Plug-and-play five-axis automation system

Taking pride of place on the Mazak stand (F180) is its UK-made CV5-500 machining centre, supported with a plug-and-play, low-footprint MA-20/400 part-loading automation system.
According to the company, this versatile five-axis machine featuring a 500 mm diameter table, is unique in its category due to its high-rigidity bridge construction with a fully supported trunnion table that travels in the Y-axis direction under the bridge, delivering an accurate and compact machining solution. Attributes include rapid traverse rates of 36 m/min in the X, Y and Z axes, and an optional 18,000 rpm, 18.5 kW high-speed spindle.
For further information www.mazakeu.co.uk

One-hit turn-milling boosts throughput

Four members of the Toyne family, managing director Chris, his wife and company secretary Christine and two other directors – their son Jason and his wife Julie – runsubcontracting firm Mintdale Engineering of Chesterfield. The company specialises in the CNC turning of bar, tube and billet, as well as CNC milling on five VMCs.

Take, for example, an aluminium gas regulator base produced on the company’s latest turning centre, an Italian-built Biglia B465 T2 Y2 twin-spindle, twin Y-axis turret model supplied by sales and service agent Whitehouse Machine Tools. The 1.25 inch high cuboid part is machined from 2 inch square bar fed by an LNS Quick Load Servo 80 S2 short bar magazine.

This component, which Mintdale Engineering has been producing for 22 years, was latterly machined 20 at a time on a twin-pallet-change VMC. Op 1 involved machining three sides, milling a circular pocket, drilling various holes and then tapping them, while Op 2 after pallet change completed similar features. The floor-to-floor time per base was two minutes.

On the Biglia, Mintdale produces the part in one hit and requires only a small amount of face turning and parting off, the remainder of the cycle being prismatic machining. Both live turrets are deployed at the main spindle for some of the time, followed by simultaneous machining at both spindles using the two tool carriers. Although the cycle time is three minutes, 50% longer per part than before, the big advantage (and saving) is that production is unattended, unlike on the VMC. The finish-machined components pass through the counter spindle onto a conveyor feeding a Hydrafeed Rota-Rack parts accumulator.
For further information www.wmtcnc.com

Subcontractor turns to SMEC turning centre

With the turned components at DGF Engineering increasingly needing secondary milling operations on machining centres, the Royston-based subcontractor recently acquired a SMEC SL 2000M turning centre from Dugard.

“We picked this machine as we needed an upgrade,” states Liam Fernard workshop manager at DGF Engineering.“The machine that we had was only a two-axis machine and we were getting more and more work needing additional milling work. As we were happy with the service we had received from Dugard on our previous acquisition, a Dugard 1000 three-axis VMC, we naturally looked at their lathes and this one ticked all the boxes.”

The SMEC SL 2000M slant-bed CNC turning centre has a 570mm swing over bed and a 460mm swing over the cross slide with a maximum machining diameter of 360mm and a machining length up to 540mm. The 8inch chuck machine has a bore diameter of 76mm that accommodates a maximum bar capacity of 68mm. As with all machines in the SMEC range, Dugard says that the SMEC SL 2000M is a powerhouse with its 15/18kW spindle motor that drives the spindle at a speed up to 4500rpm and a 3.7/5.5kW motor that drives the driven tooling stations in the 12-position tooling carousel.

Discussing the components machined on the new Dugard SMEC turning centre, Fernard says: “We’re a typical subcontract company, so batches are varied and volumes of up to 200 parts is a big batch for us. We will machine a bit of everything on this machine;it will help our production move much faster. Dugard have been excellent and the investment is 100% worth it.”
For further information www.dugard.com

Mazak to build Swiss-type lathes in USA

To support the production of yet another new Kentucky-designed and built line of machine tools, Mazak has expanded the company’s Florence manufacturing campus with the addition of its new Syncrex assembly plant. The 27,000 sq ft building combines engineering, production and applications support for Mazak’s recently launched Syncrex series of Swiss-type turning centres for the precision machining of small parts.

With an output capacity of up to 10 machines per month, the Syncrex building features all the necessary overhead cranes and equipment its employees need to produce 16 different models within the series for the North American market. The machines come in four bar stock capacities (20/25/32/38) and four different axis configurations, up to a 9X model with full B-axis contouring capabilities. Production flow through the building starts with a machined base that progresses through assembly operations and on to alignment, testing, inspection and run-off procedures prior to shipping.

Kevin Sekerak, plant manager at Mazak, says: “Within the new building’s production flow, we’ve incorporated applications support, which is extremely critical for this particular type of machine. That support entails integrating various forms of automation and other ancillary systems together with the machines, then proving them out to make sure they all operate to customer performance requirements and specifications. Often, applications specialists will work side by side with assembly technicians during customer machine run-offs.”

The sliding-headstock Syncrex machines all sit on Mazak high-damping composite castings (HDCC) produced in the US and machined at Mazak Kentucky. This high-rigidity base provides greater vibration damping characteristics, less thermal growth and greater part surface capabilities when compared to cast-iron base machines, says Mazak. The company also produces Syncrex spindles, headstocks, sheet metal and other key components in Kentucky.
For further information www.mazakusa.com

MITSUBISHI WIRE EDM CUTS CYCLE TIMES BY 60%

When JVD Engineering realised that its subcontract EDM supplier was looking to wind down the business, ambitious business owner Matthew Abraham-Thomas spotted an opportunity and bought the company, bringing it under the JVD Engineering umbrella. As a manufacturer that continually invests in new technology, JVD soon spotted an opportunity to improve EDM productivity with the acquisition of a Mitsubishi MV2400S EDM machine from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).

Founded in 1991, the Yorkshire-basedcompany, which occupies a 20,000sqft factory in Morley near Leeds, has been on a continuous investment run, turning the company from a manual machine shop to a full CNC facility since Abraham-Thomas acquired the business from the previous owner.

“When our EDM supplier announced they were closing their business, we stepped in to ensure continuity of EDM services for our customers,” he says.“It was a simple choice – either bring the work in-house by buying the company or lose the business from our existing customers.”

Continues Abraham-Thomas: “The business we bought had six ageing EDM machines and only three were fit for daily use. Although we incorporated three of these machines into our business, we also wanted to upgrade the technology. With all of the existing EDM machines supplied by the same vendor, we wanted to invest in the same brand and technology.”

However, this all changed when Eric Tollet from ETG introduced the Mitsubishi EDM machines to JVD Engineering.

“I’ve known Eric for years and we were adamant we were buying a different brand, but Eric persuaded us to look at Mitsubishi and have a demonstration with Scott Elsmere,” says Abraham-Thomas.“Scott demonstrated the Mitsubishi with passion, pride and unfathomable expertise. This was evident when he emphasised all of the positive points of the MV2400S. Not only did he highlight the positives, but without emphasising the technical shortcomings of other brands, Scott showed us where Mitsubishi won-out over its rivals. When we eventually had demonstrations from alternative vendors, the inadequacies of other brands compared to Mitsubishi were evident and our decision was made.”

The Mitsubishi MV2400S EDM machine arrived in August 2022 and the benefits for the 16-employee business have been significant. As a general subcontract machinist, JVD Engineering produces components for a wide variety of sectors from a diverse range of materials. While EDM currently remains a small element of turnover, it is essential for producing challenging features and complex components such as keyways with very tight tolerances on tool steels and other difficult-to-process materials. It is this continuous throughput of challenging parts that previously required subcontract EDM services and eventually led to the acquisition of an EDM business.

“The Mitsubishi is a large-bed machine that has a 300 mm Y axis compared to 150mm on our existing machines,” explains Abraham-Thomas.“We wanted this for processing larger parts and laying multiple components on the machine for simultaneous non-stop production. However, this larger footprint meant we had to remove two of our previous EDM machines to make space for the Mitsubishi MV2400S. As the previous machines didn’t have the Mitsubishi CNC control or auto-wire feeding, the MV2400S was instantly more productive than the two models it replaced. We kept one of the old machines to fall back on – but since the Mitsubishi arrived, we haven’t even turned it on.”

Although the previous machines may have been past their best years, the new Mitsubishi MV2400S is at least four times more productive than its predecessors.

“We recently completed one repeat order and the EDM running time was 38 hours, which is now less than 16 hours on the Mitsubishi,” states Abraham-Thomas.“While the cycle time on this part has been reduced by more than 60-70%, it is the non-cutting time that’s making a difference. Previously, we would have an operator paying constant attention to the machine and having to frequently re-thread the wire – losing valuable processing time and absorbing excessive man-hours. With the auto-wire feeding on the Mitsubishi, the part is set up to run, and we take a finished part off the machine with no intervention.”

Although the company has seen a drastic reduction in machining times, it is the non-cutting times that are paying huge dividends for JVD Engineering. With technology incorporated such as Mitsubishi’s Corehold, E-Packs and D-Cubes – EDM has never been so user-friendly.

Intuitive operation arrives courtesy of the large screen with modern gesture control that boosts comfort, while the configurable user interface allows free arrangement of the main functions during daily work. With step-by-step dialogue guidance, users are piloted through the entire process, from programming to the start of machining.

Visible ‘at a glance’ features include machining status, elapsed production times, state of maintenance and other data. During the preparation of pending machining tasks, support comes from overviews of the remaining wire, state of filter cartridges, deionisation resin and other parameters. This prevents outages caused by finite consumables or worn parts, optimising machine run times. The complete machine documents inclusive of maintenance instructions are also available with the aid of photos and 3D depictions.

Discussing the innovation behind the machine, Abraham-Thomas adds: “With the previous machines, we would have to enter all our cutting parameters manually, whereas with the Mitsubishi, we load a DXF file of the part into the machine, enter the material type, thickness and area we want to cut and the control system simulates the cutting path and ideal cutting parameters – it’s that easy. It’s remarkably quick and simple; and once the machine conducts a simulation, it gives an accurate cycle time, so we can quote our customers accurately. Providing a precise quote very rapidly gives our business more confidence and it has also seen us win more work from both new and existing customers.”

He adds: “The intuitive software gives us the running hours and expected lifecycle of all consumables, but more impressively it provides a lifecycle for machine components based on running hours for preventative maintenance purposes. It machines faster and smarter than any of our other machines and it uses less wire and has a lower power requirement– it really is an incredibly intelligent machine.

“The machine has a host of additional attributes that impress us daily. We recently had to produce a hydraulic valve guide with a 15° taper. The EDM work on this batch of four parts was previously subbed-out at £800 per component, as we couldn’t find many suitable suppliers. Now, we can do this work in-house on the Mitsubishi. The reduction in our subcontract costs is one reason why this machine is paying dividends to our business. We couldn’t be happier with the machine, its technology or the expert service and support from Scott and all the team at ETG.”
For further information www.engtechgroup.com