FEATURE ON CNC MILLS & MACHINING CENTRES

Brake plant doubles production

A second automated production cell has been installed at the Tamworth factory of Alcon Components to cope with worldwide demand for its monobloc brake calipers. The calipers are machined from aluminium or lithium billet for motorsport race cars and high-performance road cars, as well as from cast iron for military vehicles.

Similar to the original automated system installed in February 2007, the latest configuration is based on a bigger Hermle five-axis vertical machining centre, a model C32U with 650 x 650 x 500 mm axis travels, reflecting the fact that brake calipers have become larger over the past decade. Supplied by Geo Kingsbury, UK agent for the German machine manufacturer, the C32U has been equipped with an Erowa Robot Easy that stores 12, 210 mm diameter pallets, which are transferred to and from the working area by a horizontally travelling load/unload arm.
As on the previous Hermle C20U, the latest five-axis machine is equipped with Blum laser tool-breakage monitoring and length setting, Renishaw part probing, an 18,000 rpm HSK63 spindle, 80-bar through-tool coolant and a 117-position tool magazine. Swarf management has also been provided, consistent with unattended machining of light alloy parts. Designs are produced in SolidWorks, while Open Mind’s HyperMill CAM software is used for creating the cutter paths prior to program transfer to the Heidenhain control.
Brake caliper production is a natural application for five-axis machining, as Alcon discovered 10 years ago. Compared with four-axis metal cutting, it is not only faster but also inherently more accurate, as approach angles can be adjusted to allow shorter and hence more rigid tool holders to access awkward component areas.
For further information www.geokingsbury.com

Foundry installs third CNC machine

The foundry at Thomas Dudley in the West Midlands is to be equipped with a third CNC machine. This latest investment, in a new Dugard XP1600 CNC machining centre, comes in response to demand, further expanding the company’s ability to quickly manufacture patterns in-house.

“At present, we are producing patterns up to 700 mm wide,” explains foundry director Mick Cramphorn: “With this investment, we’ll be able to cut approximately 1150 mm wide, larger patterns all in-house. The machine has a faster spindle, which will reach up to 15,000 rpm, offering enhanced finishes when cutting fine details such as text or texture on patterns.
“Our maximum traverse feed rate at the moment is 15 m/min, whereas installing the new machine means this will increase up to 20 m/min, which is exactly what we need for projects that require a fast turn-around,” he continues. “The combination of advanced engineering technology, a skilled team and ‘can-do’ attitude provides a high level of flexibility. Producing new patterns with the Dugard XP1600 will enable us to reduce lead times even further.”
Thomas Dudley’s new investment supports a commitment to working in partnership with existing and new customers as a value-adding, strategic engineering partner. The company says that, unlike many competitors, its foundry division can call upon automated and air-set manufacturing facilities to provide a flexible, UK-based production platform.
For further information www.dugard.com

Staffordshire manufacturer eyes growth

A Staffordshire engineering company has continued its investment in advanced CNC machining following a string of recent contract wins. Staffordshire Precision Engineering, based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, has purchased a VTC-800/20SR vertical travelling column five-axis machining centre from Yamazaki Mazak UK. The investment will enable the company, which turns over £3m, to move into the manufacture of larger, high-precision components for the automotive and aerospace industries, as well as the medical and scientific instrument markets.

Staffordshire Precision Components in Newcastle under lyme, Staffordshire pictured for a MAZAK case study feature.
Picture by Shaun Fellows / Shine Pix

“We’ve already won new business off the back of the purchase,” says director Gary Smith. “We can now also machine bigger parts, such as housings, to go alongside the medical and scientific instrumentation components we manufacture for existing customers, which means clients can consolidate their subcontract work into one supplier.”
Staffordshire Precision’s purchase of the VTC-800/20SR follows a successful period of expansion and investment. The company, which currently employs 49 people and runs a successful apprenticeship programme, recently moved to a new 28,000 sq ft site and created nine new jobs, with a further six likely to be added in the coming 12 months.
This investment in the VTC-800/20SR represents the fourth Mazak machine on site, the company having purchased two Quick Turn Smart 250M lathes and one Variaxis i-500 five-axis multi-tasking machining centre in 2016 as part of expansion plans.
“We like the fact that we can go to one supplier and source multiple machining solutions,” says Smith. “The two lathes were needed to service an aerospace contract, and the Variaxis has also been a huge asset. We have paired the machine with a pallet loader to increase production efficiency and it has already generated a lot of enquiries for highly complex aerospace parts.”
For further information
www.mazakeu.co.uk

Rapid supply of machining centre saves the day

The catastrophic failure of a five-axis machining centre, coupled with a requirement to continue supplying 12 aircraft seat-tray table assemblies per day that it was producing, is a nightmare scenario for any subcontractor. However, this situation was exactly that being faced by Dorset-based FGP Systems.
A solution was quickly found, however, namely the acquisition of a new Hermle C400 machining centre, which was supplied by sole UK agent Geo Kingsbury in a lead-time of just two weeks. After commissioning and training, the five-axis, vertical-spindle machine was producing parts within three weeks from time of order. Three months later, the supplier moved it to a new, permanent location in the company’s Weymouth facility over a period of just four days prior to Christmas.

Simon Griffiths-Hughes, director of engineering at FGP, says: “No other potential source of a quality five-axis machining centre could react so quickly. Around 14 to 16 weeks is a normal lead-time from a factory if a machine is built to order, but Geo Kingsbury had the Hermle C 400 in stock. As luck would have it, the machine was perfectly specified for our requirements with spindle nose probing, laser tool setting, HSK 63 tools, an extended 87-station magazine and an 18,000 rpm spindle for aluminium machining.
“Before we placed the order we spoke with several UK users of Hermle equipment, from blue chip firms to small subcontractors, and all endorsed the brand,” he adds.
FGP says that the C 400 has excelled, especially in respect of the surface finish being achieved on machined components. Many hours of manual polishing were previously needed to remove cutter marks. Now, components go straight from the Hermle to anodising without any further work.
For further information
www.geokingsbury.com

Three times faster roughing on super alloys

A ‘world first’ in manufacturing has created a commercially viable process to produce critical aerospace components such as engine blisks and compressor blades from nickel-based super alloys that enables them to be rough-machined out of solid up to three times faster, while saving up to 70% on tooling costs.
The machining operations are being carried out at General Electric Aviation’s manufacturing facility in Detroit, in partnership with Japanese machine, cell and system builder Mitsui Seiki with its prototype HW63-TD hybrid five-axis machining centre. Mitsui Seiki is represented in the UK by 2D CNC Machinery.
The patented Blue Arc process uses electro-erosion to enable ultra-high speed roughing cycles whereby electrical energy creates the spark between the tool and workpiece, and strategically melts the material against a programmed cycle which is followed by intense flushing to remove the molten material.
Says Tom Dolan, vice president sales and marketing of Mitsui Seiki (USA): “The process is akin to reverse welding using thermal cutting techniques, and opens up a vast array of potential savings for producing traditional difficult-to-machine components across sectors such as oil and gas, nuclear, medical and power generation. Blue Arc is also able to reduce the need for expensive, large and high-powered machine tools for rough machining, thus reducing capital investment costs by up to a third, plus the ongoing costs attributed to expensive cutting tools.”
He follows on to explain how machine tool footprints could be reduced by up to 50% compared with the highly rigid nature of a conventional multi-axis machining centre used for roughing.
For further information
www.2dcnc.co.uk