Product category:
CNC turning centres, mill/turning, multi-tasking centres, horizontal and VTLs.
News Release from: NCMT | Subject: Okuma B-axis mill-turn centre
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 16 July 2007
CNC mill-turn centre raises
competitiveness
Facing fierce price competion on machined parts from Romania and Czec Republic, the answer is to buy the latest kit - such as a mill-turn centre, said a UK-based subcontractor.
Under pressure on prices from Roamnia and the Czech Republic, a UK-based subcontractor, T and G Engineering has invested in an Okuma B-axis mill-turn centre Located in Surrey, the company bought the mill-turn centre in April 2007 T and G Engineering's director Peter Huntley, said that it is essential to produce components in 'one hit' - or one set-up - rather than in two or three operations
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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'One hit' working is the only way to quote competitive rates and still make a reasonable margin.
"Our prices are comparable with those of other western European subcontractors, so we rarely lose out to those countries," commented Huntley.
"The work that UK companies sometimes send to China tends to be of lower value.
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One Guildford manufacturer recently awarded a contract to a Chinese company to machine what were supposed to be high-accuracy components, yet when they arrived here they were so bad that we could not even grind them into tolerance." He added: "In our experience, the old Eastern-bloc countries are the real threat at the moment.
They can produce reasonable quality parts at low prices, so subcontractors like us in the UK are having to invest in multi-function, multi-axis CNC plant to help 'level the playing field'." When visited, T and G had only produced a small number of components on its 7-axis Okuma Multus B300-W mill-turn centre, supplied by UK agent, NCMT.
The Multus B300-W has 15kW of main- and opposed-spindle power and an 11kW, 225-deg B-axis milling spindle.
The B-axis milling spindle performs the prismatic machining and, when locked in position, the turning operations as well.
Automatic exchange of HSK A-63 tools is from a 20-station magazine outside the machining area.
An example of a component using the machine's capabilities is a part that has an off-centre slot.
This slot needed the +/-80 mm Y-axis movement of the milling spindle to machine it to the required 10-micron total tolerance.
To produce the component on T and G's other machines would have required three operations, even though many of the other eight lathes on site (all Okumas) have driven tool capability.
"It is early days, but I would say that the Multus is cutting floor-to-floor time by around 15% for this type of component up to the machine's capacity - 630mm diameter by 900mm long," advised Huntley.
T and G machines wide range of materials at its West Byfleet factory.
Materials range from aluminium and brass to titanium and high-grade tool steels.
The latter include powder alloys, such as Vanadis 6.
The company also specialises in tight-tolerance machining of tooling for the can making industry.
T and G also supplies components to aerospace, F1, and the connector and fibre optic sectors.
To replace grinding with hard turning, the company has since ordered another Okuma lathe - a Space Turn LB3000.
The jobs involved are tool steel parts of up to 63 HRc and of carbide components in excess of 70 HRc.
The 'Space Turn' will double the company's hard-turning capacity with one operator manning both machines for most of the time.
Programming of new parts at T and G is mainly off-line, using a Unigraphics CAD/CAM system working from customers' electronic data.
Post-processed programs are downloaded directly to the machines on the shop floor.
For repeat work, the operator normally calls up the program directly from the OSP-P200 control fitted to the Multus B300-W.
It runs the Okuma operating system and also Windows XP, allowing Excel files to display machining instructions, tooling, offsets and cycle time.
Another feature of the control is comprehensive collision prediction and avoidance software that monitors in real time the position of the spindle, toolholder and tool relative not only to the workpiece and fixture, but also to the entire machining area. Request a free brochure from NCMT ...
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