Product category:
Horizontal machining centres (HMC)
News Release from: Mori Seiki UK | Subject: NH5000 horizontal machining centres
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 28 March 2007
HMCs reliably machine tough alloys
Reliability and rigidness are paramount in a horizontal machining centre when machining forged stainless steels and titanium alloys in cuycles of up to 40h.
Machining parts from a solid titanium block is all in a 'day's work' for Claverham, part of Hamilton Sundstrand Based near Bristol, the company has been manufacturing actuators for helicopters, civil and military aircraft for over 40 years and is an established world leader in actuation technology
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 5 Jun 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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In particular, its equipment is used on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, AugustaWestland's AW139, and Sikorsky's 'Black Hawk' and S92 helicopters.
For production, the company uses three Hitachi Seiki HG500 and two Mori Seiki NH5000 horizontal machining centres.
Mark Smith, Machine Shop Team Leader at Claverham said, "We make the supply and transfer modules for the S92 and the main rotor and tail rotor actuators for the AW139.
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Capable of machining workpieces up to 2000kg the Pollard Mori Seiki SH8000 horizontal machining centre offers faster traverses and tool-changing times and shorter pallet changeover cycles.
Currently, we are manufacturing 12 per month, but this will be increasing to 27 per month in 2007.
The raised requirement led us to invest in our second NH5000 this summer." Starting from a stainless steel forging, the AW139 mmain rotor actuators take 22h and 19h respectively to rough and finish machine.
Smith explained some of the difficulties encountered during machining.
"Stainless steel is a difficult material to machine causing rapid tool wear and tool breakage if machined too fast.
The most important factors in the machine for us are high power at low revs, and rigidity." The NH5000 horizontal machining centre (HMC) delivers 22kW at the integrated motor and spindle, eliminating vibration from gears or other drive mechanisms.
Additionally, the machine castings are Japanese manufactured, and designed using both static and dynamic analysis, which ensures high quality and rigidity.
The general tolerance on the AW139 is +/-0.1mm and the tightest tolerance is 13 micron for a hole bored on the Mori Seiki.
All the machines are serviced at six month intervals and undergo a grid shift check for accuracy to within 20 micron.
Smith said, "The service programme and check gives us confidence in the quality of our parts.
We sometimes bore components from both sides, so we cannot afford a misalignment." Reliability is also important to enable the company to keep up with its production schedule.
The S92 takes 39h to rough from a titanium billet, and a further 40h to finish machine and add hole details.
Smith continued, "Cutting titanium is very demanding on the machine structure, especially as we run our machines up to 150h per week.
Despite the harsh cutting conditions, we have not experienced any adverse effects and are confident about their rigidity, reliability and accuracy." All the HMCs have a full 4th axis and pallet changer to minimise the changeover times and to help combine operations.
With appropriate fixturing, setting of the next part can be completed while machining is taking place.
Some parts require more than 90 tools to complete, so both of the Mori Seiki machines are fitted with 120 station toolchangers and probing.
Smith added, "We evaluated 5-axis machining, but as titanium is very tough, it is inadvisable to machine it too fast as it is liable to burn".
"It can also induce rapid tool wear, so we decided that 4-axis was more suitable.
We have found that the NH5000 is much quicker than the Hitachi Seiki, especially on the rapid traverse which has had a positive impact on our cycle times." Compatibility between the CNC programs on the Hitachi Seiki and Mori Seiki was important to Claverham when it selected the new NH5000 HMC.
A considerable amount of effort had been expended developing the code so the small amount of editing required to make it run on the Mori Seiki enabled the company to have the first machine fully operational within two weeks of installation, and the second machine operational immediately.
Smith said, "We are certain that the two NH5000's will produce the part right every time.
Additionally, our technicians have confidence in the use of the control and the machine tool itself, which further adds to the reliability and quality of our products. Request a free brochure from Mori Seiki UK ...
For us, the Mori Seiki machines have proved to be a very good investment.".
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