Special Purpose Machines, commonly known as SPM machines, are mostly unavailable off the shelf. Unlike other machines, these don’t fall in the category of standard manufacturing programs. These machines are specially designed and tailored as per one’s specific demand. SPMs are also known as bespoke machines and specially designed machines.
Also, as the name suggests, special purpose machines are crafted to deal with special tasks such as fulfilling mass demands, producing materials with complete automation and so on. In this blog, we will help you know the usage and working of SPM machine, followed by some real example of SPMs. Towards the end, we will also tell you some advantages and disadvantages of these machines.
Usage & Working of Special Purpose Machines
As far as the functioning is concerned, SPMs are heavy-duty machines that cater to high product demand. With special tools and fixtures, these machines are used to mass-produce products throughout the day.
Generally, special purpose machines consist of multiple combinations of logic controls, sensors, switches, wires, automatic job clamping, etc.
Buy from the best special purpose machine manufacturer in India, which is efficient to help you with special purpose machines at an affordable cost for mass production of products. With our heavy-duty machines, one can manufacture small components of tractors, engines, or other vehicles.
Other components that you can produce with SPMs include shifter fork, wheel flange, clutch sleeves, shifter cam, and so on. The heavy-duty SPMs are best suited for the day-in and day-out mass production of components used in operations like drilling, tapping, boring, chamfering, turning, and more.
If you opt for a good quality special-purpose machine, it can work with 4 to 8 stations simultaneously, pending the production requirements.
Examples of Special Purpose Machines
In the previous section, we discussed the working and usages of SPM machine. Now let’s take a quick look at some examples of SPM machines. As we are talking about special purpose machines, let us tell you that these majorly include gear-cutting and gear-grinding machines, broaching machines, lapping and honing machines, and boring machines.
Scroll down and unveil the examples of special purpose machines for your understanding:
Gear-cutting machines
Gear cutting machines work on three basic methods of cutting for machining gears:
- Form Cutting: It uses cutting tools with the same form as the space between adjacent teeth on the gear. Usually, this method is used to cut gear teeth on milling machines.
- Template cutting: Similarly, a template cutting method uses a template that guides the single-point cutter.
- Generating: This method is being used after the cutting methods are done.
In most cases, machines, which use gear generating methods, are being utilized to cut gears produced in large lots. This method works on a simple principle, i.e., two involute gears, or gear and rack, with the same diametral pitch will mesh together properly.
A wide range of gear-cutting machines works on this principle.
Broaching machines
Broaching machines are used to plain or shape different art pieces. The broaching machine resembles the functioning of a shaper and planer tool. But with this machine, one can easily do both tasks at once while producing mass products.
The teeth of the broaching machine are spaced proportionately, and it is designed in a manner that every next tooth feeds deeper into the workpiece than the previous one.
This feature ensures that the operation is successful in one stroke. Some examples of broaching machine applications include cutting keyways, cutting holes and different shapes in workpieces, making cuts into a shaft, and so on.
Lapping and honing machines
Here is another example of special purpose machines- Lapping and honing machines. These are two methods of grinding.
While lapping is a process that includes a soft cloth impregnated with abrasive pastes or compounds that are rubbed against the surface of a workpiece, lapping, on the other hand, is used to produce a high-quality surface finish within close size limits.
Boring machines
Boring machines are the SPM machines that are used for boring workpieces of larger sizes. However, boring can be done with any machine which holds a boring tool and a workpiece.
But when it comes to larger size and heavy-duty workpieces, SPM boring machines are best. Standard boring machines can bore or turn work of up to 12 feet (3.6 meters) in diameter.
Automatic control
The automatic control machines are the ones that repetitively produce parts without any human assistance. These machines eliminate the stages like loading parts, starting the machine, or unloading the products.
This type of SPMs is capable of doing it all by itself. Since the machining of automatic machines is more difficult than hand-controlled machines, these machines fall into the special-purpose machine category. Once these machines are set up, even a less skilled person can operate them easily.
So these were some simple examples of special purpose machines offered by SPM manufacturer in India. Most of these machines are used to ease the process of mass production, promoting automation and lesser human assistance.
Advantages of Special Purpose Machines
Advantages would start strongly with the fact that they are tailor-made to serve a specific purpose, and that’s the biggest takeaway. Meaning, the work to be done could not be done by machines manufactured regularly but a special one – so that’s an advantage.
At the same time, it minimizes the possibility of human error and reduces human fatigue during repetitive operations again and again. Since it’s tailor-made, not many will have the machine; hence it will be a high-income source of low investment.
Disadvantages of Special Purpose Machines
Disadvantages would start too, like the fact that it’s not a product of day-to-day manufacturing, its problems might also not be common to solve. So special care and maintenance would also be required for such machines. Such machines might also be more expensive than regular machines as they are specially designed.
A perfectly crafted special-purpose machine requires minimal workforce and human support. As India’s best SPM machine manufacturer, we offer high-quality SPM machines that last for years and require minimal maintenance.
