Cute cuts completed
A 5-axis Spinner machine slashes set-up times, economic batch sizes
& lead times; XYZ vertical machining centre brings work in house
The installation of a 40-taper, 5-axis,
Spinner U-620 vertical machining
centre without a pallet changer has
underpinned a fundamental and positive
change to the way stainless steel pump
bodies are machined by subcontractor
Metaltech Precision Engineers.
Installed as a turnkey by sole UK agent
Whitehouse Machine Tools (www.is.gd/
bupuju) the bene ts seen include a drastic
reduction in set-up time that lowers
economic batch size by a factor of four,
shorter lead-times, faster cycles, savings in
tooling cost and less machine tool wear.
Additional advantages of the new
production route are reductions in power
consumption and in space taken up on the
shop oor, both of which are in short supply
at the rm’s Hailsham factory and were the
main drivers in the company’s desire to nd
an alternative manufacturing process.
Expensive, 500 or 630 mm twin-pallet,
50-taper horizontal machining centres
(HMCs) with box guideways and high
spindle torque, of which there are nine on
site, together with CNC lathes, have
underpinned pump body production since
the company was established in 1976.
The components are typically produced in
ve operations on three separate machines
– the Spinner U-620 now machines the
components in two operations. The
The installation of a Spinner
U-620 5-axis machining centre
has revolutionised pump housing
manufacture for Metaltech
Precision Engineers
machine boasts X, Y and Z axes of 620,
520 and 460 mm, plus C-axis of 360° and
B-axis of +50°/-110°.
Installed and made operational within
one week during November 2019, the new
cell heralds a progression at Metaltech
from the use of raw power to smart
machining methodology.
The pump bodies in question, of which
there are eight types ranging in diameter
from 160 to 280 mm and with numerous
different port details, are produced for a
customer in batches of 50 to 60, according
to a monthly schedule that might include as
many as 15 component variants.
Sometimes orders were impossible to ful l,
requiring alterations to the schedule.
That was because the traditional
machining process takes 10 to 15 hours to
set up. After skimming the back face of a
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