Metalex Vietnam goes virtual

The organiser of Metalex Vietnam has taken the decision to convert the 2020 edition of the exhibition to an online format.

A statement said the move followed close monitoring of the COVID-19 situation and guidance issued by the government and public health authorities. The Metalex Vietnam Online Edition will be live for two weeks, commencing on 10 October. Among the highlights will be virtual meetings and business matching events, machinery showcases, and technology talks.

For further information www.metalexvietnam.com

Faro acquires Advanced Technical Solutions

Metrology specialist Faro Technologies has acquired Advanced Technical Solutions in Scandinavia AB (ATS), a Sweden-based expert in 3D digital-twin solutions.

Founded in 1990, ATS has enjoyed particular success in the automotive space. The acquisition will integrate ATS software and its proprietary Traceable 3D system, which enables highly accurate and repeatable 3D scans, into the Faro Webshare cloud platform. ATS’ system connects the physical to the digital world and is expected to bolster Faro’s ability to improve its customers’ time to decision with 10x faster 3D imaging at up to 1 mm accuracy.
For further information www.faro.com

£5.7m MOD innovation hub

Dorset LEP is investing £1.5m of the Government’s Local Growth Fund towards the construction of a new Defence Innovation Centre at Dorset Innovation Park, the county’s enterprise zone.

The investment will be enhanced by £3.1m from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and £1.1m from Dorset Council. Scheduled to be operational by spring 2021, the new Defence Innovation Centre will provide 1100 sq m of office space and 450 sq m of workshop space for MOD innovation, as well as associated conference and collaboration space. The hub aims to create 90 new jobs and achieve a direct GVA of £4m in its first 10 years.

For further information www.dorsetlep.co.uk

Machining costs flattened at Gardner Aerospace

As one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of aerospace components, Gardner Aerospace places huge levels of pride in its precision, quality and cost-efficient streamlined manufacturing. It is for these reasons that the company, which has manufacturing facilities around the globe, has opted for cutting-tool support from MSC Industrial Supply Co.

At the Broughton manufacturing site in north Wales, Gardner Aerospace manufactures structural components for aerospace OEMs from a variety of material types. To ensure the most efficient production method, and that a cost-effective solution is integrated into the business, the Broughton facility has in the past 12 months instigated a working relationship with MSC. The introduction of MSC regional applications engineer Stuart Wiezniak to Gardner Aerospace was a decision based upon trust and reputation, with Wiezniak already yielding impressive results for the company at its Hull manufacturing facility.
The new working relationship almost instantly yielded several cost savings and productivity gains as soon as he entered the Broughton site. With MSC’s decades of industry expertise, Wiezniak was recently introduced to a troublesome component that, with an annual production output quantity of 7920, was tying up a turning centre for much of its daily three-shift operation.

The S98 stainless rod-end component with a 30 mm diameter sphere required a considerable material removal rate (MRR) to create a flat on each side in a cost-effective cycle time. However, using the turning centre, the limited rigidity of the Y-axis milling head and the three-jaw chuck clamping set-up created frequent machine alarms and stopped production. To eliminate this error, free-up machine availability, reduce cycle times and cut tooling costs, Wiezniak worked with Gardner to move the process to a Dah Lih four-axis machining centre with a BT40 spindle taper, in the process helping develop a fixture that can hold five parts in a single set-up. The results are reported to be little short of staggering.

The previous set up on the turning centre utilised a 16 mm diameter ball-nose end mill with two indexable inserts, each featuring two cutting edges. This end mill, supplied by one of the world’s leading cutting-tool manufacturers, ran at 3 mm depths of cut with a paltry MRR of 6.64 cm3/min and a feed rate of 246 mm/min. By recommending an alternate machine, a different work-holding configuration and more applicable cutting tools, Gardner Aerospace is now saving more than £37,500 per annum on this one job – and there is scope to bring about an even larger cost saving.

By designing and manufacturing a fixture to clamp and machine five parts simultaneously, and then having the insight to utilise the 4th-axis to rotate the components 180° to generate the flat on the opposite side of the sphere, Gardner is realising massive productivity gains. MSC has been integral in this process and in subsequently reducing manual intervention, increasing productivity and cutting costs.

From a tooling perspective, Wiezniak removed the previous indexable ball-nosed tool and replaced it with a Dormer Pramet 32 mm diameter high-feed end mill featuring five inserts (four edges per insert). Applying inserts with Dormer’s M6330 coating grade, the MSC expert increased the machining parameters beyond recognition. Running the new rough and semi-finish end mill at a 0.7 mm depth of cut and a cutting speed of 180 m/min, MRR leapt from 6.64 cm3/min to more than 50 cm3/min. This outcome reduced the cycle time from 5 minutes 49 seconds per part, to just over 33 seconds.

The strategy applied by Wiezniak utilises the Dormer end mill for the semi-finish process, completing the task with a larger 50 mm diameter button tool. Taking 26 seconds of rough machining with the Dormer end mill and a 7-second cycle with the finishing tool, the total 33-second cycle yields Gardner Aerospace a reduction of more than 5 minutes per part, a significant saving considering the annual quantities required.

Commenting upon the strategy, Wiezniak says: “The first challenge was to ensure machine availability to move the part from the turning centre to a machining centre. From there, we had the freedom to instigate process changes such as the five-part fixture for machining. Devising a platform for rigid machining was the foundation block and, once this was in place, we could look more closely at tooling strategies and subsequent savings.

“The beauty of creating partnerships with MSC is that we have access to hundreds of vendors and more than 120,000 product lines, so we’re not constrained by a single-source tooling supply,” he continues. “As a result, we can ensure the best tool for the application. In this specific application, the Dormer Pramet 32 mm high-feed end mill was the optimal choice for high MRR. For the finishing cycle, the rod-end parts require an 8 mm radius on the flats, so we opted for a 50 mm button tool with four inserts, each with four cutting edges. Running at a feed rate of 622 mm/min with a single finishing pass of 0.1 mm depth of cut, the button tool delivers outstanding surface finishes with tool life of 400 parts per cutting edge.”

Summarising on the savings that have been made on the rod-end parts, Wiezniak says: “Cutting-tool strategies are always a balance of costs versus productivity rates. In this instance, the annual tooling cost increased by £321 per annum to £2678, but we have slashed machine hours by 81% from 724 hours to 141, while the cost per part has reduced from £28 to £23. The saving of £37,542 not only absorbs the slight increase in tooling costs, but improves process reliability, frees-up machine capacity and
man-hours, and enhances component quality. We have exceeded customer expectations with regards to meeting the original objective, while delivering the project goals on-time.”

Referring back to the “equally large cost reduction potential” on this job, Wiezniak adds: “The rod-end parts has two different part families within the 8000 quantity requirement. Some parts require a 24.8 mm diameter bore on the machined flat, while other parts need a 17.46 mm diameter bore. Before the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, we investigated the possible options, trialled several tools and the results already look impressive. However, although we can expect another huge leap in cost savings, we’ve not yet had the opportunity for final approval with these tools. When the opportunity arises, I’ll be certain to deliver even more fantastic results for Gardner Aerospace.”

For further information www.mscdirect.co.uk

Proving priceless in the COVID-19 battle

Like a number of socially responsible and conscious manufacturers, Yorkshire Precision Engineering Ltd (YPEL) was among those that offered to support the Government and its Ventilator Challenge UK consortium.

When the call came from Rolls-Royce plc, YPEL turned the first batch of parts around in just one week.

Founded in 2001 by Michael and Lynda Laybourne, the Keighley company received the call for 8000 turned brass parts at the end of March. Within a week of getting the go-ahead, YPEL had programmed the parts, sourced the materials, identified the tooling, and had the parts machined, inspected, certified and out the door.

The rapid turnaround of high-quality turned components led to a second enquiry from the Ventilator Challenge consortium, a requirement for prismatic parts; and this is where a Bridgeport Hardinge V1000H from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG) stepped up to the mark.

Primarily functioning as a turned-parts business, YPEL has operated a solitary machining centre, an ageing Hardinge VMC600II workhorse, alongside its fleet of turning centres for several years. When the company required additional milling capacity, YPEL once again turned to ETG and its Bridgeport Hardinge range of VMCs, investing in a four-axis Bridgeport Hardinge V1000H machine that proved integral throughout the Ventilator Challenge.

With 4000 complex prismatic components to machine, YPEL created a workflow whereby the plastic housing parts were initially machined on the Bridgeport Hardinge V1000H prior to a second operation on a turning centre and a final operation on a Hardinge VMC600II.

Sales and financial director Lynda Laybourne says: “The capabilities, precision and flexibility of the Bridgeport Hardinge V1000H via its integrated 4th axis meant that that it did the bulk of the work. Our new V1000H conducted face and side milling, pocketing, grooving, drilling and threading in a 20-minute cycle.”

For further information www.engtechgroup.com