The first machining centre built by German manufacturer Hermle to be installed at a Hyde Group company has been operating around the clock since April this year at Stoneswood Precision Components in Dukinfield. The C400 five-axis vertical machining centre, supplied by sole agent Kingsbury, has been automated with the machine manufacturer’s HS Flex pallet storage and retrieval system to enable unattended subcontract production overnight and at weekends.

Stoneswood Precision’s managing director Charles Day says: “We looked at four options before deciding to buy the Hermle cell. Its major differentiator is the ability to stop automatic production quickly and use the machine in manual mode to manufacture a one-off part. The other solutions we looked at could not achieve that easily.
“The flexibility it provides is already proving useful, as it is allowing us to machine fixtures during the day and simultaneously set up the HS Flex for lights-out running overnight,” he adds, before stating that “the cell’s connectivity also fits well within the Industry 4.0 environment that we are creating in our factory”.
Stoneswood Precision’s current facility was set up in 2004 to produce 450 different aluminium and titanium parts for a military aircraft, involving the machining of mainly wing details. Already a user of several multi-pallet production systems based on horizontal machining centres, the subcontractor needed an additional system to fulfil a different contract for the manufacture of aluminium control boxes.
Initially, an older five-axis VMC with a B-axis spindle was employed to produce the suite of 48 bodies, sides and lids for the control-box variants, which range in area from 75 x 150 mm to 300 x 300 mm, and from 5 to 20 mm deep. The components are smaller and more complex than most of the predominantly aerospace parts produced at the Dukinfield facility, and the HMCs are too large to machine them efficiently.

Originally, the process route required the use of a coolant-driven, right-angle attachment for drilling holes in the sides of components to avoid further set ups. The tool, while in many ways fit for purpose, could not hold the positional tolerances required, down to 100 µm true position. Drilling was not sufficiently repeatable over a batch of components and therefore a new engineering solution was sought, resulting in the installation of the new production cell based on the trunnion-type Hermle C400 five-axis machine.
Says Day: “Apart from the control-box work dictating the use of a five-axis VMC, there are parts of other aerospace contracts that lend themselves to a vertical-spindle production platform, and many new enquiries we receive also require such capacity. So the choice of a second VMC, particularly with automation, made business sense.
“I had never heard of the Hermle brand but Paul Mellor, technical director of the Hyde Aero Products division of which we are a member, was familiar with the manufacturer,” he continues. “Some of our staff travelled to a user of a smaller HS Flex system in the northeast and came back with very positive reports, including from the shop floor, so we decided to place the order.
“Luckily the C 400 was in stock at Kingsbury, so it was available quickly to solve a looming production bottleneck, whereas other potential suppliers were quoting lead-times of up to a year.”
Day says he was impressed that the machine was quickly into service after it arrived on site, with final commissioning within nine days, after which the machine started producing components straight away. This speed was down to the prior provision from the supplier of a CAD model of the C400, which allowed early 3+2 axis programming of parts in CATIA, cycle simulations in Vericut, and the design and production of fixtures. The latter exercise was helped even further by Kingsbury’s delivery to Dukinfield of an actual machine pallet.
Advance preparations made the on-site training provided by a Kingsbury engineer over a period of five days more productive than had the subcontractor’s staff still been at the start of developing the processes.

Another facet of the C400 cell that Day appreciates is programmable coolant pressure between 0 and 80 bar, providing engineering flexibility that includes the potential use of the coolant-driven drilling head in future projects.
The specification of the Hermle cell includes an 18,000 rpm/20 kW spindle, extended tool capacity from the standard 38 pockets by the addition of an 88-position magazine for HSK-A63 tools with breakage monitoring and measuring included, a Heidenhain TNC 640 control, 850 x 700 x 500 mm working area, +91/-139° trunnion swivel, and 500 x 400 mm pallet size and capacity for 12 of them on two levels in the HS Flex store. Of note, the HS Flex store is served by a three-axis pallet handling unit with rotary, lift and linear motions.
The store is controlled and managed by Hermle’s proprietary Automation Control System, which enables smart order management via a touch panel. In addition, the system is currently being interlinked with an MES that was recently installed in Dukinfield by Forcam, which is compatible with Stoneswood Precision’s ERP software. The system allows production orders to be sent directly to all machines for improved job sequencing, leading to optimised production output. This provision of enhanced data, including of machine utilisation, is taking the subcontractor’s operation further along the road of Industry 4.0.

Currently, the Hermle C400 HS Flex is devoted to the control-box contract, which entails supplying 300 assembled housings annually. All components are machined either individually on a pallet, or four at a time on a tombstone, depending on size, from solid aluminium billet in two operations involving milling, drilling and thread milling cycles lasting up to two hours per side. The true position of the holes is now well within tolerance.
For further information www.kingsburyuk.com

Irish manufacturing company Dromone Engineering, established in 1978 and now employing over 140 people, took a early decision early not to focus on providing a subcontract machining service, but instead to develop, manufacture and market its own product lines. The company has since become an industry leader in both, namely tractor pick-up hitches for the agricultural sector and excavator quick couplers for the construction sector.

Dromone Engineering also resolved to keep its manufacturing base at company headquarters in Oldcastle, County Meath, and not move production to a low-wage country in Asia or elsewhere. It is an admirable objective that many firms achieve, as has Dromone Engineering, but in its case there was a particular obstacle. Despite having to provide top-quality products for applications in the industries served by the company, price negotiations do not come down to the nearest euro, but to the nearest cent.
From the start, the dilemma of manufacturing in a first-world country and trimming prices to two decimal places has continually focussed the minds of the firm’s directors and shaped their capital investments. For example, in 1999 Dromone Engineering was among the first to harness the productive power of laser cutting with the purchase of two 3.5 kW CO2 machines from Bystronic for profiling mild steel sheet up to 4 x 2 m.
In March 2019, these long-serving, reliable machines were replaced with more up-to-date technology in the form of a ByStar Fiber 4020 10 kW fibre laser cutting centre from the same supplier. The machine was delivered as a turnkey package, automated by the addition of a bespoke material handling system and tower store that accommodates up to 96 tonnes of material on 17 levels.

Dromone Engineering’s managing director William Egenton explains: “We export almost all of our products to 39 countries, either directly to blue-chip customers like JCB, Volvo, Massey Ferguson, Claas and Kubota, or via a worldwide distribution network servicing other OEMs, dealer networks and rental fleets. Customers in the west, in particular, appreciate the fact that we manufacture safety-critical products tailored to their specific needs in Ireland, and are impressed when they visit us. However, to make the operation financially viable we have to use a high level of automation.
“That is why we have invested €5m over the past five years in not only the latest laser cutting technology, but in three Panasonic robotic welding cells, four Mazak horizontal and vertical machining centres, and ERP software,” he adds.
Ollie Devine, maintenance and capex manager, says: “With some forms of automated production, such as welding, component quality is raised compared with manual techniques due to the better repeatability of the process. In the case of the Bystronic laser cutting centre, and other CNC machine tools for that matter, high quality is already built in. Automation brings more efficient delivery of raw material and unloading of finished work, minimising idle times and maximising efficiency.”
Cutting output at Oldcastle has seen a dramatic increase. The single machine fed from the sheet storage and retrieval tower, which was purpose-built to be exactly 5.54 m high so that it fitted beneath the factory roof, produces 30% more than both of the previous CO2 machines combined. This performance is not only down to the speed of fibre laser cutting, but also because previous sheet replenishment, although automatic, was relatively slow. This task was achieved using swing-arm Byloaders to transfer material from pallets to the respective CO2 machines and offload the laser-cut sheets. Overall, utilisation of the machines was only 50 to 60%.

In contrast, the tower system has a pair of handling carriages. One transfers a laser-cut sheet to a twin offload table arrangement at the back of the ByStar Fiber, while the other more or less simultaneously picks up a new sheet from the store and loads it on to the machine’s shuttle table, from where it is immediately transported into the cutting area.
Little laser cutting time is lost and machine utilisation is around 90%. Labour cost is saved, as the operator is required to run the cell for only 2.3 shifts, rather than three, to achieve the required output, which currently satisfies the delivery of 11,000 tractor line products and 6000 construction line products per year.
The offload tables themselves are another good example of Bystronic’s bespoke approach to meeting customer requirements. To explain, the tables were purpose-built to be of different widths and heights, and to run on rails set in the floor, allowing one to pass beneath the other so both can sequentially access a shake-out area.
A single table would have delayed laser profiling, as the fast speeds achieved using a 10 kW source would have seen the next machined sheet often waiting for the shake-out station to become free, wasting valuable production time. Even with the twin table set-up, the productivity of the ByStar Fiber is so high that two people rather than one are often needed to remove components quickly enough from each sheet before the next one arrives.
Says Devine: “We process from 3 to 20 mm mild steel on the ByStar Fiber. The 10 kW laser cuts thinner gauges three to four times faster than a 3.5 kW CO2 source, a speed advantage that reduces as material thickness rises. It translates into reductions in production cost per part of two-thirds on thinner components, down to one-third on thicker parts. This is highly beneficial when chasing cents on the price of one of our finished products.
“Fibre cutting is a more stable process and less maintenance is required, helping to increase uptime, while running costs are lower in terms of both consumables and power,” he adds. “Other benefits of the new system are better air quality in the factory, as the automation has eliminated a lot of diesel forklift movements, while extra space on the shop floor makes the kitting area more spacious and ergonomic, so there are health and safety advantages too.”
A Bystronic solution was chosen for this project partly because the compact configuration fitted into a corner of the Oldcastle factory that was previously unused, saving 1700 sq m of space. Six machine tools will fit into the area where the CO2 lasers were removed, which will enable Dromone Engineering to develop further the lean manufacturing and flow line practices it embarked on a decade ago.

Egenton concludes: “The relationship between our engineers and those at Bystronic UK in Coventry has been highly cooperative. At the outset, the good communication facilitated the precise design of a laser cutting cell to suit our needs. During installation, Bystronic made sure that there was a seamless transfer from the old process to the new one within a two-week period, when they ran side by side. After we swapped over, we pressed the button and were in production straight away. It is unusual for such a complex system to be completely problem-free from the outset and everyone was very impressed. Since commissioning, the supplier’s service has been of a high level, which is important to us as we now have only one laser machine and therefore no production redundancy.”
For further information www.bystronic.co.uk

Excel Precision Group has enhanced its wire and spark erosion capabilities by acquiring two new Sodick machines from Sodi-Tech EDM. Installed at the company’s Gloucester facility, which has AS9100 rev D and NADCAP AC7116/3 Rev B approval in place for both spark and wire erosion, the arrival of the Sodick ALC600G wire EDM and AG60L die-sink EDM will underpin a number of important contracts across both the civil and military aerospace markets.

Established in 1978, Excel Precision Group operates from two modern facilities in Gloucester and Leeds, which together house over 30 CNC wire and spark erosion machines. This capacity, along with its accreditations, make Excel one of the leading EDM subcontract operations in the UK, with particular emphasis on aerospace and defence.
“Few EDM subcontractors have both AS9100 and NADCAP approval,” states Steve Batt, operations director at the Gloucester facility. “This level of process control allows us to serve an extensive number of aerospace and defence customers. In addition, we currently hold company approvals from BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Goodrich, Safran Landing Systems, Dowty Propellers, Messier Dowty, MT Satellite, GE Aviation, Moog Aircraft Group, UTC Aerospace Systems, Mettis Aerospace and Triumph Actuation Systems.”
Along with the need to replace older machines, part of the reason behind the company’s investment in Sodick technology was due to the imminent ramp-up of an existing defence contract that is currently scheduled to run until 2022. An NDA has been signed, so details are scant, but the parts involve the intricate wire erosion of titanium stock.
“We looked at both Sodick and our existing supplier of EDM machines, but the test cuts provided by Sodi-Tech EDM were simply better,” says Batt. “In particular, the surface finish produced by the AG60L spark eroder really caught our attention. Due to the presence of debris, some machines struggle to replicate the surface finish achieved on the sides of parts, on the bottom face. However, this proved no such issue for the AG60L.”

Excel Precision’s AG60L has been set to work producing a variety of aerospace parts, including stainless steel actuator components. In total, the aerospace sector commands about 40% of the machine’s time. The other Sodick machine, the ALC600G wire EDM, has around 50% of its output sent to aerospace customers, including the titanium defence part.
“Compared with our old machines and process, using the ALC600G has transformed our operation for this component,” says Batt. “For a start, we previously needed two machines, whereas now the part is completed in its entirety on the ALC600G. Also, our old machine would only achieve a 90% pass rate on an angled face with a
5 µm tolerance. With the Sodick machine, the pass rate is 100%. That step-up in quality makes a real difference on high value-added parts such as these.”
Excel Precision is currently tasked with producing 200 of the titanium defence parts every month, although this figure will shortly rise to 600. Using the ALC600G, the company can produce around 24 per day. However, with work for other sectors, both Sodick machines run 24 hours a day, four days a week, with long cycle-time jobs loaded at the weekends. Aside from aerospace and defence, the company serves further high-end industries such as motorsport, nuclear, oil and gas, and medical.
“We’ve not had Sodick machines at Excel since before 1995, but we’re very pleased to make the switch back,” says Batt. “The technology has moved on considerably and we cannot fault the machines or the team at Sodi-Tech EDM, who have been very supportive since installation in early 2019. Through our own mistake, we once accidently set off the fire extinguisher on the AG60L, but the response was excellent and we were back up and running the next day.”
Excel Precision actually began life in Leeds, but started the Gloucester operation seven years ago through acquisition. The machines at Gloucester were around 20 years old and the company has since been progressing its way through a steady replacement programme.

“One thing we’ve noticed is the compact nature of the Sodick machines,” says Batt. “We were able to fit both Sodicks into the space previously taken up by one older EDM. Also, while we didn’t buy the machines for speed, it’s difficult not to notice the gains we’ve achieved. The titanium defence part previously had a cycle time of 65 minutes, but it’s completed in just 35 minutes on the ALC600G wire EDM, a 46% improvement. As for the AG60L die-sink machine, the results we get, particularly on deep cavities, is like nothing we’ve seen before. We have also reduced our electrode consumption dramatically; we now complete many jobs using just one electrode.”
Good growth over the past two years has seen Excel Precision Group hit an annual turnover of £2m, and more growth is expected moving forwards.
“There are many factors that set us apart from competitors, not least the capacity we offer and the accreditations we hold,” concludes Batt. “In addition, we believe the level of work and service we provide is second-to-none. It’s all about quality, on-time delivery and customer communications, all backed up by investing in the latest technologies.”
For further information www.sodick.org

In its 25th anniversary year, the Plymouth plant of hydraulic motor, pump and valve manufacturer Kawasaki Precision Machinery has seen a far-reaching reorganisation of its K3VL axial piston pump machine shop. This initiative follows the purchase in October 2018 of a pair of twin-pallet, horizontal-spindle machining centres (HMCs) from Heller Machine Tools to replace two ageing, double-pallet models on which it was becoming difficult to hold tolerance.

One of the new Heller H2000 HMCs, which are manufactured at the supplier’s factory in Redditch, is devoted to machining pump cases, while the other HMC mills and drills valve covers. The components are produced from grey iron castings that have had their bores pre-turned on a lathe in preparation for two-operation prismatic machining. Around 20,000 of each component are produced per year.
Production engineer Mark Pellow says: “In the case of the valve cover, the machining time of 50 minutes plus 10 minutes load/unload on the former production centre has been replaced by a 32-minute cycle on an H2000. For the pump case, the former machining time was 48 minutes plus 10 minutes, for handling, while the current cycle takes just 30 minutes.
He adds: “As set-up is carried out on the other pallet during machining, the next component is presented to the spindle within seconds by automatic pallet change (APC), so productivity has been nearly doubled for both components.”
The two process routes have been changed to enable such a significant increase in output. Parts are still loaded two at a time on a tombstone for op 1 and op 2 machining. One difference now is that fixtures have been built into a suite of tombstones to accept the castings directly, rather than first having to mount the parts on to work-holding plates. The latter double-handling procedure used to eat into much of the spindle uptime on the previous machines.

There is a second, even more important difference, however. When nearby Morris Engineering produced the work-holding solutions for Kawasaki, it arranged the two fixtures so that one is on a tombstone face and the other is mounted across the top, improving tool access. The result is that any given tool can machine more features throughout the whole cycle, the program no longer being split into two, so fewer tool changes are needed, leading to less idle time. Tool exchange itself is also faster at 2.8 seconds chip-to-chip, as are rapid traverses at up to 90 m/min around the 630 mm working cube.
In-cut times are shorter as well on the Heller horizontal machining centres due to the faster cutting feed rates and spindle speeds. This cutting data is coupled to the use of Seco’s latest insert-based and solid-carbide tooling having long service life, reducing the need for worn tool replacement. A 6.2 mm diameter solid-carbide drill now produces holes to depth at a fast feed rate, for example, compared with the previous need for a high-speed-steel drill to peck in 5 mm increments up to 20 times at a slower infeed. The use of carbide form drills from UTT also speeds hole production.
Further savings within the machining cycles derive from better probing of more features for establishing workpiece position, which allows most fixed datums to be live, minimising operator adjustments relative to them.
Not only is productivity almost doubled by the new processes, but accuracy of machining is also improved, allowing tolerances to be held easily. For instance, 50 µm valve cover concentricity, 20 µm servo piston concentricity and 0.2 mm dimensional accuracy on bolt holes are held to support a process capability of at least Cpk 1.33. Previously, some tolerances when checked on the Mitutoyo shop-floor CMM were close to their limits and engineering intervention was frequently needed.
Currently, production for one pump frame size is carried out on the Heller H2000s, but a further two sizes will be phased in over the coming months, entailing more than 30 part numbers encompassing all variants.
As to Kawasaki’s choice of Heller HMCs for this latest project, bearing in mind there are already two other brands of horizontal-spindle machine on the shop floor and a fourth was also considered, Pellow says: “As is often the case with machine tool purchases, we constructed a checklist of machine attributes from speeds and feeds, through health and safety features, to price.

“In this appraisal, 19 items were listed on a spreadsheet and Heller’s overall score came out on top,” he adds. “The fact that we use four other Heller HMCs that are about a dozen years old yet are still reliably producing a valve block and two cases for our KV3 pump, also helped the decision-making process.”
For further information www.heller.biz

Headline Filters in Aylesford, Kent has taken a big step towards streamlining the manufacture of its components by adopting twin-spindle turning and five-axis machining to reduce set-ups and take advantage of lights-out operations.

New process routes for around half of the factory’s production of bonded microfibre filter housings involve four new CNC machines installed between September 2018 and July 2019: three turning centres with Y axes from Biglia, Italy, and a German-built Spinner machining centre with trunnion-mounted rotary table. All of the machines were supplied by UK agent Whitehouse Machine Tools.
A backlog in multi-operation turning and milling of a particular filter part, a complex stainless steel head designated ‘112’, prompted the manufacturer to look for a more productive solution. The obvious choice was a lathe with powerful driven tooling and twin-opposed spindles to enable in-cycle machining of the reverse end of the component.
Space is limited on the shop floor in Aylesford and the machine initially considered was too large to be conveniently installed. Whitehouse demonstrated how the more compact Biglia B565-YS lathe, which was also half the price, could do the job – provided it was fitted with double, triple and quad tool holders in its 12-station turret so that the requisite number of tools could be deployed.
Programs were written and time studies carried out at Whitehouse on this part, as well as two other components, and the feasibility of all processes was confirmed. The first Biglia B565-YS was installed in September last year and ran for several months to clear the ‘112’ component production backlog.

Rob Hibberd, director of Headline Filters says: “As soon as we saw the lathe producing the stainless steel components in one hit, we knew it was the way forward and quickly ordered a second identical model, which arrived at the end of last year. The previous production method involved turning on two separate single-spindle lathes and three set-ups on a three-axis vertical machining centre, so five ops in all. Total cycle time was 17 minutes, including three minutes for repositioning the part on the VMC.
“The new cycle time of 16 minutes on the Biglia is not much different, as its driven tooling cannot compete with the milling power of a machining centre,” he continues. “However, the big advantage now is that there is no inter-machine handling or work-in-progress, and production is minimally attended, so the operator can look after several machines. Even more importantly, we can take advantage of unmanned ghost shifts for extra production output. We gain up to eight hours overnight when machining aluminium and brass parts, and a couple of hours when running stainless steel before the tips become blunt and the lathes shut down automatically.”
He adds that a further advantage of single-hit production is the ability to better hold tolerance, as no cumulative errors are introduced by repeated re-clamping. Run-out is improved and ±0.05 mm tolerance is easily held on O-ring seal faces. Surface finish is also enhanced due to the stability of the Biglia lathes and the ability to run modern tooling at the recommended feeds and speeds, so less subsequent polishing is needed. It is also notable that tool life is prolonged on these lathes due to their rigidity.
In another before-and-after example, an aluminium ‘360’ filter head previously needed turning on a lathe and prismatic metal cutting on a machining centre, taking 12 minutes (including handling between the two machines). The part is now produced in one hit in an 11-minute cycle on a B656-YS bar auto. Again, the main benefits are a reduction in work-in-progress, better accuracy and the ability to automate production.
Whitehouse facilitated unattended running by fitting to each lathe a Hydrafeed MSV80 bar magazine for feeding 1 m stock through the spindle and providing a Rota-Rack rotary parts accumulator to collect finished components delivered via a parts catcher and conveyor. The B565-YS lathes were supplied with a bigger spindle bore than usual, 75 mm rather than 65 mm, to enable the production of Headline Filters’ larger parts in high volumes.

Above this diameter batch sizes are lower, but recently the manufacturer’s US distributor started to request bigger products in higher quantities, which put pressure on the company’s single large-capacity turning machine. Positive experience with the first two Biglias again pointed Hibberd in the direction of Whitehouse, which in April 2019 supplied the largest capacity version of a twin-spindle Biglia 750-YS with Y axis and C axis.
The Biglia 750-YS is capable of turning components up to 552 mm diameter by 765 mm long, far larger than needed. More pertinently for Headline Filters, it is possible to use a bar puller in the turret or, alternatively, the counter spindle to feed stock up to 100 mm diameter through the bore of the main spindle into the working area to simulate the advantages of having a bar feeder. A 38 kW main motor, 17.5 kW driven tools in the 16-station turret, rotational speeds up to 10,000 rpm, plus the availability of high-pressure coolant, promote productive machining.
An early example of time advantage using this machine involved the production of a ‘380’ aluminium filter head in one operation in a cycle time of 15 minutes 50 seconds. Previously, using the other large lathe, which is of single-spindle design without driven tools, the part had to undergo two operations and then be transferred to a machining centre for milling and drilling. The three operations took 21 minutes 15 seconds, plus handling between machines.
As 15,000 of these parts are needed annually, the production cost saving is considerable. Work-in-progress is eliminated, avoiding the need to have batches of typically 400 part-finished components in storage. Moreover, as Hibberd points out, each part can be assembled into a filter for delivery and invoicing straight away, not days or weeks after machining operations have been completed.
A previous difficulty in the factory was that six lathes with limited or no live tooling were feeding components to a pair of overloaded, entry-level VMCs with 7000 rpm spindles for milling and drilling. That problem was alleviated by the arrival of the three Biglia lathes with their driven cutters, so the machining centres were able to cope. However, with an eye to the future, Headline Filters decided to invest in its first five-axis machining centre to boost prismatic metal-cutting capability.
The Spinner U5-630 five-axis VMC supplied by Whitehouse in July this year with 12,000 rpm BT40 spindle, provides more productive machining as higher rotational speeds increase metal removal rates and enable the use of more capable, contemporary tooling. A large magazine for 32 cutters, high-pressure coolant and Blum probing for setting tools and workpiece datums, form part of the production package. The extra power and rigidity will help when producing filter parts from tough materials, not only stainless steel, but nickel and titanium alloys.

Jason Rose, engineering and workshop manager, says: “We use the Spinner mainly in 3+2 axis mode for automatic workpiece positioning to reduce the number of manual set-ups. Nevertheless, we have a certain amount of contour milling to do and, when I design new products in future, I’ll have greater flexibility to incorporate features that would be uneconomic or impossible to complete on a three-axis, or even a four-axis VMC.”
He also advises that the U5-630 is significantly faster at cutting metal than the other machining centres on site. In one example, a 12-minute cycle was reduced to seven, and in another, 45 minutes was reduced to 20. There is potential to improve on these times further as Headline Filters’ operators become more familiar with the new cutters they can now use, as well as the Siemens control system, which is the first on site.
For further information www.wmtcnc.com