Quote Originally Posted by Toolmaker51 View Post
Gang drills - box jigs - fixtures. Tooled correctly, still a tough combination to out-run in limited production. Before CNC, those 'limits' were FAR higher.
Set ups make all the difference. Advantage is short distance between spindles compared with auto tool change. Another factor is 'Design for Manufacturing', minimization of blind holes, various tap sizes, orientation of features, left and right hand parts, creation of burrs. . . I'd recommend utilizing the flood coolant, too.
Yes there is effort, physical movement but not strenuous.
Agreed on all counts.
actually it is hard for a CNC to compete with well thought out jigs and fixtures on some things. Even CNC must be loaded and unloaded with parts If said parts are merely through holes all of the same diameter then a radial drill drilling a stack of parts clamped in a jig with drill bushings using flood coolant will out preform a CNC almost every time, that and there is zero chance of the holes not all matching or aligning up, unlike a CNC which may be subjected to power fluctuations due to several large induction machines switching on or off unless the CNC has its own on board UPS.
I had a CNC punch press that had 30 mounted punches and 4 orbital stations go into search mode after a power outage even though it was on a UPS it screwed up right in the middle of a complex punching task ruining a couple dozen parts being processed on an expensive sheet of specialty metal