Model Type C

The Ficep engineering team developed the Type C plate processing center to address the needs of manufacturing concerns that produce such products as farm implements, off-the-road vehicles, asphalt paving machines, fork lifts and rail cars just to mention a few industries. The Type C product line combines the operations of:

The combination of performing these different operations in one CNC center on material ranging for gauge material up to 1" thick plate makes the Type C product line extremely versatile and unique. The ability to incorporate high speed milling into this system introduces a new family of parts that cannot be produced on competitive machines. In close tolerance applications where a plasma edge is not satisfactory the plasma cut edge can easily be milled to the precise tolerance that the part requires. This added capability gives the Type C the opportunity to tackle many applications that previously required that the part be routed to several different work centers to complete.

Some of the unique features that are resident in the Type C design can be summarized as follows:

Hydraulic Punching
The special hydraulic punching head on the Type C system with its programmable stroke permit the optimum usage of high capacity tooling with rake angle to substantially reduce the required tonnage during the punching operation.

Hydraulic stripper
The hydraulic stripper is designed to reduce the noise associated with the punching process and to improve the flatness standard of the punched parts.

Plasma Cutting
The plasma head on the Ficep Type C features a patented design where the torch is positioned independent of the punching head in the "Y' axis of the system. This feature drastically reduces the weight that is required to be positioned in this axis to improve the edge condition that is generated with the plasma torch when sharp corners are required for example.

The Plasma head features two positions that can be utilized when the high definition plasma option is selected. In this case the two torches can be set up for two different thicknesses to reduce set up when changing material thicknesses.

Tool changer
The tool changer option permits up to 14 tools to be automatically loading into the punching head of the Type B system.

Drilling and Milling
The Type C system can also be provided with a machining spindle that is capable of up to 5,000 RPM in conjunction with an automatic tool changer. The tool changer can be provided with either 6 or 12 tool positions.

The spindle can be utilized for such operations as high speed drilling with carbide, countersinking, tapping and even milling. The milling capability permits the system to perform final milling to an edge that was previously plasma cut which eliminates the hardened plasma cut edge. The milling capability can also be used to finish interior cutouts to a precise tolerance that could be required as a location for a bearing in the end product. Pockets can also be milled to facilitate subsequent robotic welding.

Hard stamp marking
The different parts within the nest can be efficiently marked with a 36 position daisy wheel hydraulic marker. The advantage of the hydraulic marker is its low operational cost and the fact that parts can be readily identified even after painting or galvanizing.

Retractable Clamps
The Type C system can be provided with three retractable material clamps that are used to position and hold the stock material during the CNC operations. When an operation is required in the area where one of the three clamps is located it will automatically retract and proceed with the required operation that was in the area of where the clamp was previously located. During this process the other two clamps firmly clamp the material as required for subsequent positioning.

Control
The Ficep Type C plate processing center features a PC based CNC control with proprietary software to ideally match the application of the system with the CNC control. The Ficep approach is not to take a standard CNC control with its generic features for machine tools and adapt it to a specific CNC fabrication system. The utilization of a PC based control reduces service cost over the life of the line as an off the shelf PC can be used to replace the PC based control of a Ficep line in minutes rather then have to experience the cost and delay of having a service technician perform the trouble shooting and replacement task.

The Ficep PC based control is provided with the proprietary Ficep software that permits remote trouble shooting of the entire system with a phone connection through a modem. This software not only permits checking of the software status etc. but more importantly the status of the machine and system hardware is checked and monitored.

Specifications