Heavy engineering - investing in heavyweights

Large machine tools rarely come cheap, so making the right investment choice is vital in the interests of business prosperity at any manufacturer. Take Coalville-based CMS Cepcor, for example, where ongoing demand for replacement crushing equipment parts has led the company to invest in two Doosan large capacity lathes and one large vertical machining centre from Mills CNC (01926 736736). The machines, a Puma 700XLM, a Puma 400LB and a Mynx 7500/50, are being used to machine primary, gyratory, cone, jaw and impact crusher parts for the mining, quarrying, aggregates, demolition and recycling industries. "We need machines that are powerful and reliable, and the nature of the parts we manufacture means they must also be able to handle heavy duty machining, right through to fine finishing," says technical director Chris Sydenham. The largest lathe purchased by CMS Cepcor – the Puma 700XLM – is a box-guide-way lathe, capable of machining workpieces up to 5,050 mm in length and weighing up to 1,400 kg (chucking work) and 8,900 kg (shaft work). The nature of the parts produced by the company means that cycle times are typically in excess of five hours. "Through our continuous improvement programmes and investment in new technologies, we are now better prepared for the future and can focus all of our resources on delivering high quality replacement parts, on time and in budget," Mr Sydenham says. ENERGY SECTOR DEMAND Of course, one of the biggest drivers of heavy engineering projects today is the energy market, as can be verified by Nexus Precision Engineering, located at Broxburn, less than 10 miles west of Edinburgh. Nexus recently made the step up to larger components (above 300 mm diameter) in an initiative designed to widen its customer base. Research into the offshore oil and sub-sea sector indicated that there was a demand for turned parts up to 1.5 m diameter and the company wanted to be able to offer that capacity. With this in mind, part of a £1.2 million machine shop investment programme was earmarked for a new vertical turning centre. A market review cut a long list of potential suppliers to just two, before the order was placed with Matchmaker CNC (01372 844999) for a Tongtai TVL 16DCM. Since installation, the machine has been busy working across a double-shift pattern. "Overall, our initial concerns about stepping up to this type and size of machine were quickly put to one side, as the machine is achieving all of the tolerances and repeatability targets we had set for it," says director Gordon Burnett. At the other end of the M8, less than 10 miles east of Glasgow, can be found Comac Precision Engineering, a specialist supplier of subcontract parts to the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors. Again, recent investment is helping set the company apart from its competitors, following the installation of a large Hartford PBM115A horizontal boring and milling centre from TW Ward CNC Machinery (0114 276 5411). The large capacity of the PBM115A has enabled Comac "to offer diversity", in terms of the size of components it can handle. The machine handles parts weighing up to 12,000 kg and offers 2 m of travel in the X-axis. Essentially, a booming order book urgently demanded extra spindle availability – "and Ward CNC was the only machine tool supplier which could meet that demand with a machine of suitable specification and at the right price", says director David Wilson. "Before buying the machine, we travelled to see a similar model in action at another Ward CNC customer. We were impressed with what we saw and with the views of the user. Since the Hartford was installed, it has literally made a big difference to the size of components we can handle." Automotive also presents ample heavy engineering projects, particularly those relating to the commercial vehicle or yellow goods sectors. Stoke-based John Hyde Engineering serves customers in the earthmoving and engine building industries across the UK, Europe and America. "We are hearing more and more stories of multi-nationals repatriating work back to the UK from low-cost economies, attracted by the quality, efficiency and dependability available from UK manufacturers," says the company's managing director, John Hyde. Starting out in 1989, the company initially only machined steel castings before it started to branch out into iron castings and forgings. "We were using old, less accurate and inefficient machines, which produced expensive, poor quality products," says Mr Hyde. "It became apparent that, if we didn't make a bold move, we would not survive. As a result, we bought our first Mazak [01905 755755] machine, an FH 8800 horizontal with an eight pallet Mazatrol Flexible Manufacturing System [FMS - pictured]." Within just four weeks of installation (in 2001), the company's FH 8800 was running manned for 10 hours, unmanned for nine hours and was earning 60% more per hour than the older horizontal machines it replaced. Within 12 weeks of its arrival, Mr Hyde had ordered a second machine and a further 16 pallets for the FMS. "Many manufacturers are forced by their accountants to cut down the specification of the machinery they buy to the minimum," he says. "In my opinion and experience, this is a mistake, because it reduces the effectiveness of their investment by more than the cost saving. You need to buy the best you can afford." John Hyde Engineering has also invested heavily in Mazak's Integrex range, including an Integrex e-1060V II in 2008. "It was a conscious decision to get machines with bigger capacities, bigger machining envelopes and more power," continues Mr Hyde. "We also use our Integrex range to produce shock absorbers for mining trucks. It now only requires one operation, whereas before it used to take two or three." The company today has a total of 13 Mazak machines, including two Nexus 6000-II horizontal machining centres bought in July 2012 – these were purchased to accommodate a large cylinder head project. The machines enable John Hyde Engineering to produce 200 of the complex, cast iron cylinder heads every week. PRESS TOOL WORK Automotive is also the theme at Cube Precision Engineering – albeit automotive tooling. The new Hurco (01494 442222) bridge-type DCX32, with 3.2 m X-axis, is now the largest machine tool installed at the company's Rowley Regis, West Midlands facility. Cube specialises in press tools for producing interior and body components for Land Rover, Jaguar, BMW and Honda, among others, while, for the aerospace sector, the company designs and manufactures tooling used in die quench processes. Neil Clifton, one of three director-owners of Cube, says: "We are one of very few companies in the UK that has invested in the space, crane capacity and equipment to machine parts to 5 m in X and weighing up to 35 tonnes. The finish-machining of large parts was causing a bottleneck, so we opted for a Hurco DCX32, as it was economically priced for a machine with over 6 m³ of working volume. "Despite its size, the machine easily achieves general tolerances of 0.03 mm and regularly goes down to 0.02 mm, with excellent surface finish," he adds. "We also like the fact that the machine comes with a 40-position magazine and automatic toolchanger for BT50 cutters, as standard. Such equipment normally costs extra on a machining centre of that size." Box item 1>/b> Delivering the goods Truck, bus and diesel engine manufacturer Scania – already a user of Seco (01789 764341) Minimaster milling tools at its Sodetalje, Sweden facility – is now using Seco Minimaster Plus tools for machining engine blocks for the company's 16 valve V8 engines. Scania manufactures five different engine blocks at Sodetalje, all of which are made from cast iron. The blocks, each weighing approximately 450 kg, are delivered to the plant in a single piece with pre-cast holes for the engine's carburettors, fan mounts, cylinders and axles. Each block has eight palm-size holes that need to be expanded, shaped and finished, and the Minimaster Plus tools are deployed, along with others, for these machining operations. "With Minimaster, we would need to change tools after machining 30 engine blocks, but with Minimaster Plus this has increased to 90 engine blocks, which means an increase in manufacturing productivity and a reduction in tooling costs," says Henrik Svensson, process planner at Scania. Minimaster Plus has also been tested by the company on a new range of Scania engine blocks made from super-hard cast CGI (Compact Graphite Iron). The results were equally impressive, it says. Performing side milling operations in SS0125 material – using the same cutting speeds, feed rates and depth of cut – Minimaster Plus was able to machine 440 details, as opposed to 230 when using the previous generation of Minimaster. Box item 2 PowerMill drives 45 m long machining centre The PowerMill CAM system from Delcam (0121 766 5544) has been chosen by MonsterCAM to drive one of the UK's largest independently owned, continuous 5-axis machining centres: the company's EWW-Protec (+49 431 5300 5000) machine is 45 m long, 7 m wide and 4 m high, and has a volumetric cutting space of 1,260 m³. Based at Lee-on-the-Solent, near Gosport, MonsterCAM supplies a CNC plug/patternmaking service to the marine sector. However, demand for the company's capacity has also come from the wind energy and architectural sectors. "After assessing many different software systems before deciding what we would use, and following many, many machining hours, we have been very pleased that we decided to specify Delcam software," says Nick Phelps, one of MonsterCAM's founder directors. The company says that Delcam's support has been vital, as the size of its EEW machine meant that MonsterCAM would be machining on a scale rarely attempted in the UK before. Also, the operator, Carl Perry, had worked previously only using 3-axis machines. However, an advanced training course in PowerMill soon put Mr Perry on the right track. "PowerMill was very easy to pick up, compared with some of the packages I have used; it is much more intuitive," he says. "I can now machine consistently to within 0.2 mm over the whole working envelope."