CNC Heads installs XYZ Mini Mill 560 VMC

CNC Heads has invested in a Mini Mill 560 compact vertical machining centre (VMC) from XYZ Machine Tools, which has resulted in reductions in production times and a competitive pricing structure.

Gas flowing and modifying a cylinder head can be a time-consuming and expensive task.

The manufacturing process begins with the scanning of a fully developed and flow-tested cylinder head.

This information is then used to generate a machine code for all cylinders, ensuring that they are all identical.

The code is then used to machine the valve throats, chambers and ports via the recently installed Mini Mill 560.

Alastair Heywood of CNC Heads said: 'Each cylinder head type is optimised once and the digital data used to replicate the design exactly, with the more popular types machined in batches.

'CNC technology means that, once you have machined the first optimised head, the next one will be machined in a much shorter time and will be identical to the original modified head,' he added.

The decision to install the XYZ Mini Mill 560 was prompted by a requirement to re-manufacture V12 cylinder heads for a historic race engine, which presented a problem when it came to machining the two end faces.

Heywood said: 'XYZ initially suggested inserting a riser block to provide the additional 150mm daylight between table and spindle needed to be able to machine these faces.

'However, XYZ then chose to redesign the machine's base casting, so the Mini Mill 560 installed in late 2008 does have an extended Z axis and came complete with bespoke, rather than modified, guarding,' he added.

The concept behind the XYZ Mini Mill 560 is a compact VMC configuration capable of machining a range of components within a small machine footprint.

A 560mm (X) x 400mm (Y) x 500mm (650mm optional) (Z) working envelope is contained within a 2,000mm (width) x 2,060mm (depth) footprint.

The standard machine weighs 3,100kg, with its Meehanite-ribbed cast-iron construction ensuring that full use can be made of the 15hp (11kW)/8,000rev/min (12,000rev/min optional) BT 40 spindle.

Induction-hardened and ground-box ways are Turcite-B coated to ensure smooth operation at axis travel rates up to 20m/min and the XYZ Mini Mill 560 is equipped as standard with 12-station tool-changer holding tools up to 100mm in diameter.

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