Subcontractor increases productivity with 5-axis investment

The machine, a VC630 5AX, was installed at the company's 25,000 ft² manufacturing facility in August 2010, and is being used to machine high-precision complex parts for the oil and gas sector. As supplier of advanced down-hole tool technology solutions to drilling equipment manufacturers throughout the world, the nature of Cutting & Wear's manufacturing operation is ideal for 5-axis machining. The Cutting & Wear engineering workshop manager, John Kennedy, explains: "We manufacture deep-hole parts from hard and difficult-to-machine materials in small batches (prototypes and one-offs through to 10-15 offs). These parts are complex and are characterised by their intricate features, tight tolerance and high surface finish. Delivery times are often (and increasingly) short, and pressure on costs is always a constant (and a critical) factor. "In the past we were relying on our older 3-axis machines to produce these parts but their inconsistent performance and unreliability were starting to create a few problems for us. We could see immediately that 'one-hit' machining was the way to go. Reducing both cycle times and the number of job set-ups required to manufacture completed parts were obvious advantages. "Mills recommended their recently-launched, Doosan VC630 5AX, 5-axis machine which from both a performance and price perspective looked to be, quite literally, right on the money. We liked the machine's ability to allow us to perform high-accuracy 5-face machining (3 + 2 positional 5-axis machining), and the potential for us to move into full 5-axis simultaneous machining in the future."