Product category:
Horizontal machining centres (HMC)
News Release from: Heller Machine Tools | Subject: MCi 16 horizontal machining centre
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 24 July 2007
HMC machines 'intelligent' transmission
parts
When an engineering group sought a machining centre to machine aluminium transmission housing components it looked for a company to provide full production engineering support, writes Mike Page.
The M J Allen Group's prototyping and jobbing foundry M J Allen (Non Ferrous Founders) and the Group's machining division M J Allen-ENC in Ashford, Kent, UK, were traditionally working to orders of a few to double figures in terms of production quantities Now it had a contract to cast and machine ready-to-assemble transmission housing components - four for each housing - required initially at a rate of 1350 transmissions/year
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 6 Sep 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Quantities may rise to 5000+ transmissions/year.
So, M J Allen required a machining centre to machine four cast aluminium transmission housing components.
The 'driver' was an innovative, 'intelligent' transmission for Ford's All Wheel-Drive Ford Transit.
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During a visit to the UK's machine tool exhibition, MACH 2006 (May, 2006), M J Allen's production manager, Terry Nye and his team reviewed machining centres on display.
What they really looked for was a machine tool supplier that could offer full production engineering support.
Such support would involve methods planning, tools selection, jig and fixture manufacture, programming and so on.
They selected Heller Machine Tools of Redditch, UK, which was willing to offer such service and production engineering back-up, even though it centred on the sale of one machining centre.
About the initial meeting at MACH, Nye said about Heller's engineers: "This gave me what I needed.
I said 'walk me through the process - fixturing, cutting tools - this is the component, how do we make it?'" Nye added that there were other machine tool suppliers there who could have supplied a similar machine, but were not geared up to give full production engineering support.
Sales manager of Heller machine Tools, Eric Pollard, commented: "Heller has a name in high volume machine tools and flexible transfer lines, so Heller goes after the 'Tiers'.
What 'warmed' us to the (M J Allen) project was the engineering activity involved and the way in which their engineering team had approached us." Working in partnership with M J Allen, Heller Machine Tools built and installed its latest MCi 16 horizontal machining centre (HMC).
As can be appreciated, the production of the Ford All-Wheel Drive transmission system is a major departure from M J Allen ENC's traditional small batch size orders.
It is the company's first move into regular, scheduled production.
Prototype patterns and LM25 aluminium alloy castings for the transmission housing were produced easily within the company's existing non-ferrous sand gravity casting facility.
The foundry has since installed a new gravity die casting system.
In the machine shop, the existing CNC machine tools perform precision machining of large castings in low volumes.
So a production orientated machining centre had to be found.
* Machining centre selection - M J Allen selected a Heller MCi 16 HMC.
As well as more than satisfying the immediate production demand - working in one shift - the MCi has capacity to ramp up production.
Output expected for now is five/six sets of transmission housing components/shift.
In the run-up to production, engineers from M J Allen worked with Heller engineers to develop the production methods, the machine and the fixtures, to give the most efficient throughput of components combined with the capability to meet the ramp up requirement from a dedicated machining cell.
New to Nye and his team was the use of, for example, the Mapal reamers - widely used in automotive machining work.
Also M J Allen had not used hydraulic clamping fixtures before, and Heller had the expertise - such as sequential hydraulic clamping and workpiece orientation - to cope with the machining of thin-walled aluminium housings.
"We apply the same engineering expertise, whether it be to one or 21 machining centres," commented Pollard.
Heller had co-ordinated all activities, including working with Mapal and Sandvik Coromant on tooling.
Having worked closely with Heller engineers on the project, the M J Allen engineers realised that it would easier, more efficient and less expensive if the three other components, which are directly connected to the main case as part of the final assembly (the intermediate plate and side covers), were also manufactured within the Heller cell.
Consequently, Heller also designed and manufactured the fixtures for the right and left side cover and the intermediate gearbox housing.
* Quality control - When asked about quality procedures for the transmission housings, Tim Allen, group managing director, said the emphasis was to get the job done and get the product into the market.
"The volumes involved do not fit in with their (Ford's) matrices," said Allen.
"We presently have Q1 waiver status.
The Q1 waiver is OK, there are enough Ford people who understand what we are about.
We are a small, but innovative firm that gets Ford extra sales." In the machine shop, M J Allen has added on a DEA Sirocco coordinate measuring machine (CMM) for checking the smaller transmission components.
The company has also added on 'Lighthouse' statistical process control (SPC) routines and commented that Ford had been very helpful in that respect.
* About the Heller MCi 16 - the MCi 16 horizontal machining centre was selected for its fast traverse rates (60m/min), fast acceleration (10m/s2), and fast chip-to-chip times (2.8s).
In-process tool monitoring helps eliminate scrap and lost time by providing simultaneous tool breakage detection and integrated process monitoring.
Machining spindle is the HSK-A 63.
A high-speed chain magazine has 160 pockets.
Working envelope is 630mm in X, Y and Z.
Heller also designed and manufactured the fixtures for the transmission housing in its own fixture department, modifying them as required to suit Ford's adjustments.
The main transmission housing is machined front and back, in a 'tombstone' hydraulic fixture.
The fixture face accepts two housings, one facing forward, and one facing backwards, for complete machining.
The other three smaller components are held in similar fixtures.
* About the transmission - The intelligent All-Wheel-Drive Ford Transit was awarded the prestigious International Van of the Year 2007 Award.
Premiered at the Hanover Commercial Vehicle Show, this is the first time that the Ford Transit has been available with an All-Wheel-Drive transmission.
The All-Wheel-Drive System was conceived, designed and developed by Eric May, engineering director at Countytrac, a subsidiary of M J Allen.
The All-Wheel-Drive Transit is based on the rear drive 140HP 2.4 litre Duratorq diesel model, and has been designed to provide increased traction capabilities without infringing road performance or ground clearance.
The all-mechanical system ensures that while the rear and front wheels are turning at the same speed the van adopts conventional rear-wheel drive.
When the system senses the rear wheels are starting to turn faster than the front wheels it automatically engages driveshaft clutches to split the drive with the front wheels.
When front and rear wheels are turning at the same speed again, the system disengages automatically.
The four wheel drive system is housed in a modified gearbox casing, which uses the same six-speed gearbox as the conventional rear-wheel drive 140PS Transit.
* About the author - Mike Page is editor of Manufacturingtalk, Pro-Talk, Centaur Publications. Request a free brochure from Heller Machine Tools ...
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