Ford EV production gets 5G boost

Ford and its consortium partners have received government backing for the introduction of 5G connectivity to accelerate electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing.

A 5G mobile private network delivered by Vodafone Business will be installed this autumn in the new E:PriME (Electrified Powertrain in Manufacturing Engineering) facility on Ford’s Dunton campus in Essex. The Vodafone Business 5G solution is set to overcome many of the issues surrounding wireless connectivity in industrial settings, promising reduced delays, wider bandwidth, improved security and reliability, and faster deployment time.
Once installed, E:PriME Dunton will have the fastest possible connectivity alongside the consortium’s second network at welding research specialist TWI, based in Cambridge. Ford will focus on the connectivity of its welding machines. The batteries and electric motors within an EV require around 1000 welds. For a single EV product, the solution could generate more than half a million pieces of data every minute.
For further information www.ford.co.uk

Brass wire, but better

Combining a better continuous casting process with enhanced heat treatment methodologies has developed a high-performance new EDM wire: Bedra Betterbrass from Berkenhoff.

The company’s engineers have created a brass wire electrode comprised of a completely new alloy that delivers up to 10% faster cutting speed. Moreover, the wire is plug-and-play on all machine types. This electrode utilises innovative and efficient production processes to deliver performance never before seen in a traditional brass wire, claims the company.
The patent-pending wire offers reliable performance at a better price, to deliver faster eroding and less wire consumption.
Innovative alloy technology is another secret behind the enhanced performance of Bedra Betterbrass. The CuZn40 special alloy is paraffin-free and features a Pyrit gold surface. Tensile strength is 900 MPa, while elongation is 1%.
Wires of the Betterbrass One type are supplied on K160, K200, K250, K355, P5, P10 and P15 spools, with a wire diameter of 0.20, 0.25 or 0.30 mm.
For further information www.bedra.com

Machining turbine disc fir-tree roots

The AV35 is one of ONA’s most ambitious projects in recent years: it represents the company’s technological development of WEDM technology applied to the manufacture of highly demanding parts.

One of the machine’s virtues is that it is a standard model, offering a basic structure to which modules/accessories can be added depending on the type of component to be manufactured. This configuration allows for fully automated machining.
One of ONA’s greatest challenges has been to develop EDM technology adapted to the process in order to convert electrical discharge machining into a competitive and high-quality machining process, even when compared with some of the most common processes in industry, such as milling or broaching. An example of the latter is the cutting of fir-tree roots for turbine discs, which are mainly manufactured by broaching.
A successful project to highlight is the work carried out in collaboration with a company in the aerospace industry, a project in which ONA manufactured fir-tree roots for aviation turbines on its AV35 wire-cutting EDM machine (WEDM). This work is, without a doubt, one of the most important and ambitious projects ONA has partaken in recent years. On the one hand, the company had to undergo a cultural change, since different departments had to work closely on the development of the machine. On the other hand, thanks to the hard work of staff and the technology developed, the application was successful and the manufacturing process of highly demanding parts was validated.
“The most complicated part was co-ordinating with different departments, as well as with the client,” says an ONA technician. “We had to use state-of-the-art software tools to comply with the traceability requirements.”
For further information www.onaedm.com

U6 HEAT Extreme now available

Now available in the UK from NCMT is the Makino U6 HEAT Extreme wire EDM, which uses the largest diameter wire – 0.4 mm – of any machine on the market, says the company.

The wire is coated and distinct from the 0.25 mm uncoated brass wire that is commonly used in industry. This extra wire thickness, together with the use of a second booster generator in the machine, allows two-to-three times higher feed rates and heavier duty machining, coupled with a slower un-spool speed, so there is no increase in wire consumption rate. At MACH 2020 (now postponed to January), NCMT was set to highlight the roughing of a turbine blade’s fir-tree root form, assisted by dual pumps delivering high flushing pressure and volume.
Comprising part of Makino’s U-series wire EDM machine platform, the U6 HEAT Extreme uses a newly developed Bedra copper core wire with a double layer coating featuring controlled zinc donation. The wire has been optimised for use with Makino’s generator and is exclusive to the machine. Areas of application include aerospace and medical component machining, separating additively manufactured parts, machining tall moulds and dies, and tackling tough nickel alloys.
Makino’s U6 HEAT Extreme also features the company’s HyperDrive Extreme wire control, which employs servomotor tensioning to facilitate both jet and jet-less automatic threading modes, and expands the range and stability of wire tension to overcome the difficult job of reliably threading high tensile and stiff 16-micron wire.
A cutting conditions library has been developed to provide an optimum combination of speed, accuracy, surface finish and wire consumption for both sealed and poor flush applications. Settings for two-pass machining have also been created to provide optimal productivity.
To reduce maintenance costs, the machine features long-life energisers that extend the service life of this consumable. Moreover, to improve ease of-use and productivity, the U6 HEAT Extreme comes with the intuitive Hyper-i twin-screen control that includes functions to support the needs of operators at all skill levels.
For further information www.ncmt.co.uk

Precision machinist opts for Mitsubishi

In the face of shrinking demand for rubber injection moulds, AMB near Paris has been adding precision prototypes and mechanical components for a wide variety of industries to its portfolio.”

To aid this transition, the company began searching for a new wire EDM, as Jacques-Henri Miguet, second-generation managing director, explains: “We needed a new machine because our existing wire EDM from another manufacturer was unreliable and caused excessive maintenance costs.”
Initially there were discussions with three different suppliers, but the choice quickly narrowed down to the Mitsubishi Electric MV1200R offered by local agent Delta Machines. One important reason was that the system accommodates a working height over 200 mm.
Ultimately, a wire EDM system type MV1200R was purchased along with an EA8S die-sinking EDM system.
“Our Mitsubishi wire EDM machine works perfectly and delivers everything we expected of it,” says Miguet.
The MV1200R achieves an accuracy of 1/100 mm when used with wire diameters from 0.1 to 0.25 mm, usually with two passes to achieve the best possible quality. In two-shift operation and with an average spool life of 20 hours, jobs can usually be planned so that the next change falls within an employee’s working hours and the machine runs largely around the clock. In this context, the automatic re-threading of the wire after a breakage, even in the narrowest kerfs, is also very useful.
“If I should ever need another EDM system, I know exactly who to contact,” says Miguet, summing up his experience.
For further information www.mitsubishi-edm.de