The bigger of the company’s two machine shops at Dettingen boasts six of the firm’s eight Haas CNC machine tools – a Haas Mini Mill (406, 305, 254 mm; X,Y,Z), a Haas VF-5 (1,270, 660, 635 mm; X,Y,Z) and two Haas VM-3s (1,016,508, 635 mm; X,Y,Z), which do most of the higher volume machining, plus two turning centres, a Haas SL-30 and a ST-30.
Between them, the VF-5 and the VM-3 can be called upon to machine any part from a database of 400 to tolerances of 0.02 mm, and each of them is equipped with a Haas HRT310 CNC rotary table. All Haas machines work between 16 and 24 hours a day, depending upon demand.
Says chief engineer Dieter Irsiegler: “They’re very reliable machines. It doesn’t matter how many hours they work, they always keep tolerance. The VF-5 is actually 10 years old, so it has made a lot of parts in its life so far.” And he adds: “The Haas CNC is another feature of all the Haas machines that gives us greater flexibility. The control is very easy to use, and it’s essentially the same on all Haas machines, so we’re able to move operators between machines – whether vertical mill or lathe – when we need to.”
This article was published in the July 2016 issue of Machinery magazine.
