Tornos Launches Micro 8 Turning Centre With a Guide Bush System

4 October 2012

Since 2006, watchmakers and bar turners creating small and very precise short parts have been able to rely on the Micro 8 turning machine from Tornos. Originally designed for creating spindles for hard disks, the very high level of precision offered by this machine quickly won over specialists from the watchmaking world. Now, a new version is on its way!

With almost 200 machines installed with watchmaking suppliers in Switzerland, this turning machine that works without a guide bush has been championed by the specialists in this domain. Mr Schockle, in charge of Tornos’ operations in German-speaking Switzerland, explains: “The Micro 8 is the machine most suited to creating watch screws. Our customers are very pleased with both the simplicity and the performance offered by the machine”.

Mr Almeida, his Tornos colleague for French-speaking Switzerland, adds: “Five customers own more than 20 machines and the only thing limiting a greater take-up is the length of the parts that we can machine”. For a machine working without a guide bush, the length is limited to approximately three times the diameter. This explanation serves as an introduction to the birth of the Micro 8/4, the same machine that is now fitted with a guide bush.

A guide bush at a bargain price
Brice Renggli, Head of Marketing at Tornos comments: “Watchmaking is no different to other markets when it comes to the cost price of parts. By taking the tried and tested Micro 8 machine as our basis, we are able to offer a new version fitted with 4 axes and working with a guide bush at a highly competitive price. We are convinced that the machine will appeal to watchmakers as well as manufacturers from many other sectors.” To be able to put forward a highly attractive product, two tools have been removed from the ‘conventional’ Micro 8 machine range (X2) and it is available in three basic versions.

Three versions to meet the needs of the market
Mr Villard, the Tornos Product Manager behind this product, explains: “The Micro 8/4 turning machine is available in a ‘turning’ version, fitted with an 11-position tool holder plate and 4 fixed axial tools for main and secondary operation. Additionally, it is available with a ‘milling’ version with a plate for 8 chisels, 4 fixed axial tools for main and secondary operation and the S11 motors with two transverse devices and a ‘gear hobbing’ version with a plate for 8 chisels. Another option is with the S11 motor with a gear hobbing device. All these versions are equipped with a fixed guide bush.”

Simple to Set
The collet replacement and the settings are the same type as those offered to users of the Deco 10 whereby everything can be set from the front. Mr Schockle explains: “For our customers, this does not just affect comfort, it also offers significant savings in time and therefore money”. The Z1 stroke is 50mm (more if required) and the tools and devices fitted on the platten of the Micro 8s are already on the market.

While the Micro 8 has been incredibly successful, this is only because the market for a machine that creates short parts was waiting for an effective solution. But for some users, the length of the parts that can be created is highly restrictive. They no longer have to choose. The Micro 8/4 machine is equipped with a fixed guide bush that opens up the market for ‘long parts’, but with a simple kit, it is also possible to work without a guide bush, as it is with a conventional Micro 8.

Since the arrival of the Tornos Deco in 1996, many generations of machines have followed and more than once, the cam-type machine has been written off. When asked about this, Mr Renggli tells us: “Yes, Tornos has regularly put forward machines with dimensions more or less identical to cam-type machines with the aim of replacing them. And this is what has been happening. The universal cam machine does not exist just as the universal NC does not exist. Depending on the complexity of the parts, the size of the runs, the desired productivity and so on; some customers have replaced cam type machines with the Deco 10, the Micro 8 or the Delta 12, for example. The Micro 8/4 is not going to replace all cam-type machines, but we are convinced that the market will react very positively to this new machining solution”.