Workholding precision boosts Michell Bearings

As the inventor of the hydrodynamic bearing more than 100 years ago, Michell Bearings has spent the last century constantly developing its product range to meet the ever-changing needs of the company’s global customer base. The use of the latest production technology, decades of in-depth experience and the application of stringent quality systems, has resulted in the South Shields-based company gaining an impressive reputation in bearing design and manufacture for both the industrial and marine engineering sectors.

As the efficiency, reliability and longevity of any bearing depends largely on the quality of the methods used in its manufacture, Michell Bearings employs a wide range of CNC machine tools and advanced production aids.
The recent installation of a Hermle C60 UMT five-axis CNC machining centre prompted Chris Kemp, Michell Bearings’ manufacturing engineering manager to contact Tony Lewis of Thame Workholding with the intention of exploring ideas that would enable the company’s new acquisition to maximise its potential.
“As a designer and manufacturer of self-contained white-metal bearings and PTFE-faced hydrodynamic bearings, our products can be found in a range of challenging applications throughout the world,” states Kemp. “We have a long history of manufacturing bearings that withstand the test of time, and have products installed with 35 of the world’s navies on more than 300 vessels. Meticulous production and inspection methods ensure the quality of our bearings and help safeguard the global standing of the company.
“In accordance with our ongoing quest to enhance the company’s capabilities and further increase production efficiencies, we recently purchased a Hermle C60 UMT five-axis CNC machining centre with a capacity of 1200 x 1300 x 900 mm in the X, Y and Z axes. Our new machine tool allows the dynamic processing of workpieces up to 2000 kg in weight.”
With the aim of achieving the highest possible yield and looking to guarantee that the machine consistently met the demanding standards of precision at Michell Bearings, Kemp recently contacted Tony Lewis of Thame Workholding.

“After studying our new machine’s specification and capabilities, while also considering our objectives, we concluded that a work-holding arrangement, incorporating Thame Workholding’s Lang QuickPoint system and Samchully jaw boxes, would be ideal for our needs,” says Kemp. “By working together, Tony and I developed a system incorporating Thame Workholding’s products that has considerably reduced our new machine tool’s set-up and job change-over times, while greatly increasing its production availability. In addition to boosting efficiency, our new work-holding system’s ability to securely grip workpieces helps us to guarantee that the required levels of accuracy and surface finish are achieved on
a consistent basis.”
The work-holding arrangement conceived by Lewis and Kemp consists of several circular ‘slave’ plates that can be set-up offline. These slave plates have Lang QuickPoint studs attached to their bases and a series of QuickPoint plates that remain loaded on the machine table. The slave plates also feature T-slots that allow Samchully jaw boxes to be moved into position, tightened on to the workpiece, then centralised ready for machine loading.
On completion of a machining routine, the slave plate holding the finished part can be removed by crane, after which the next slave plate holding the new workpiece can be lowered into position. Upon quickly securing the new slave plate to the machine’s table, the next machining operation can begin.
The Hermle CNC machining centre’s spindle is able to move clear of the table, a useful capability that ensures the working area is completely unrestricted and accessible. As a result, completely unhindered crane loading is possible from directly above the machine table’s centreline.
According to Thame, the Lang QuickPoint system provides precise and repeatable mounting of fixtures and other elements on to machine tables, indexers, cubes, rotary tables and mill-turn machine tools. QuickPoint’s height of only 27 mm makes it the lowest profile zero-point-system currently available, says the company. Manual clamping is achieved with just one tightening screw (hydraulic or pneumatic clamping is also possible). The use of this simple and sturdy system allows a maximum pull-down force of 6000 kg.

“The QuickPoint location system is based on four wedge bolts in the pallet that engage with four grooved locating bolts screwed to the vice or fixture,” explains Lewis. “The highly repeatable nature of QuickPoint guarantees that Michelle Bearings’ slave plates can be loaded with workpieces off-machine, then quickly and precisely attached to the Hermle machining centre’s table. Now, rather than wasting valuable time setting-up a workpiece when the machine is idle, then performing machining operations as subsequent activities, these processes are capable of being completed concurrently within the machine’s cycle time. Deploying this strategy can help deliver outstanding machining efficiencies.”

For further information:
www.thameworkholding.com
www.michellbearings.com

£1.1m funding for FC Laser

Ilkeston-based precision laser cutting company, FC Laser, has secured £1.1m in funding from Lombard and NatWest.

The deal has helped fund the acquisition of two state-of-the-art cutting machines that will improve efficiency by 40%, giving the business a significant competitive advantage.
Danny Fantom, managing director at FC Laser, says: “Our new equipment means we will be able to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to productivity, putting us in a strong position to grow year on year.” Veronica Wales, Lombard relationship manager, adds: “FC Laser prides itself on both cost efficiency and the high quality of its products and services, and it has been extremely rewarding to have helped the business continue in this tradition.”
For further information www.lombard.co.uk

Mitsubishi Motors opens stamping shop

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) has announced the opening of a new stamping shop in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

The opening of the facility follows the inauguration of the Santa Rosa plant in 2015 and represents an important step in Mitsubishi Motors’ plans to expand its presence in the fast-growing Philippine automotive market.
With a capacity to produce 35,000 units, in two shifts per year, the shop enables Mitsubishi Motors to scale-up local production of the Mirage hatchback and Mirage G4 sedan, or Attrage as it is known in other markets. MMPC’s stamping shop facility contains the biggest stamping machine in the Philippines, reflecting the commitment of Mitsubishi Motors to the localisation of automotive manufacturing in the country.
As the first car manufacturer to join the Philippine government’s Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) programme, Mitsubishi Motors revealed that by 2023 MMPC will have produced 200,000 units of the Mirage and Mirage G4. Since its inauguration in January 2015, MMPC’s Santa Rosa plant has already created 600 additional jobs. The opening of the new stamping shop coincides with the announcement that Mitsubishi Motors has raised the local content of the Mirage to 35%, and will increase it further to fulfil a key requirement of the CARS program.
Commenting on the opening of the new shop, Mutsuhiro Oshikiri, MMPC president and CEO, says: “Our new stamping shop enables us to turn the aspiration of localised production into a reality, further building our presence in the Philippines, while at the same time strengthening our offering to consumers.”
For further information www.mmpc.ph

Press line equipped with robots

Martinrea has set a clear goal for itself: to be the world’s best auto-parts supplier.

To achieve its objective, the company and employer of roughly 15,000 people decided to equip its first large-scale press line in Mexico (at its facility in Silao) with a blank loader and multiple Crossbar Robot 4.0 units from Schuler, thereby gaining the ability to provide its customers with maximum flexibility.
The blank loader is suitable for outer skin parts. Here, the new optical line scanner from Schuler detects the precise position of the blanks before they are loaded into the first press. A Crossbar Robot then corrects the position as needed.
The Crossbar Robots 4.0 are the centrepiece of Martinrea’s press line in Silao. They transport parts directly from one press station to the next, and can accurately position the components for any die. Especially where multi-part components are produced, this flexibility delivers an important advantage.
Since the Crossbar Robot is hung on a track, it can cover distances of up to 12 m between press stations. Distances this large are mainly found on older lines, where space was provided for an unloading or turning station. This configuration means that the new Crossbar Robot can replace loading feeders, unloading feeders and part orientation stations in the gap between presses.
The Crossbar Robot is based on a six-axis industrial robot that was expanded by Schuler to include two additional axes: one for the hand of the robot arm and one for the horizontal drive. This enhancement significantly increases the robot’s range of motion, flexibility and output.
For further information www.schulergroup.com

RSD presses forward with £750,000 contract haul

Investment in a new machine from Worcester Presses is helping a Cannock automotive supplier win over £750,000 of new contracts.

RSD Pressings, which supplies components for seats, sub-frames, cross car beams, bumpers and bodies, has installed a new GTX300 Chin Fong progression press and can now take on much bigger parts for tier-one customers and major car manufacturers.
Nearly £350,000 has been spent on the machine and a Tomac TLN4 coil line, with more than £100,000 of funding secured from Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Grants 4 Growth, and the European Regional Development Fund. Three new jobs have already been created as a result of the investment and a further eight will be recruited over the course of the next 12 months once production starts on the projects already secured.
“The components we manufacture at our new facility in Cannock end up in millions of cars all over the world, including Aston Martin, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Volvo,” explains operations director Daniel Burton.
“Worcester Presses came in, looked at our requirements and then developed a turnkey solution that involved the GTX 300, the latest HMI touch screen control and new Tomac TLN4 coil line which will increase our progression and coil feeding capabilities,” he adds. “This machine has doubled our bed size and already led to several new orders that we wouldn’t have been able to take on previously. There is still lots of capacity on it too, which means we are looking for even more new work.”
For further information www.worcesterpresses.co.uk