Product category:
Vertical machining centres (VMC)
News Release from: Hurco Europe | Subject: VMX 50 HS machining centre
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 December 2002
VMC improves toolmaking surface finish
Improved machined finish combined with shorter cutting cycles have resulted from the installation of a machining centre at a Yorkshire toolmaking company.
Improved machined finish combined with shorter cutting cycles have resulted from the installation of a Hurco VMX 50 HS machining centre at Moorland Toolmaking, Batley The company, which was voted 'Toolmaker of the Year' in the 2002 Plastics Industry Awards, bought the machine together with a larger Hurco VMX 64 at MACH 2002
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 5 Feb 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The 15,000 rev/min spindle and 15m/min cutting feed capability of the VMX 50HS has provided a very satisfactory introduction to higher speed machining whilst the VMX 64 further enhances the company's capability to machine bigger injection moulding tools than hitherto.
Both machines replaced existing Hurco machining centres, providing significant capacity and capability upgrades within much the same floor space.
The purchases continue a long-standing customer / supplier relationship that began with the installation of three Hurco CNC milling machines when Moorland was established in 1984.
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"We have always been a CNC shop," remarked Malcolm Wallis, one of the three founding partners who still run Moorland.
"Then, as now, Hurco was able to supply machines capable of doing all that we needed at an acceptable cost.
Although we installed off-line part programming in 1989 and have continued to upgrade ever since, we nevertheless place a high value on the shop floor programming facilities provided by Hurco's Ultimax 4 CNC system." Today, the need to program three-dimensional complex surfaces directly from customers' CAD models means that Moorland relies on Delcam software for tool design and cutter path generation.
All five of its major CNC machining centres have a PowerMill system directly linked to the CNC on the machine, taking data via a local area network from three PowerShape CAD seats.
This provides a highly integrated approach to program development as the toolmaker takes full responsibility for production of the component.
It also spreads the programming workload and ensures that machinists' preferences and machine idiosyncracies are taken into account during program preparation.
"Having Powermill and Ultimax available gives our people a useful choice of how to approach a job," Wallis explained.
"We have a lot of experience with Ultimax and in the past we used it to produce 2.1/2D core and cavity forms.
Today, complex geometry is usually programmed using Powermill but there are occasions where it can be more efficient to use the Hurco system." Moorland is purely a toolmaking organisation, manufacturing tools up to 10 tons in weight and up to 2500mm by 800mm by 800mm.
It prides itself on speed of response and commitment to the customer, actively participating in the production development of customer designs.
This has seen it produce mould tools for a host of well-known manufacturers in the vending machine, garden tool, street lighting equipment and automotive sectors.
The company offers across-the-board capability so far as moulding size is concerned but has been particularly successful with tools for large components.
Said Wallis, "There are a lot of companies able to make tooling for small components but there is less competition at the larger end of the scale.
Capability to make bigger tools and willingness to invest in modern equipment has certainly helped us to maintain a reasonable workload during the current recession." With one exception - a Hurco Hawk knee mill bought in 1996 - all of Moorland's CNC machines are less than four years old.
As in the past, the two latest additions provide a real upgrading of facilities compared with the machines they replaced.
This is especially the case with the Hurco VMX 50 HS, which Wallis describes as 'a flying machine'.
"Although the machine is not ultra-fast in contemporary terms, it provides us with a useful combination of high speed machining and physical capacity," he explained.
"It allows us to do things that we could not do before.
For instance, we recently produced a mould for polyurethane dollies used in supermarkets.
These required a series of 8 mm wide slots to be cut 90 mm deep as a weight and material saving measure.
Without the VMX 50 HS we would have needed to EDM die-sink the slots, which would have been time consuming and required an additional set-up.
Using the Hurco we were able to machine the slots as part of the general machining cycle." This capability has enabled Moorland to continue to meet shortening lead times on major tooling projects.
A recent major job for a garden equipment manufacturer was turned around in ten weeks, a performance, which Wallis believes would have been almost impossible without the CAD/CAM/HSM capability.
Components produced on the VMX 50 HS need less polishing due to its capability to mill with smaller stepovers using tools of smaller diameter.
As tooling and machining strategies continue to develop it is expected that, on some jobs, polishing will be eliminated altogether.
Moreover, the machine's capabilities have encouraged the company to produce tooling from pre-toughened materials such as EN24T and P20.
In addition, there is an important benefit for Moorland's EDM die-sinking activities as the high-speed machine is equipped with dust extraction for milling graphite.
"The high speed machining centre has confirmed that this technology is the way forward for us," Wallis concluded.
"It provides the means of carrying the cost and productivity advantage that we gain with our investment in CAD/CAM right through the tool manufacturing process. Request a free brochure from Hurco Europe ...
Although we have been pleased with the performance of the Hurco VMX 64, the VMX 50HS has been a real eye opener.".
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