With around 600 employees, Schaeffler Aerospace in Schweinfurt develops and manufactures high-precision roller bearing systems for the aerospace industry. To help master this activity, the company has purchased a total of six WFL MillTurn machines in recent years, the latest of which is an M50 MillTurn with automation cell.

Prior to the purchase of these machines, many machining steps were carried out separately on conventional two-axis turning and five-axis milling machines. Thanks to the MillTurn machines, the company was able to achieve process-integrated complete machining for the first time. Machining steps such as turning, milling drilling and measuring are now carried out on a single system, which reduces set-up times, prevents re-clamping errors and improves machining quality. In the case of average batch sizes between 15 and 50 pieces, the number of set-up processes plays a decisive role.

Says Thomas Memmel, head of technology development at Schaeffler Aerospace: “One of the particular advantages of the MillTurn machines is the integrated B axis. Thanks to swivelling tool positioning, complex component geometries can be created with a small number of tools in just one clamping operation.”

The decision to work with WFL was mainly due to the machines’ rigidity via the slant-bed design, as well as the B axis mounted on a double-bearing. Thanks to the positive experience with this machine concept and WFL’s highly skilled service team, Schaeffler Aerospace has been using WLF machines for almost two decades now.

The finished bearings can be found in modern Rolls-Royce aircraft engines such as the Trent 1000, Trent XWB or Pearl 10X models used in the 787 Dreamliner and A350 airliners or business jets.

More information www.wfl.at