Starrag’s NB 151 impeller and blisk machine made its UK public debut at the recent aerospace-focused ‘Inspiration through Innovation’ manufacturing best-practice event staged by Seco Tools. The new NB 151 could be seen performing the live machining of titanium and Inconel blisk segments as part of a comprehensive programme of best practice demonstrations and seminar presentations.

Starrag’s demonstration saw the twin-pallet NB 151 machining the segments in a single set-up, courtesy of specially-developed A and B rotary axes. The axes’ spindle movement allows the tool/cutting angle to be positioned relatively close to the workpiece, resulting in not only a more stable machining process, but a far more effective route to minimal cycle times.
Importantly, this improved accessibility to the workpiece is courtesy of a B-axis stroke of 280° which, together with the compact A axis and relatively slender spindle, enables the component to be accessed in all directions, even at the bottom of the Y-axis stroke.
As a result of the collaboration between Starrag, Open Mind and Seco, the demonstration highlighted an optimised machining solution that eliminates the traditional problems of short tool life and excessively long cycle times associated with difficult-to-machine materials such as titanium and Inconel.
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