Product category:
Vertical machining centres (VMC)
News Release from: Hurco Europe | Subject: Hurco VM1 vertical machining centre
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 05 December 2007
Machining centre turns and mills biker
parts
BFO Motorcycles in the UK plans to build 100 motor cycle conversion kits and to mill the components, the company acquired a vertical machining centre with an easily programmable control.
BFO Motorcycles in the UK plans to build 100 motor cycle conversion kits and to mill the components, owner Steve Atkins bought a Hurco VM1 vertical machining centre (VMC) in mid-2007, costing GBP 27,900 The VMC has a 660 x 356 x 457mm working envelope, which, said Atkins, is the ideal size for producing motorcycle parts
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 5 Feb 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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As he is under financial constraints while building up the business, he is using a three-jaw chuck and circular interpolation on the machine to produce most of the turned parts for the bike, so postponing investment in a lathe.
To buy even one machine tool in addition to renting an industrial unit in Coventry and incurring sundry other expenses - all based on a single bike design - is a big step for one man.
Atkins chose the Hurco machining centre because of its low price and ease of use.
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He is a designer, not a machinist, and had hardly operated a manual machine tool, let alone a CNC one.
Manual machines would have been too labour intensive for series production, making the kits too expensive.
There was also potential for inaccuracies to creep in due to human error.
Learning conventional CNC programming using G- and M-codes would have been very time-consuming.
All Atkins wanted to do was get accurate bike components off the machine quickly.
Atkins said: "I knew of the conversational programming capabilities of Hurco control systems through local subcontractors that had made prototype parts for me on Hurco machines".
He said: "The way the Max control manipulates geometry is similar to my I-DEAS CAD system, so I am in a familiar environment.
The touch screen control makes it very easy to build up a cutting cycle based on the geometry of the part and the tooling I have available.
You simply redraw the part on the Max screen, input feeds and speeds and the program writes itself".
For machining more complicated 3D parts such as patterns for producing areas of the carbon fibre bodywork and the seat, which was styled by John Keogh, Atkins uses a OneCNC CAM package.
It allows input of complex, 3D cutter paths directly into the Max control.
Atkins continued, "Just by machining the patterns for the switch:BLADE in house rather than having to subcontract the work, I have saved one third of the cost of the Hurco." All the formed 7020 aluminium tubing for the frame has to be machined so that it fits together first time.
There are fork clamps, mudguard brackets, foot rests, brake calliper mounts, handlebars and many other components to be machined from billet, plus most of the traditionally turned parts.
Atkins commented: "I now only have to subcontract the turning of headstocks, which are a little too long for the Hurco".
Atkins had calculated that there is about GBP 2,000 of machining in each switch:BLADE kit, so together with the saving in pattern machining, the Hurco will have paid for itself after nine bikes.
Everything after that will be for free, except for tooling and running costs.
* About BFO Motorcycles - ever since the early 90s, after graduating with a first class honours degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Abertay, Dundee, Scotland, Atkins had wanted to produce his own motorcycle.
While pursuing a successful career as a car designer at such prestigious companies as Peugeot, Jaguar and Aston Martin, he spent his spare time designing his own bike.
Four years ago he built a first prototype.
Two more followed, the last in October 2006, just in time to launch the concept at The International Motorcycle and Scooter Show at the NEC.
He took his first order, the customer paying a deposit there and then.
Together with a small amount of Government funding, it convinced Atkins to start his own company - BFO Motorcycles - and press ahead with series production.
Based on the Honda Fireblade, BFO manufactures a kit costing around GBP 6,500 plus VAT and, within a month, converts the donor bike into a bespoke motorcycle called the 'switch:BLADE'.
Only the Fireblade's wheels, suspension, brakes, wiring and engine are retained; the rest is replaced in the makeover.
The plan is to build 100 kits before moving on to a second donor bike, the Suzuki Hayabusa, and repeating the exercise in collaboration with international motorcycle stylist, John Keogh.
This second bike is already attracting a great deal of interest following release of the initial artist's impression. Request a free brochure from Hurco Europe ...
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