In Berkoa Machine Tools we got a second order to manufacture a special Vertical Lathe, in this case, for the Bellota Agrisolutions & Tools plant in the USA.
Once again, our cooperative managed to secure the trust of a customer after manufacturing a first special machine. It is one of the main manufacturers of agricultural machinery and distributor of spare parts in the five continents, Bellota Agrisolutions.
In 2020 we manufactured and carried out the commissioning of a TD2-800 Vertical Lathe specially designed for turning discs for tilling soil and sowing, for the plant that the agricultural multinational has in Legazpi.
On this occasion, the order came from the USA, for Bellota Agrisolutions & Tools of Rock Island, Illinois. For the manufacture of this particular lathe, we have met all the specific requirements necessary for this new customer; a clamp with two unique features, a flexible system that absorbs the misalignments that the head may suffer due to differences in the blank to be machined and a system of automatic regulation of the thrust-torque pressure, depending on the size of the part to be machined.
Likewise, and due to the thinness of these discs, the dragging system of the parts to be machined has to be by pressure and friction. For this reason, the machine has a clamping device specially designed for this application, consisting of a 320 mm diameter pneumatic cylinder which, by means of high friction draggers both in the head and in the clamping device itself, manages to drag the discs in the machining process.
The main difference of this second machine is that the feeding and unloading of the parts is carried out automatically by a robot. For this reason, the lathe has several specific pieces of equipment. On the one hand, a laser equipment that verifies that the part clamped on the chuck is well fastened, that it is the programmed one, checking its size and that there are no excessive eccentricities when turning the chuck. On the other hand, it has two probing devices that check both the wear of the tools and their possible breakage. With all this equipment, a greater autonomy of the machine is achieved, assuring the quality of the product.
The machine is currently traveling by sea from the port of Bilbao to the North American port of Norfolk after a stopover in the Portuguese port of Sines. By the time the machine finishes its last part of the trip, in this case by truck to the customer’s plant in Rock Island, Illinois, our Berkoa technicians will be already in North American lands to unload the machine, place it in the plant and start it up. Once the machine is already incorporated in its manufacturing line, our technical team will instruct the different sections of the customer on the operation, CNC and PLC programming, machine maintenance, among others.
After such a strange and difficult year as the last 2020, the confidence of the customers is even more important considering the uncertainty in the future in sectors as important for Berkoa as automotive, aeronautics, capital goods, etc. Thanks to this trust, our cooperative continues to expand its range of special machines, without forgetting the retrofitting and predictive and preventive maintenance that we offer.
Watch Berkoa Machine Tools TD2-800 video.
