Robot supports sawing operations

The fast, thorough cleaning of sawn parts and their location-appropriate storage: an employee of a different kind now performs this work at Schwilk Automatendrehteile – a robot. The manufacturer of turned parts from the town of Heroldstatt has opted for the MEBArobots solution in the course of further automation, matching its MEBAmat 330 bandsaw.

Managing director Jochen Schwilk says: “The robot offers us significantly more flexibility in the resource planning of employees. It takes care of tedious cleaning operations after sawing, removing chips and stubborn cooling lubricant. The robot also provides the positional storage of parts in a grid box or on special pallets.”

Previously, our employee had three Meba bandsaws under his care. However, thanks to the robot, he can now prepare other orders and has expanded his range of work in the material warehouse and incoming goods facility.

In the past, Schwilk’s cleaning process repeatedly led to production plant stoppages. However, since the robot now performs this task, stoppages are almost a thing of the past. MEBArobots is in use around the clock and delivers the same high level of work. Often overnight, the new ‘colleague’ produces parts unmanned. Should a problem occur at night, such as breaking a bandsaw blade, the robot reliably ensures that the system stops and that no consequential damage occurs to the saw or the robot.

MEBArobots contains know-how specifically geared to sawing applications. Not just any robot is connected to a saw. With the robot manufacturer Nachi and Meba, two professionals co-operate to ensure that robots and saws communicate smoothly with each other. The user receives a customer-specific system from a single source: an integrated solution.

For further information
www.meba-saw.com

Produmax achieves Fit 4 Nuclear status

Produmax has achieved Fit 4 Nuclear status (F4N), a prestigious award handed over by the Nuclear AMRC that benchmarks performance against the highest standards stipulated by nuclear top-tier companies. A tailored action plan of business improvements has been agreed and put in place through a series of on-site visits to close gaps in operations and processes. Reviewed practices include safety and continuous improvement, business strategy, and shared communications. An active S5 programme and near-miss reporting also featured high on the list.

For further information
www.produmax.co.uk

Strong growth in machine tool orders

Orders received by the German machine tool industry in the second quarter of 2021 were 103% up on the previous year’s figure. While orders from Germany rose by 81%, foreign orders were 114% higher than in the previous 12 months. This significant increase in orders has led Oxford Economics, the VDW’s forecasting partner, to put production growth at 8%, two points higher than in the spring. This figure would bring the volume for the current year to €13.2bn. Nevertheless, there is still some way to go before reaching the peak of 2018-19. At that time, the industry achieved a result of €17bn.

For further information www.vdw.de

Tracking bandsaw performance metrics

The new Lenox 360 system is the latest innovation to track bandsaw performance metrics, providing access to key insights, measurements and the control of valuable sawing operations data. This new technology is suitable for steel service centres and fabrication shops as it can improve decision making and maximise efficiency by capturing data in real time.

“The Lenox 360 system was developed to address the requirements of customers and key stakeholders, the greatest need being visibility into the innerworkings of their sawing operation,” says Daniel Fernandes, senior product manager – industrial bandsaw blades. “We found that the solution lies within the data, as it drives bottom-line performance. The Lenox 360 system will optimise productivity through a lucid translation of this data, ultimately cutting costs from the shop floor.”

Using a collection of sensors installed on the saw, performance data such as utilisation and efficiency metrics are transferred into a Lenox 360 system tower. Following transmission to the cloud, the data sets are analysed and populated into customised dashboards that arm users with the information needed to help maximise production and profit.

The dashboard is accessible on-site or remotely through the Lenox 360 system website or mobile app across a variety of devices, such as shop-floor monitors, desktop or laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones. These customisable dashboards display the easy-to-read performance metrics of each machine, the entire facility, or a collection of facilities in real time.

For further information
www.cutwithlenox.com/360

Andair improves machining efficiency for larger parts

Father and son team Andy and Owen Phillips, both of whom are pilots and aviation engineering enthusiasts, started a subcontract machining business in Havant in 1994. After four years, they applied their extensive knowledge acquired over many years of building and flying aircraft to transition their firm, Andair, into a manufacturer of fuel system components for light aircraft in the sport, amateur-build and commercial aviation sectors.

The QAS International and ISO9001-certified business is now a global producer of such equipment, with 90% of its fuel selectors, filters, check valves, gascolators and fuel pumps going to export markets. Regular customers include Cessna, Cirrus, Czech Sport Aircraft, Diamond, Grob, Grumman-Northrop, Rotax/Bombardier, Scaled Composites, Technam and Vans.

Miyano fixed-head, twin-spindle CNC lathes from Citizen Machinery UK have underpinned the production of Andair’s turned and milled parts since January 2005, when the first turning centre with sub spindle arrived at the Havant factory: a five-axis BND-42S. The machine proved so efficient that a second, identical model took its place on the shop floor six weeks later. Fast-forward 16 years and the company has bought a total of seven Miyanos, the latest being the first 80 mm bar capacity ABX lathe to be installed in the UK. The ABX arrived in June 2020, equipped with an Iemca KID 80 short bar magazine.

Andair had been waiting eagerly for the launch of the 80 mm version of this twin-spindle machine with two Y-axis turrets, having since 2015 been producing 3-inch and 2.75-inch diameter components from billet held in a Hainbuch chuck in the main spindle of a smaller ABX-64SYY, of which there are two at the Havant factory. The high requirement for components of this size meant that the lathes were performing chuck work 60% of the time.

Says Owen Phillips: “The production efficiency of our larger parts used to be lower because we could only manufacture a limited number of components from a billet, say five or perhaps seven. In the case of the aluminium body for an oil-air separator we are currently machining, we could only produce one per billet. Now we can machine all these parts from bar using the 80 mm capacity lathe, saving a lot of time. It runs continuously throughout the day and, although we are not set up for 24/7 operation at present, with this machine and our other Miyano bar autos it is feasible in the future.”

The other lathes in the factory all have twin turrets and Phillips had ordered a similar specification for the 80 mm model. Due to the cancellation of the MACH 2020 machine tool exhibition, however, Citizen Machinery had in stock a triple-turret ABX-80THY 12-axis model with a Fanuc control system that it had intended to launch at the show. Owen was initially hesitant, having never used a lathe of that configuration before, but decided to buy it anyway as it was available immediately. The machine turned out to be a complete revelation.

“I would not buy another twin-turret machine in future, because having three turrets is so much more productive,” states Phillips. “I would like a four-turret version if Miyano made one.”

He adds: “It’s no problem to transfer work to the more complex lathe, as a new program can be checked easily using the manual retrace function in the control, avoiding any possibility of interference between tool and workpiece.”

Phillips explains that the two turrets positioned above the spindle centreline, each with 12 live stations, work at the main and counter spindles respectively. The third turret is located below and has unrestricted travel to operate at either spindle, thus providing flexibility for balancing front and reverse-end machining. Three tools can be in cut simultaneously to achieve very high levels of machining efficiency.

So far, the company has produced around 60 different parts on its new lathe, all from 3-inch diameter bar. In fact, in one instance where a customer required a large valve machined from a 4.5-inch diameter billet, Owen turned the end of it down to 80 mm to allow machining in the collet.

In the case of the oil-air separator body, it is now possible to machine five from bar in 30 minutes whereas before, with an operator loading billets manually into the chuck of an ABX-64SYY, it took at least 45 minutes to achieve the same output. In other words, productivity is up by more than 50%. A further benefit to Andair is that the two 64 mm bar lathes can now be devoted to collet work, as per the original intention.

Another example of where the 80 mm bar machine has introduced benefits is when machining one of the few Andair components that the pilot actually sees, a fuel selector fascia plate. This aluminium part requires a very high level of surface finish, necessitating the use of a diamond-tipped tool. Engraving is also necessary to indicate tank selection. Previously, after turning the part from a billet, a second operation was required on a machining centre to mill material from the reverse and drill four holes.

Today, however, milling and drilling – as well as turning – are carried out from bar on the Miyano, leaving only a small operation to clean the bore on a separate machine. Cycle time is now at least two minutes less, while one operation has been eliminated.

In the case of another component, in fact the first that Andair made on the ABX-80THY, all three turrets had almost an identical amount of work to perform. Cycle time is 2 minutes 15 seconds, including parting-off and the component comes off finished, whereas previously the cycle was 4 minutes. Plus there was the need for a second operation, requiring extra time for both metal cutting and inter-machine handling.

Aluminium accounts for three quarters of throughput at the Havant factory, with a wide range of other materials also machined, including brass, bronze, plastics, tool steel and stainless steel. Batch sizes are relatively low, normally between 100- and 500-off, so there is a lot of machine preparation.

The Miyanos are quick to set up however, as they have built-in tool setters and program preparation takes place offline using an Esprit CAM system. Typical tolerances are in the realm of ±0.02 mm. Phillips reveals that any occasional out-of-tolerance parts are always the fault of the tool, as the machines do not move.

For further information
www.citizenmachinery.co.uk