Air Driven Spindle

What is air driven spindle?
Air driven spindle, also known as air power spindle, is an air driven tool with variable spindle speed and is highly popular as a spindle for performing a wide range of machining tasks. This type of spindle has emerged into the market to provide endless solutions of micro machining with precision and ultra high speed. It is to be noted that any technique of high speed machining not necessarily requires any particular spindle speed. Even if the spindle moves at a slow speed, some of the high speed machining benefits can still be realized by increasing the feed rate and decreasing the depth of cut. On a normal machining center, air driven spindle can be used as an additional spindle thereby eliminating the need for an additional expensive, high-speed machine. The air driven spindle is held to exacting tolerances in all machining centers thereby making the spindle a high speed tool that is accurate and consistent.


Features of air driven spindles
As the air power spindles can be used as an additional spindle on a machining tool, some advancements and capabilities that are available in these spindles are as follows:

• The maximum spindle speed of air driven spindles can extend up to 80,000 RPM though they can also perform efficiently at a very low spindle speed.
  
  
• Air driven spindle remains constant at less than 0.001 mm of displacement when compared with a standard machining center spindle with up to 0.012 mm.
  
  
• They have outstanding dynamic runout accuracy.
  
  
• Thermal displacement is very minimal.
  
  
• They are also available in many dual contact spindle types.
  
  
• They provide ultra high-speed and precision.
  
  
• Ceramic ball bearings are mostly used.
  
  
• Very low vibration when in operation.
  
  
• Reduced machining time.
  
  
• Low noise design.
  
  
• Provides perfect dynamic balance.

Functions of air driven spindles
Air driven spindle can be used on existing machining centers to perform the following funtions:

• Providing dramatic enhancements to surface finish quality.
• Extending tool life.
• Reducing wear on high speed spindles.
• The air driven spindle is highly versatile to grind or polish to achieve smooth finishes and close tolerances.
• Routinely used for conventional cutting.
• Used in micro drills and endmills.

Advantages of air driven spindles
Some of the advantages of air driven spindles are as follows:

• The air-driven spindle is used as an additional spindle on an existing machining center, thereby helping the users to avoid buying another machine.
  
  
• Air-driven spindle is useful for small parts in a machining center.
  
  
• The spindle is useful for machining miniature medical parts.
  
  
• The air power spindle is appropriate for micro machining.
  
  
• It also helps in eliminating secondary operations.
  
  
• On mills that are slow in drilling or milling small holes or slots, the air driven spindle permits more advantageous speeds and feeds.