hofmann rotary table made in china

Manual precision rotary table with compact and space saving design. The high rigidity allows the use for machine tools as well as for measuring applications.

Additional direct indexing plate for the indexing plate device for all divisions up to 100 and higher ones, many up to 400, with included adjusting table.

I have the 8” with plates. Don’t use the plates often but easy to fit, otherwise they normally they get in the way but ok when used. I would have liked it to work in vertical mode, but I have a good vertex dividing head so no problem here. it’s certainly is a brilliant bit of kit. The thrust bearing under the table is huge. It’s smooth and accurate. Best bit of kit I have. Same t slots as a myford, but parallel 20 mm bore centre. So no mounting stubby morse tapers but I now have a range of dedicated centres..

The TSK series tilting rotary tables are one of main accessories for milling,boring an drilling machines.They can be used for machining,the oblique hole or surface and hole of compound angle at one set-up.Besides this,it is so designed as to be used in a vertichail ptosilti ocna to cea trirlyt odu tt c eantye r owsoitriko nw itrh a t0ailsto ck. and locked.

when I was young, strong, healthy, and thought nothing of lifting it, a 10" H & V was my first choice. I still think it was a good choice for the work I mostly do, and this is where you may decide to compromise. If you do small work, an 8" table is much lighter and more convenient to set up. Stood vertical, it interferes less with the spindle to reach center. I don"t think a 6" is a good choice unless you know you will only be working miniature stuff. You use a considerable percentage of a small table just for set ups and hold down clamps on a lot of work, and a small table does not leave much room.

I like 90:1 gear ratio for circular milling, which is presumably your primary interest with a rotary table. My 10" table is 90:1, and that is a pretty good ratio for milling diameters (hand cranking) out to 12" or so. My 20" table is also only 90:1, and out near or past the rim (I do one part at 32" diameter) that always seems _very_ coarse.

If most of your work is small, round to begin with, and will actually be dividing work, where you index the table, lock it, and then drill a hole or mill a slot with the machine axis drive, you might find a dividing head more useful. For instance, I"ve made gears on a vertical rotary table, and in a spin index. On the table, you need an insert collet chuck or other arrangement in the center hole to get the work out far enough to clear the cutter. It"s a lot more convenient on a dividing head. OTOH, I don"t find it fun or convenient to do much circular milling on a dividing head if the work diameter is much over a few inches.

Hamilton Tool & Supply in Beaverkill Falls, PA had the Vertex indexing plates, and IIRC they also listed the tables. Do check that the one you"re actually getting is Taiwan-made, though; manufacturers in that part of the world tend to outsource stuff to the mainland, with, shall we say, less than spectacular results.

Reversible clamp, 4th axis, rotary table, rotary dividing table, controlled rotary table, dividing attachment, dividing head, rotary indexing table rotary coupling

Today I tried the new HSS bit. I don"t have a collet to fit this size bit so I had to chuck it my genuine Chinese drill bit chuck that HF generously supplied with their mill. Ugh. The results were significantly improved, though still not completely chatter free. I ran the bit with minimal stick-out from the chuck. Everything I could lock down was locked down, except for the adjuster on the rotary table which has to have a minimal amount of slack to allow for table rotary motion. I cut a max depth of .005" on each pass. Dry cut, no lube. I kept my hand on the rotary adjuster constantly futzing with it to keep a moderate amount of drag on the table as I rotated it. This seems to keep the table about as secure as possible while milling. I tried a variety of speeds. I"m running the mill on the high speed setting and found that about the midpoint of the dial seemed to be best at minimizing the chatter. Due to my inexperience and cheap HF equipment, I can"t know the RPM and these are pure guesses based on what seems to work best. Anyway, as I say, the chatter seems significantly reduced, but still there and is helped by snail slow rotation of the table. The bit clearly is superior to the cheap Chinese bits I started with. It seems that with a small, quality 188" bit, <005" depth of cut, and very slow rotation, the chatter is significantly reduced. I ordered a carbide mill bit and I"ll try that next and with a some cutting oil as suggested. As usual, I"m regretting buying a cheap tool, the rotary tool. I"m thinking there just isn"t the strength in the table to dampen some of the vibration and there is clearly a tiny bit of play on the mechanism. I"ll try the carbide bit both with and without chain drilling and report on that.

By Hofmann are you meaning having the ability to connect the dividing head to the mills X axis feed screw, or do geared compound indexing Wally? If so then yes there quite a difference between what"s known as a plain indexing head, semi universal and a true universal dividing head. B&S made all 3 types I believe, and Vertex as just one example still make them as well. A plain indexing head won"t easily do a lot of the high prime number divisions the geared semi and universal dividing heads can. 127 tooth imperial to metric transposing gears would be one example.

So deciding on what you need is mostly about what you want a DH to be capable of and the work you think you might be using it for. The original B&S heads and older Vertex universals used I think the B&S no.9 taper that isn"t always easy to find today. Afaik all the new Vertex universals now use the much more common MT 4. I"m unsure of what there smaller heads are using or what the Hofmanns used. My Vertex came with a standard 3 jaw lathe chuck and that type of chuck is imo is pretty much worthless for accurate DH work. A good set tru or even 4 jaw independent would have made much more sense. Machinery"s Handbook has fairly good details explaining what the various types of dividing heads can and can"t do for divisions and how to calculate the set ups on the geared heads. If it were me I"d study that before deciding on which type of head to buy.

"Made in Germany" quality also means adapting production to the cost situation. Rowenta began using 3K technology in 2004, stated Jochen Weber. In addition, Hofmann Tool Manufacturing supplied tools with conformal cooling, which was a completely new concept in tool making at the time. This enabled several key advantages: less assembly work, better functional integration, better parts quality, a shorter cycle time and lower unit costs in general, thanks to a primary concentration on single-stage processes. This is all based on a consistent orientation of mechanical and tool engineering in production. 2K and 3K plastics production uses reversing plate technology, rotary table tools and indexing plate technology. The manufacturers look for the optimum tool and mechanical engineering strategy for each model of iron. Whether a rotary table or a reversing plate solution is chosen depends on capacity planning and batch sizes. The following generally applies: everything that can be automated in the manufacturing cells is automated.

Smooth assembly of modules with very complex webs in a very restricted space – or, indeed, modules with numerous functioning parts – is made possible by consistently aligning the plastic molds to conformal cooling. "The design engineering then often ends up combining conformal cooling with inserts that are produced generatively using the LaserCUSING laser metal melting method and conventionally tempered surfaces. Conformal cooling is generally used at critical points, that is, webs, difficult core zones or atypical material agglomerations," said Jochen Weber, summing up the experience he has gained with Hofmann"s concept. Design engineering measures that can be taken here include matching the channel diameter to the molds and using parallel cooling at points that are particularly challenging from a physical standpoint, to ensure maximum cooling of the cavity surface. For the cooling channels to work properly and handle the necessary volume capacity, head of production Robert Löw focuses on prevention with the help of a corrosion inhibitor. In practice, this involves what is often known as "vaccinated" water, used to prevent sedimentation and particle contamination. This is particularly useful for rotating molds that also have to be checked for tightness at the mechanical transition points. For Rowenta, Hofmann"s tried-and-tested tempering concept is the most effective method on offer.

For engineering and functional reasons, irons are ideally suited to conformal cooling due to their pronounced ribs. In a 3K part, there are clearly identifiable cycle time improvements and decreases in distortion compared to the tools of about a decade ago. Over this period, Hofmann supplied numerous tools with this technology, most of which are still in use at Rowenta. The key benefit is the lack of distortion. It accounts for the positive assembly characteristics, that is, the excellent dimensional accuracy of all the different mandrels and metal tubes that have to fit precisely. This is also relevant to the manufacturing process: when new production runs start up in the areas that use LaserCUSING inserts for conformal cooling, head of production Robert Löw can achieve the necessary dimensional accuracy very quickly and vary the process parameters at other points until a stable, reproducible process is achieved. This opens up a degree of flexibility in the process window.

The simulation software Moldex3D from SimpaTec, which Hofmann uses to develop the cooling concept, gives the design engineer a virtual view into the tool"s interior. Information about the flow characteristics, temperature distributions, pressure losses as well as flow velocities is available for the evaluation of the optimal cooling method. "This is especially indispensable when the tempering channels in our LaserCUSING inserts become so complex that you can no longer mentally visualize the flow without having something to assist you," explained Stefan Hofmann, "here we always revert to simulation in the design and checking of the cooling channel construction."

For the new model, Hofmann Innovation Group from Lichtenfels was once again the tool partner. The development times range from 12 to 16 months, depending on the time and effort required for each new model. Designers, project managers and design engineers from Hofmann Tool Manufacturing, as well as persons responsible for manufacturing, work closely together in product development right up to SOP (start of production), in order to ensure that the project remains on schedule. This requires a high degree of flexibility from all involved, as well as a closely interlinked way of working – both in parallel and together. The tool manufacturer"s involvement in the project with its product-accompanying services lowers costs and minimizes modification and approval times. "For the 3K parts of the new model, Hofmann Tool Manufacturing, whose tool concepts with conformal cooling have promised a high level of dimensional accuracy for many years now, was the partner of choice," said Jochen Weber.

The LaserCUSING process is used to create mechanically and thermally stable metallic components with high precision. Depending on the application, it can be used with stainless and tool steels, aluminum and titanium alloys, nickel-based superalloys, cobalt-chromium alloys or precious metals such as gold or silver alloys.

Caption 3: Long-running partnership in 3K with conformal cooling: Jochen Weber (plant manager, Rowenta) and Stefan Hofmann (Hofmann Innovation Group) (left to right)

The Hofmann Innovation Group is one of the most prestigious tool making service providers for the plastics processing industry. With a presence throughout Europe and working across sectors, the group represents full-service engineering in tool manufacturing.

As a full service provider, the Hofmann Innovation Group provides the entire range of services, from product development through to series-production injection molding tools, as well as lifecycle maintenance work. The company is active throughout Europe and is able to implement complex projects for dynamic industries in a short space of time, thanks to its cross-linking of sites, forward-looking methods and instruments, physical proximity to customers and excellent standard of quality.

The company specializes in manufacturing series-production, multi-component and multi-daylight injection molding tools. Hofmann has developed innovative tool concepts, such as injecting hollow parts. The variety of patents held by the company is proof of its trend-setting and dynamic approach to improving its customers" cost-effectiveness.

The full service engineering project method shortens development times and significantly reduces development costs. Hofmann"s full service engineering concept includes:

Hofmann"s stringent quality requirements, its substantial experience and sound references represent reliable and cost-effective solutions aimed at lowering unit costs that prove their worth in day-to-day manufacturing.

Rotary table in market mainly includes 4 kinds of mechanism that is worm gear, roller cam, DD driver and harmonic structure. The following is the introduction:

1. worm gear: it’s one of  the most popular structrue in NC rotary table  because of its irreversibility and costs.The worm is generally made of bronze, but the wear resistance is poor. In order to improve the service life, some manufacturers use the alloy steel.

3.DD motor: it’s the most efficient rotary table with the highest precision. It has the highest precision because it has no mechanical structure, which is directly driven by motor , no reducer. It has high technical difficulty and high price. It is generally used for five axis machine tools.