AUTOMATED ROUND-THE-CLOCK MACHINING OF PRISMATIC MEDICAL PARTS

At the Redhill factory of contract machinist ATC, the high quality, accuracy and repeatability of the medical devices it manufactures have been raised even further by the installation of a new, robotically loaded and unloaded production cell. Comprising a C12U five-axis machining centre served by an RS05-2 robotic billet handling system, it was built by the German firm Hermle and supplied by sole UK sales and service agent Kingsbury.

Guy Lord, owner and managing director of ATC says: “We’re one of the highest quality machine shops in the world, specialising in producing difficult components that others are unable to tackle. Around 95% of our turnover is medical work and we also manufacture super-accurate bearing rings. Currently, 60% of our business is from companies that have previously tried another subcontractor, either in the UK, mainland Europe or the US, and have been unable to obtain the quality they need.”

It is against this background that Lord decided to invest in the automated Hermle cell, which is allowing him to differentiate his company even more from the competition. At the end of January 2021, the subcontractor started manufacturing the products for which the equipment was bought, namely extremely complex spinal implants machined to ultra-tight tolerances from tough cobalt-chrome, whose low thermal conductivity tends to wear tools quickly. Surface finish is also extremely high to meet the cosmetic requirements stipulated by the customer.

This particular medical contract requires the production initially of a family of four different parts, with more to come, in cutting cycle times of approximately one hour. It takes just 30 minutes to change over between batches to make a different part, despite the complexity of the cell. Actually, the time to produce a first-off part, check it and very occasionally make adjustments has to be added to the set-up time.

The presence of the internal robot, temperature compensation within the C12U and integration of Blum tool wear monitoring with automatic sister tool change have allowed unattended production to continue day and night and throughout the weekend. It has lowered manufacturing cost-per-part and is delivering high levels of efficiency and consistency of output. A mix of different billets can be loaded into the cell on Friday night and the machine runs unattended throughout the weekend. Staff return on Monday morning to find a rack full of completed components ready for assembly or dispatch.

In March 2020, Kingsbury helped ATC with the urgent supply of a Hermle five-axis production centre equipped with an external, third-party, machine-tending robot to make ventilator parts for the NHS. It worked well, but Lord and his team realised that the configuration was overly large for the subcontractor’s general requirements. It was also apparent that billet loading and unloading of the finished components would work better and faster with a built-in robot.

“Cycle times in the new Hermle cell are broadly similar to those in other machining centres on our shop floor, some of which are automated with a pallet change system,” says Lord. “The benefits of robotic billet handling over manual intervention are consistency of component quality and dependability of throughput, added to which the cell runs 24/7 virtually unattended, unlike those that depend on pallet exchange.”

He went on to suggest that Hermle is one of the best global manufacturers of five-axis machining centres, while the addition of the integral robot really makes the installation “sing”, helping to amortise the investment much quicker than would otherwise be the case.

The plan is to take the automation a stage further within the next couple of years by integrating a co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) into the cell so that each part manufactured is transferred to the metrology platform by the robot to have its critical dimensions checked. Offsets will be sent automatically to the machine control to keep components reliably within their tight tolerance limits.

Speaking of ATC’s relationship with the supplier Kingsbury, Lord says: “There are fewer and fewer really good machine tool agencies in this country and for us, Kingsbury is one of the best. It is down to the high-quality equipment they sell and the very good service they provide at all levels. We have been buying from them for over 60 years, initially from the company founder, George Kingsbury.”

He continues: “Whenever we have a problem, they are quick to respond over the telephone or send in an engineer, even during the lockdowns. As a mark of their ingenuity, they proved-out the RS 05-2 robot load system on our shop floor via a Teams meeting with engineers in the German factory, as it was the first such system in the UK.

“It is notable that, near the start of the first lockdown, we spoke to Kingsbury on a Friday and they supplied a Hermle machine on the following Tuesday. They sourced a robot from Germany quickly and set up the temporary production cell. It was a fantastic service.

“We will buy more machines from the same source when the next project requires one, or existing volumes increase, and you can be sure it will have a built-in robot.”

For further information
https://kingsburyuk.com/

Powerful yet easy-to-use software

Programming simplicity will be Hurco’s theme on Stand G200, where the company will be showcasing the latest software available on its proprietary Max5 control. Hurco says that the 19-inch colour touchscreen control is popular due to the ease of programming first-off parts. Among the demonstrations will be the latest ‘Solid Model Import’ option, which is capable of further reducing programming times. Whereas previously only 2D DXF files could be loaded directly into the control to create conversational data blocks, it is now possible to import 3D STEP files, including surfaces.

For further information www.hurco.co.uk

Making a stand for automation

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, will showcase its industrial automation and collaborative robot systems on Stand C160. Pride of place will go to a Mills CNC SYNERGi automated manufacturing cell, which comprises a new 10” chuck multi-tasking Lynx 2600SY lathe (with sub-spindle and Y axis) integrated with a Premier SYNERGi system.

The system includes an industrial robot, a large capacity and flexible part loading/unloading station, a part inspection conveyor, end-of-arm tooling, laser floor scanner technology, and a 17” touchscreen HMI powered by SYNERGi software. At Southern Manufacturing, the SYNERGi cell will demonstrate the significant productivity and operational efficiency gains that automation brings, and the way it can help manufacturers embrace lights-out operations.

For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Teksign enhances its forming capabilities

With a history that dates back over seven decades, Teksign based in Brantford, Ontario, makes signs for the petroleum, automotive, hotel and agricultural equipment industries. For its forming needs, the company was using an older press brake that was labour-intensive.

“With the press brake, the operator would have to set up for every single bend, every time,” said Jim Hahn, production control manager at Teksign. “It would take two operators to manage the bends on a number of jobs we did.”

The company decided it was time to update its forming capabilities. Teksign has high-mix/low-volume production needs, and several of its projects are repeat business. This led to an investment in a CNC-equipped folder.

Teksign purchased the RAS TURBO2plus metal folding machine. The machine has several features that are ideal for the company’s fabrication needs. With the RAS Bendex software, an operator can automatically program parts, use alternative bending sequences and view the bending sequence on the monitor in 3D. The machine has a 3.2 m bend length and accommodates tool heights up to 127 mm.

“Its ability to store a significant number of programs simplifies our bending operations substantially,” says Hahn. “I’d say that we are cutting our forming time by 50-60% just in set-up time alone, between our former requirements of having to change dies and other actions. Now we can build much more, much faster, because we can easily switch from one job to another with the press of a few buttons.”

Teksign can also manage maintenance concerns remotely with its new RAS metal folding machine.

Says Hahn: “The team at RAS can take over our machine if we need something fixed or want something better explained. It makes it very user-friendly.”

RAS machines are available in the UK from Press & Shear.

For further information
www.pressandshear.com

Stauff invests in two more Unison machines

Stauff, a global manufacturer and supplier of precision fluid power products for a wide range of industries, has purchased two new Unison Breeze 35 mm (maximum pipe diameter) left- and right-hand pipe bending machines. One machine has been installed at the company’s manufacturing site in Sheffield, UK, with the other now in situ at a production facility in Sydney, Australia.

This latest purchase of Unison Breeze machines by Stauff follows on from the organisation’s recently signed five-year strategic partnership with Unison Ltd, an agreement providing all Stauff operations around the world with dedicated in-country support, assistance with product development and other benefits. Once both new Breeze models are operational, there will be no fewer than 15 Unison tube and pipe bending machines at Stauff’s manufacturing centres around the globe.

“We’ve worked with Unison for more than 10 years,” says Ken Cleal, head of production at Stauff UK and Stauff global production manager for tube and tube manipulation. “Throughout that time, we’ve received nothing short of the highest levels of service and support from them, whether that be assistance with product development, operator training, or machine tool maintenance. Unison machines consistently provide the uncompromising levels of accuracy and repeatability that are essential to our operations. Additionally, Unison’s Unibend operating system is exceptionally intuitive and user-friendly, making it extremely popular with our teams.”

Stauff’s new 35 mm Unison Breeze left- and right-hand machines will manufacture small-run complex components, such as hydraulic lines for braking systems. Materials bent will include aluminium, corrosion-resistant steel and exotic alloys. With the ability to bend in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions, the machines are ideal for parts of complex geometry.

For further information
www.unisonltd.com