Product category:
Control systems, DROs, etc, for machine tools
News Release from: ACI (UK) | Subject: Anilam 1100 MK CNC system
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 19 February 2003
Latest CNC has easiest software yet seen
Working in all materials, particularly high-grade stainless steel and aluminium, and in small volumes of often only one-off up to 100, here is why Marcus Allum has steadily invested in CNC.
Working in all materials, particularly high-grade stainless steel and aluminium, and in small volumes of often only one-off up to 100, Marcus Allum has steadily invested in CNC to satisfy customers' demanding turn-round times Visitors to Allum Precision Engineering's rural site in Berkshire are easily lulled into a false impression of the company as they travel down a dirt track, with open fields on either side and towards a series of traditional farm buildings
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 30 Sep 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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From the outside, there is no indication that the ageing stable block is home to a high-tech machining centre and other CNC machines that are proving key in the supply of precision components to a wide range of local manufacturers.
Even since Marcus Allum formed the company in the mid-'90s, when the initial manual machines - a lathe and a turret mill - were being operated from a trailer while awaiting planning permission to use the outbuildings for light industrial use, he has continually strived to at least remain on par with his competitors, but preferably one step ahead.
This he has succeeded in doing through combining clever and innovative engineering with regular investment in CNC machining - the latest of which is a Gate Challenger VMC-610 vertical machining centre, fitted with Anilam CNC, from Gate Machinery International.
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Demonstrations of a two-/three-axis CNC for intuitive knee-type milling operations will highlight the system's cost-effectiveness and user-friendliness.
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His current order book includes a wide range of precision-engineered parts for the automotive sector (ie, exhaust fittings), telecommunications (mobile 'phone components), aircraft (microlite wing struts) and oilfield and chemical industries (vacuum compressor heads) as well as a plethora of 'hobby' jobs such as the refurbishment and replacement of locks and keys for churches.
Working in all materials, particularly high-grade stainless steel and aluminium, and invariably in small volumes of often only one-off (prototype work) and batches of no more than 100, Marcus Allum has steadily invested in CNC to not only utilise the machines' higher speeds and feeds, to satisfy customers' demanding turn-round times and the required consistent quality of often complex components, but also to overcome a problem that is familiar to many companies - lack of skills.
"Although I have the services of two or three skilled operators on a part-time basis, the use of CNC milling and turning has largely enabled me to solve this perennial problem," he says.
"Most recently, this is particularly why I installed the machining centre.
"With most of the work going through a CNC milling machine it was essential I had the appropriate back-up, but I also decided that I needed an automatic toolchanger to ensure that every tool change - and these are frequent, due to the variety of small batch work - was performed reliably and accurately every time.
" The existing mill features an Anilam 1100 MK CNC, a control programmed by the Anilam-specific Machinists Language, a user-friendly, conversational system that Marcus Allum describes as "the easiest software I've seen".
So, aside from the relevant capacity and capability in terms of feeds and speeds, a main selection criterion for the new machine was that it also had to have an Anilam control.
Secondly, the machine had to be compact, to enable it to be accommodated in a small extension to the stable block.
The Gate Challenger satisfied all these criteria, "and was the right price", reflects Marcus Allum.
With a footprint of 1800mm by 1420mm (by 2490mm), spindle speeds up to 8,000 revs/min and rapid traverse rates of 24m/min and feed rates of 10m/min, the machine has working envelope of 610mm by 310mm by 525mm in X, Y and Z axes as well as a 10-station automatic tool changer - more than adequate for the range of parts being produced - and, importantly, also features Anilam Series 5300 three-axis CNC.
Developed specifically for vertical machining centre work, the Anilam control has a powerful 586 DX4 PC processor, 16 Mbyte RAM (upgradable to 64 Mbyte) and 12 inch TFT screen.
It boasts a CAM programming mode for interactive programming using icons (moves shown as they are being programmed), menu-driven tooling, tool compensation and interference checking, and built-in post-processor.
In addition, the control features colour graphics, conversational G codes and enhanced mould and die capability (scaling, mirror image, modal corner rounding/chamfering, for example) as well as a host of canned cycles including mould rotation, draft angle and irregular pockets.
Simulation graphic functions embrace rapid, feed and compensated moves (colour differentiated) isometric views, auto part fit, window zoom and static tool display, for instance.
However, because Marcus Allum finds the milling machine's 1100 MK's Machinists Language so user-friendly, and because most of the programs are already written in this, he prefers to take these programs across to the machining centre and simply tweak them for the higher spindle speeds and required tool numbers.
Pointing out that everything he wants is within the 1100 MK's canned cycle functionality for irregular pockets, geometry, bolt hole pattern and drill cycles and its graphics capability for program verification, for instance, Marcus Allum concludes that he really has no need to apply the G code functionality required by the VMC's control.
"Switching the programs between control systems works perfectly," he concludes.
"With the new machine I've got the best of both worlds: a fast and capable multi-tool VMC that not only consistently reproduces the quality parts I demand but also readily accepts programs originally developed in the easiest-to-use programming language there is.".
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