Product category:
Machining centres - all types
News Release from: DMG (UK) | Subject: Deckel Maho DMU 80P and DMU 125P MCs
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 05 April 2002
MCs slash lead times and bring work
in-house
Acquisition of a universal machining centre, quickly followed by a second, has reduced lead times on gear sets from 12 weeks to 8 weeks as well as eliminating subcontract-out work.
Acquisition of a Deckel Maho DMU 80P universal machining centre, quickly followed by a Deckel Maho DMU 125P has had significant productivity and competitiveness benefits for Paddock Gear and Engineering Ltd., of Tamworth Lead times on gear sets have reduced from 12 weeks to 8 weeks while the company's costs have reduced as it is now independent of subcontract suppliers for jig boring work
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 21 Jun 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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David Marklew, Paddock's managing director, comments.
"These machines combine jig borer accuracy with superb flexibility.
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Whereas it often used to be necessary to set a component up three or four times to machine all of the holes and bores, the DMG-supplied machines give us machining access to all but the clamping face with one set-up.
As a result we have been able to halve machining times while maintaining or improving accuracy." Paddock is an established supplier of discrete gears and epicyclic gear sets to the power generation, marine engineering and defence sectors, and exports around 80 per cent of production.
These are 'made to print' under an ISO 9002 quality assurance system to DIN 4 standards.
Maximum single gear diameter is 1.2 metres and the company can produce assemblies up to 2.5 tonnes.
Batch quantities range from 1-off to 50-off.
Production is predominantly reliant on CNC equipment, using forged alloy steel blanks.
Gear forms are produced mainly by CNC shaping which provides high accuracy gear forms without need for subsequent grinding.
The DMG machines were installed for highly accurate drilling, boring and tapping of holes required for subsequent assembly of the gear sets by the customer.
"Before we installed the machines we had a significant problem so far as getting the jig boring work done." Mr Marklew admits.
"We encountered the classic problem faced by anyone who has an irregular requirement for high precision work in that we had to pay premium rates but tended to be at the back of the queue.
As a result it became important to us to have in-house facilities capable of performing these operations as, apart from the lead time and cost aspects it would give us more control over quality." Tolerance requirements on this type of work are tight as in most cases hole positions are found relative to the gear form so alignment is critical.
General positioning tolerance required by Paddock is 0.025mm on a 900mm PCD, while bore tolerances on diameter are less than 10 microns.
In addition, repeatability is highly important.
On a given component there are an average of five types of hole, covering diameters from 0.75mm to 70mm.
These may be plain bored or reamed, threadmilled or tapped according to size.
"DMG were happy to undertake proving trials to demonstrate the capabilities of their machines in terms of accuracy and productivity." Mr Marklew recalled.
They were also able to offer us good delivery.
Subsequently the training and technical support we received from Luton was also very good and influenced the purchase of the second machine." The trials led initially to purchase of the Deckel Maho DMU 80P.
The machine can position the spindle head at +/-90 degrees as well as vertically, plus 360deg position C-axis on the worktable in addition to the three linear axes.
The machine has glass scales on the linear axes and thermal compensation on the spindle, and also has Renishaw probing to ensure correct alignment of the machining process with the component.
"We probe the gear tooth positions before machining to get the correct hole position prior to beginning machining." Mr Marklew explains.
"That helps with setting up the component on the machine.
Whereas the jig boring operation was previously very labour intensive, once the machine is programmed and set up then it is more-or-less capable of completing all of the work independently." Most of the programs are written off-line though the power available with the Heidenhain control fitted to the machine does encourage manual input at the machine.
Although both machines are nominally reserved for jig boring tasks they are also applied to high accuracy general machining work for which Paddock has an occasional requirement.
The company's decision to supplement the DMU 80P with the larger DMU 125P was based on the fact that the second machine is capable of accommodating the largest components machined by Paddock.
Its performance has lived up to the standards set by the original machine.
Mr Marklew concluded.
"Installing the two Deckel Maho machines has provided us with more capacity and made us more competitive than before.
The market sector that we trade in expects a high quality product so delivery and price are key purchasing considerations.
These machines have helped us to address both areas very successfully.".
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