Special Purpose Machines

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Special purpose machines, as the name suggests are made to meet specific production requirements. These are designed exclusively to do a particular operation or a combination of operations in the given circumstances. They help to improve productivity by rendering the manufacturing processes more efficient. Multiple manufacturing processes such as pick and place, forming, handling and assembly, welding etc can be automated by means of these machines. These tailor-maid machines are manufactured by discussing the concept with the customers and modifying the machine according to their specific requirements.

Generally there are two layouts for Special Purpose Machines; single - station and multi station. In the former method the work piece is held in a fixed position where machining and sliding units are positioned around it in such a manner that they can process the part from different directions. In the case of multiple machining units they may process the part simultaneously or in sequence depending on the geometry of the work piece and machining features.

There are various types of Special purpose machines such as SPM for metal cutting, Special purpose CNC machine, SPM for vertical turning machine, rotary Indexing drilling & tapping SPM ,SPMs for multi and simultaneous operations such as drilling, milling, boring etc. The only drawbacks of these machines are the high initial investment that one must make in the beginning and lesser flexibility in operation as they are designed to do only particular tasks.