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O.T.: Is anyone here using an "OmniTurn" GT75 lathe?


jenks
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I saw one of these in operation at a recent tool show here in the sticks (that's Indiana), and was impressed with what it can do. We have a lot of short count, small parts that would run great in something like this. Also, it would help us out with secondary operations. We can't really justify the cost of a Swiss-Style, but this is affordable.

 

Is anyone out there using one? Any pros or cons you would care to share?

 

Do you program it with MasterCam?

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Hiya Jenks,

 

We have one a GT-75 with C-axis. I like it.

 

The machine has a lot of "Pros"

[*]cost effective

[*]small footprint

[*]low maintainance

[*]pretty fast

[*]accurate

[*]only thing i broke was the Dunham collet closer bearings

Cons

[*]Fanuc "wanna be" g-code

[*]only canned cycles are G81 and G83. I hard coded an effective TAP cycle

[*]Dunham collet closer bearings get really hot

[*]24" bar length before the tail end sticks out too far.

It is a nice small machine thats pretty fast. I would recommend the electronic live spindles vs. the cable drive one. They're expensive tho. Later, I'll try to post a picture of some parts that we've run on this machine.

And YES, We use MasterCam to program this machine. Tooling options are a little funny because of the Gang tooling arrangement of the machine. I say "funny because the MCam tool turret choices are "front turret-Rear turret"/horizontal-vertical. This isn't an insurnountable problem, just something you need to keep in mind when setting up tools.

The standard post the We were supplied with from our re-seller was really BAD. I've tweaked ours to a point that I'm almost happy with. I still need to work out C-Axis Stuff and Canned text.

It is an inexpensive machine, with limitaions. It is worth a look

 

HTH

-KLG

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Keith, I have been looking at these a little recently. I was wondering what the diameter of the spindle bore was and also what was the max diameter you could -HOLD- if you were slugging out material? Also how do you think this machine would do on 300 series stainless and super alloys such as Hastalloy? I am sure I could get these answers from the dealers but I want a machinist's opinion and I want to make sure I am truely interested before I get the hundreds of phone calls wanting to know when we are going to buy. Thanks in advance.....

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our Omni-Turn GT-75 has the following.

 

[*].500 swing over the carriage

[*]~2 inch swing over the way covers (rubber accordian)

[*]~3 inch swing over the ways. (linear bearings)

[*]Standard Hardinge 5C collets

[*]Bar feed with simple spring collet puller

getting busy

 

omni_1.jpg

 

sample parts

 

omni_2.jpg

 

HTH

 

-Keith

 

* payment on commissions (12%) on sale will be cash American money. payable to ME!

 

[ 06-24-2003, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: Keith L. Graydon ]

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Thanks Keith:

 

Your comments were exactly what I was looking for, a real users comments. I'm in total agreeement with RStuart, I'm getting the phone calls already.

 

I was wondering about the cable drives, I've never seen anything like that before.

 

No tap cycle, thats bizarre.

 

Anyway, thanks for comments, I appreciate them.

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quote:

I was wondering about the cable drives

Let me clarify.

 

I said "Live Spindle" when i should have said "Live Tooling". The cable drive refers to our Live Tooling. It is Like a nice Die Grinder with a flexible shaft. The business end of the shaft fits into and drives a nice collet holder of 3/8 capacity. The collet holder is then mounted on the carriage for drillin, millin or whatever. It is controlled with a simple on/off via one of 2 i/o ports. More ports are optional.

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  • 15 years later...

I have an OmniTurn GT-75.  Purchased it used last December.  The products I make are pretty simple, so no CAM software is necessary, or in my case, desired.  I hand-code on note paper, then type into the control.  Could be done in "Notepad" (MS word, or any text editor as well) and transferred to the control, whic I've done, and is pretty easy.  My OmniTurn control has the 3-1/2" floppy drive, so I bought an external 3-1/2" drive that plugs into my PC via USB.  To get up and running with my first program took about 15-20 min., though I will admit I am somewhat familiar with g-code.  These are really simple-to-use controls, but have quite a bit of power.  Download the manual from www.omniturn.com for your control, then read it thoroughly.  Be careful though, I can tell the manual was written by an engineer (being one myself), so it's a bit cumbersome and is "all over the place".  I am working on and INDEX and Table Of Contents for mine just to make it easier for me to locate what I want.  Be careful, as with ALL gang-tool machines as the tooling is cramped on the tooling plate, so machining the spindle with a tool next to the one you are working with can happen.  As for capacity, it uses 5C collets, so about 1.06" diameter, and figure about 4" to 5" length will be you max.  For my products, this is right in the "sweet-spot".  BTW- I am getting cycle times on some of my simple parts (second-op) of under 7 sec., INCLUDING loading (have built a chute and catch tray for unload).  I also put a "loop" in every program so it gives a warning at a certain part-count so the operator is instructed to QC a part before emptying the tray and re-starting the program.  Future plans include an automatic loader and continuous run, with stop at the QC count.  Overall I love this machine.....should have bought one YEARS AGO!!!  Yes, there are other gang-tool machines with faster rapids, but for my operation, that would save maybe fractions of a second per cycle, over the course of a year..... I doubt it would make up the difference in cost.  If you have a bar-feeder you can loop the program with a stop at the end of the bar.  We have an addition to the product-line that this will be very handy for.  Enables the operator to perform other tasks (cleaning, packaging, etc.) while the machine "churns out" parts.  Mo Money, Mo Money, Mo Money!!!

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  • 5 months later...

Just a follow-up.  We got the automatic loader up and running.  This machine is fantastic!  In fact I have loaded the hopper with parts, and left to run errands, get lunch, etc., come back and have finished parts.  We have been running some bar-work for the addition to our product line, and have even run many parts "lights out".  Loaded a bar the other night, went home and went to bed, came back in the am, and had a basket of parts (all well within spec. I might add).  We're "lovin it".  Back to the OP...easiest to learn G-Code and bang out the programs in Notepad.  Since many of our parts live in certain "families", we have found it really easy to perfect one program, spend a bit of time getting everything down.  Then we use this as a "template" for others in that family by just changing pertinent dimension.  A couple days ago I used this technique, took about an hour or so tweaking the first program, then created a dozen or so more in about 20 minutes total.

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