Alphacam helps HySpeed CNC to broaden customer base

Around 300 repeat aircraft parts are regularly manufactured by the West Sussex-based engineering subcontractor, which is also producing between one and 10 prototypes every week in a wide variety of metals. The aircraft fuselage parts are mainly aluminium, but work for other sectors calls for stainless steel, Inconel, ToughMet, titanium and alloy stainless steel. ToughMet and stainless steel, in particular, are used for drill components, due to their high anti-corrosion qualities. Alphacam is often used to create a prototype of a new component in aluminium first to confirm the method of manufacture before it is produced from expensive exotics. Production engineer Leigh Hunter says: "We use Alphacam for conversion from paper drawings or models, through to production of the toolpaths. Where customers supply designs as paper drawings we redraw the geometry as a 2D image in Alphacam – we don't need any other CAD system." Electronic files, such as DXF for 2D, and IGES for 3D, are imported directly into Alphacam. Mr Hunter adds: "We're also getting more CATIA files nowadays, as they're becoming the norm for the aerospace industry, and we get STEP files, too." Data from models is used by the company's IMS Co-ordinate measuring machines. Managing director Gary Francis says: "Most of our machines have Fanuc controls and Alphacam CNC code drives them all. After dimensional checks have been carried out and the component has passed the 'first-off' inspection, we can post process the programs for all the machines." Once the CNC codes have been created in the office they are transferred to the shopfloor in ISO format, and the setter is supplied with the tooling and setting sheets to pull the program and prove the part out. Mr Francis adds: "The part is set up on the machine tool, all the datum is carried out and entered into the first part of the program, then the setter runs through what's been produced in Alphacam. Offline programming is particularly valuable as we can keep the machines cutting while programming them in the background for another job." The machine shop opens at 7.30 am on Monday and operates round the clock until 4 pm Friday. Most machines run continuously during the day, with a smaller number running through the night, depending on requirements. At the moment, the bulk of the work is 4-axis and is performed on a variety of machines. These include: Niigata, Kitamura, Quaser, Kiwa and Hitachi-Seiki horizontal machining centres; Hyundai, Kitamura, Yang Eagle and Kryle column-type centres; Mazak and Kitamura bridge-type centres; and Hyundai, Biglia and Colchester Harrison turning centres. The company is also moving to full 5-axis work with a Bridgeport VMC600 which has a Heidenhain controller. A Doosan Puma MX2600ST 6-axis mill-turn centre will shortly join the machine inventory. As well as using Alphacam to create toolpaths, the software is also instrumental in producing jigs. "The jigs are drawn out using the CAD function," explains Mr Hunter. "By producing them along with either the electronic or paper drawing, the component can easily be overlaid so we can be sure it will fit properly on the fixture." The company, which has around 15 years' experience of Alphacam, has three Alphacam seats used by two full-time operators. However, for the 5-axis machining on the Bridgeport one licence may be replaced with Edgecam. HySpeed became part of the Universal Steels and Aluminium Group in 2009. Mr Francis comments: "Other companies within the group are looking to use Alphacam. Where we have migrated to server seats at HySpeed, this gives more flexibility and, if required, they can be accessed from other group sites, or we can increase the number of ordinary seats. Either way, we're hoping to roll Alphacam out to the other companies, making it the group standard." First published online