron-level error sources keeps batch dimensions stable and reduces scrap.
• Extends machine life: preventing micro-cracks from growing can prolong overall life by more than 20 %.
• Reduces unplanned downtime: planned maintenance replaces emergency repairs, increasing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by 10 % or more.
• Cuts total cost: lower spare-parts inventory, labor and lost-production costs can save tens of thousands of dollars per machine annually.
• Enhances brand reputation: consistent on-time, defect-free deliveries strengthen customer trust and secure future orders.
Optimizing cycle time on turn-mill machining centers is crucial for boosting productivity and reducing costs. It requires a systematic approach addressing machine tools, cutting tools, processes, programming, fixtures, and material flow.
Ensure Geometric Accuracy
Swiss-type lathes process long, slender workpieces with multi-axis synchronization. A bed inclination of only 0.02 mm/m creates a “slope error” along the Z-axis, tilting the tool relative to the part centerline. This results in taper on outer diameters and asymmetric thread profiles. Periodic re-verification and re-leveling restore overall geometric accuracy to factory standards, guaranteeing consistent dimensions during extended production runs.
Extend Guideway and Ball-Screw Life
When the machine is not level, guideways carry uneven loads and lubricant films become discontinuous, accelerating localized wear and causing stick-slip or vibration. After re-leveling with shims or wedges, load distribution evens out, reducing guideway scoring and ball-screw side-loading. Service life typically improves by more than 20 %.
Suppress Thermal Growth and Vibration
A tilted bed leads to asymmetric coolant and lubricant flow, generating thermal gradients. Subsequent expansion further amplifies geometric errors. Re-verifying level, combined with thermal compensation, produces a more uniform temperature rise and reduces scrap caused by thermal drift. Additionally, a level bed raises natural frequencies, cutting chatter amplitude and improving surface finish by half to one full grade.
Chinese-built Swiss-type lathes have moved beyond the “low-cost substitute” label to become the “value leader” for overseas users. On the cost side, machines of comparable specification are priced well below those of traditional leading brands, and ongoing maintenance costs amount to only a fraction, dramatically lowering the entry barrier for small-to-medium job shops in Europe and North America. Lead time is equally compelling: major domestic OEMs can ship standard models within weeks, and special configurations follow shortly thereafter. When urgent orders arise from the electric-vehicle or medical-device sectors, Chinese production lines consistently deliver rapid responses.
Intelligence is on par with top-tier global standards. Machines routinely feature thermal compensation, AI-based tool-life prediction, and cloud-enabled remote diagnostics. Mean time between failures is long, and fully open data interfaces simplify secondary development for end users. Complementing this is a worldwide service network: Chinese manufacturers maintain parts depots and resident field engineers across the Americas, Europe, and Southeast Asia, enabling on-site support often within a single day, whereas legacy brands usually require factory returns measured in weeks.
1. Quick Troubleshooting Steps
Check the clamping pressure: Ensure the pressure plate or collet applies even force; too much or too little pressure will jam the bar. Adjust the pneumatic or hydraulic release mechanism accordingly.
Align the material path: Verify that the bar feeder, guide bushing, and spindle centers are collinear; any offset will cause the bar to twist or wedge.
Inspect belts and rollers: Belts must be tensioned correctly—loose belts slip, over-tight belts bind. Replace worn rollers immediately.
Lubricate moving parts: Clean and grease the eccentric shaft, release cam, and pusher fingers; lack of lubrication is a common cause of seizure.
I. Installation Guidelines for Swiss-Type Lathe Bed
1. Foundation Preparation
Floor Requirements: The Swiss lathe bed must be installed on a solid, level concrete foundation to prevent machining inaccuracies caused by ground settlement or vibration.
Load Capacity: The foundation must support the machine’s weight and dynamic cutting forces to avoid deformation affecting spindle and guide bushing alignment.
Vibration Isolation: If the workshop has vibration sources (e.g., punch presses, forging machines), anti-vibration pads or isolation trenches are recommended to enhance CNC machine stability.
Summary
Ball screws are the physical enablers of Swiss-type lathes across five critical dimensions:
Micron-level positioning for complex micro-structures;
High-speed rigidity supporting synchronized multi-axis cutting;
Active thermal control ensuring batch consistency;
Ultra-wear-resistant design enabling maintenance-free operation for 10+ years.
Their performance defines the precision ceiling of Swiss-type machining – truly "invisible champions" in precision transmission.