Product category:
Horizontal machining centres (HMC)
News Release from: Leader CNC | Subject: Mycenter HX400iF horizontal machining centre
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 15 December 2005
Twin-pallet HMC kept machining work
in-house
When a broadcasting equipment components supplier had to meet a dramatic surge in orders, the choice to keep the work in-house centred on the acquisition of a twin-pallet horizontal machining centre.
When Vinten Broadcast , part of the global Vitec Group, had to meet a dramatic surge in orders for one of its products, the choice to keep the work in-house centred on the acquisition of a new twin-pallet horizontal machining centre After an extensive shortlist was narrowed to two candidates, the camera support product manufacturer opted for a Kitamura Mycenter HX400iF from sole UK agent, Leader CNC
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 18 Jul 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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With a customer list that includes the BBC and many of the ITV companies, such as Carlton, Meridian and Sky; Vinten has over 100 years of history in manufacturing products such as camera heads (pan and tilt), studio pedestals, tripods, spreaders, dollies, vision systems and robotics - in fact almost everything below the camera line - to the broadcast and film industries.
As a niche OEM the company today enjoys a healthy market share, and employs over 200 people at its Bury St Edmunds facility in Suffolk, UK.
"One of our customers regularly orders a specific set of products that we had been machining in-house from solid 7022 grade aluminium," explains product engineering/QA manager Andy Griggs.
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"However, the customer wanted us to ramp up production to meet a requirement for the supply of 300 sets over a 12-week period.
With our existing machining capability we could only manage 150 sets in that timeframe, which meant outsourcing the remaining 150 sets.
The alternative was to take the opportunity to invest in a faster, higher performance machining centre." Griggs and his team of production engineers duly began to investigate horizontal models by all of the major manufacturers.
The two machines that stood out were the Kitamura Mycenter HX400iF and a competitor machine - also Japanese.
"The two machines were very similar in price, but having seen demonstrations of both it was apparent that the Kitamura had the performance and speed we were looking for," says Griggs.
"The team at the Leader CNC showroom at Nuneaton really put the machine through its paces." The set of parts in question comprises three complex aluminium components - a 'body' part, a right-hand 'arm' and a left-hand 'arm'.
Previously it took Vinten 7 hours and 50 minutes to complete one set on an 11-year-old horizontal machining centre.
Today, using the Kitamura, that time has been reduced considerably, as Griggs confirms: "The Kitamura has had a major impact," he says.
"The total cycle time for a set of parts is now 3h 30 min - a saving of around 55%." The aluminium parts are loaded to cube fixtures that sit on the twin pallets of the HX400iF.
The main body sits on two faces of the cube, with the arm components on the remaining faces.
Each pallet, when completed, supplies one completed set of parts and exchanges with the second identical pallet.
The parts contain face milled and profile milled features as well as extensive pocketing, drilling, tapping and counterboring on the face and profile of the components.
The Kitamura Mycenter Hx400iF is ideal for cutting large components that require extensive machining.
It features a standard 25hp ac motor, solid box ways with precision twin ballscrews, 50m/min rapids, 5s pallet exchange and the versatility of a fourth axis rotary table as standard for both multi-part tombstone fixturing and complex, multi-angle, large part machining.
The 300 sets for Vinten's customer have now been completed and normal production quantities resumed.
The company now plans to start introducing other jobs to the Mycenter to take advantage of its enhanced speed and performance.
"We are more than pleased with the machine and Leader CNC," concludes Griggs.
"Within three weeks of placing the order, the machine had been installed and was cutting metal. Request a free brochure from Leader CNC ...
Today it runs for approximately 20h, five days a week over a double shift.".
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