Product category:
Vertical machining centres (VMC)
News Release from: Chiron Werke UK | Subject: FZ08W and FZ12W Magnum vertical machining centres
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 13 April 2001
VMCs reduce cycle times by 50% for
subcontractor
Precision sub-contractor SJC Engineering in Essex has recorded major gains in production efficiency since the installation of two Chiron vertical machining centres.
Precision sub-contractor SJC Engineering in Essex has recorded major gains in production efficiency since the installation of two Chiron vertical machining centres The all-round high speed machining capability of the two VMCs has enabled the Chelmsford-based company to reduce cycle times by up to 50 per cent while lead times on a wide range of aluminium alloy and brass components have been trimmed by over 15 per cent
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 29 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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So, it's no wonder that SJC Engineering's owner and manager Stewart Court is delighted with the machines.
"The Chirons have made a big difference to our production operations due to their high spindle speeds, fast traverses, ultra-quick tool changes and rapid pallet changing," he says.
"This has been most marked on fairly light duty cutting operations for simpler parts, where the cycle times are short yet we need quite a few tool changes to machine small pockets and drill numerous holes - as such non-cutting time soon mounts up.
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The all-round speed of the machines has improved our production economics on this work and has enabled us to quote competitively on a number of new projects, too." One example of such gains concerns a 75 mm by 40 mm by 6 mm thick aluminium electronics base plate.
Machining involves a small amount of profiling on the outside, a shallow pocket and 20-off 3 mm diameter holes which have to be countersunk to 6 mm diameter.
Such operations used to be performed on an older vertical machining centre in a cycle time of 3 mins.
However, with its 15,000 rev/min spindle, 0.5 sec tool change and fast rapids, the Chiron FZ08W is now producing these parts in half the time.
Fast tool changing plays a key role here as each of the seven tool changes required can now be completed in a chip-to-chip time of under 2 secs.
Previously, tool changing used to take 10 secs each, so there's a saving of almost 1 min/part from this Chiron feature alone.
Founded 17 years ago by Stewart Court, SJC Engineering is a precision sub-contractor specialising in the CNC machining of components for the aerospace, electronics and general precision engineering market.
Typical batch sizes range from 10 to 100 off and some components have tolerances down to as low as +/-5 microns.
Over the last two years or so, the company has invested around ?400,000 in new machine tools and its 6500 ft2 factory now houses eight vertical machining centres and two CNC lathes.
Accredited to BS EN ISO 9002, SJC is able to supply a complete service to its customers, from the supply of traceable materials to machining and component plating and finishing.
With an increasing amount of small, light machining work on the cards, Stewart Court was keen to optimise production routines to in turn reduce floor-to-floor times and lower piece part cost.
He needed all-round high speed machining technologies balanced with other time saving features to eliminate the non-cutting time that surrounds the production process.
A visit from a Chiron Werke UK sales engineer convinced him that an FZ08W machine would meet this requirement.
As Stewart Court recalls: "I liked the quality look of the machine, its rapid tool changing capability, fast traverse rates, swivelling-type pallet table - which was both fast and easy for the operator to use - and its competitive price." With X, Y and Z axes travels of 300 mm by 250 mm by 250 mm, the FZ08W was installed in one of the company's units on the Court Industrial Estate in April 1999.
Following the success of this model, SJC went back to Chiron again and purchased the larger FZ12W Magnum VMC a year later.
With a working envelope of 550 by 300 by 425 mm, a 7.5 kW motor, ramp-up speeds of 0.5g, 40 m/min rapids and a built-in swarf conveyor, this model was seen as being ideal for slightly larger and more heavy duty-type components.
And like the first VMC, the Magnum has proved its worth.
On an aluminium wave guide flange, for example, the FZ12W has reduced machining cycles from 14 to just 8 min.
These 125 mm by 80 mm by 10 mm thick components are produced in batches of 200-off, so the savings are considerable.
Machining involves the production of a central 40 mm by 30 mm rectangular through-aperture, contouring round this profile, followed by a variety of tapped, dowel and clearance holes then chamfering around the complete profile.
A more complex component produced on the Magnum is a 63 mm by 31 mm aluminium body assembly required in batches of 50-off.
This job calls for a lot of profiling on both top and bottom faces, three central 4 mm diameter holes each with a 9 mm diameter counter bore (which is milled using circular interpolation), 10 tapped holes (M1.6), six-off 3 mm diameter reamed holes, various slot-type forms and several circular O rings.
The previous machining time for the job on an existing VMC was 45 mins.
But cycle time has been reduced to just 25 mins since production was switched to the FZ12W Magnum.
The installation of the two Chirons - which are run for 10 hours a day - has had a big impact on SJC's general machining capability and efficiency.
And the introduction of such equipment is helping the company to achieve a 91 per cent delivery performance for one of its major customers - involving small batches, and bespoke designs and prototypes.
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