Citizen Machinery at MACH 2024

Citizen Machinery will reaffirm its position not only as a leading supplier of bar-fed lathes into the British and Irish markets, but also as a pioneer in implementing attendant technologies that take that pre-eminence to the next level in terms of innovative production.

The company’s patented LFV (low frequency vibration) chip breaking software, its wealth of options for automating production, and integral laser cutting in its Cincom sliding-head lathes are three examples.

The focus will be on Citizen’s proprietary LFV operating system software that ensures efficient chip breaking and every sliding-head mill-turn centre on the stand will have this functionality (Hall 20, stand 361). 2024 marks the sixth anniversary of the technology’s launch.

It has had a transformative effect on sales of Cincom sliders around the world, and also of selected models within Citizen’s fixed-head Miyano turning centre range, owing to the superiority of chip breaking over that achievable with conventional pecking macros and dwells. That is especially the case when machining stainless steel, aluminium, copper, various exotic materials and plastics. There is also a noticeable improvement in tool life and surface finish due to the avoidance of recutting of chips.

Problems arising from stringy swarf entangling around the workpiece and tool are prevented by vibrating the X and Z servo axes in the direction of cutting in synchrony with rotation of the spindle. The function, which has three alternative modes, may be used with static and driven tools. It is especially helpful in generating manageable chip sizes when grooving, drilling deep, small-diameter holes, and internal and external thread cutting.