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steps and the number of working stations, fixtures could be placed on the indexing table.
Number of stations could be anything between two and twelve, and is determined on the
basis of production volume and technical considerations.
Fig. 6. An indexing table (Photo: Suhner, 2001)
Multi-drill heads provide the possibility of drilling many holes on the same plane
simultaneously; thus, reducing machining time significantly. Multi-drill heads are divided
into fixed and adjustable types. In fixed multi-drill heads the position of tools are fixed, but
in adjustable ones the position of the tools could be adjusted as needed. Angle heads are
spindle attachments used to alter the orientation of cutting tool axis relative to the spindle
axis. These attachments are used in milling operations. Figure 7 shows different types of
multi-drill heads and angle heads used in SPMs.
Fig. 7.
Various types of
multi-drill heads and angle heads (Photo: Suhner)
