The machines - two Mikron HPM 800U’s and two Mikron HPM 1350U’s - have been installed at Renault Sport Formula One Team’s manufacturing facility in Enstone, Oxfordshire, where they are being put through their paces machining a range of high-precision, complex race car components made from difficult-to-machine and challenging materials that include high-grade titanium alloys.
The investment in advanced machine tool technologies from GF Machining Solutions by Renault Sport Formula One Team is nothing new and reflects the close, longstanding ‘Technical Partner’ relationship that exists between the two companies.
This relationship, the longest in the Team’s history has, over recent years, seen GF Machining Solutions supply, not only a number of 5-axis machines to the Enstone facility, but also a range of the latest, high-performance AgieCharmilles EDM wire and die-sink machines too.
Says Raphael Willie, machine shop manager at Renault Sport Formula One Team: “We regularly invest in machine tools from GF Machining Solutions.
“A few years ago, we made a strategic decision to increase our 5-axis milling capabilities and selected GF Machining Solutions as the Technical Partner to help us achieve our objectives.
“The partnership means that we are able to acquire the latest Mikron 5-axis machines at highly-competitive rates, and have direct access to GF Machining Solutions’ technical and applications expertise.
“As a consequence we are able to fully embrace the concept of ‘one-hit’ and simultaneous 5-axis machining, and to experience dramatic productivity gains, improve machine tool utilisation, increase component accuracies and repeatability’s, and reduce set-up and part cycle times.
As a result of its latest investment, Renault Sport Formula One Team now has 10 Mikron 5-axis machines at its disposal.
To improve its machining capacity and capabilities it was decided, in early 2017, to trade-in a Mikron HPM 600U machine (acquired a few years earlier) against the purchase of two new HPM 800U models.
The HPM 800U machines, since their installation in 2017, have proved their worth and are being used to machine a diverse range of parts that include front and rear suspension uprights and roll hoops. They have also been heavily involved in machining a number of gearbox inserts made from titanium.
Adds Willie:“Gearboxes, which are electronically controlled with hydraulic activation, attach to the back of the internal combustion engine. But, they do more than simply transfer the torque from the power unit (PU) to the wheels as they also form part of the structure of the rear of the car, with the rear suspension bolting directly onto what is now a high-strength and rigid carbon main case.”
Inside the gearbox are a number of performance-critical inserts. Amongst them is a front, top mounting part made from high-grade titanium.This part is machined from solid on one of the HPM 800U machining centres.
Concludes Willie: “The gearbox inserts are demanding applications. Material removal rates are high (over 85% of the titanium is removed during roughing and finishing operations), and the inserts are machined to a high accuracy and require an excellent surface finish.
“Furthermore, because we work to extremely tight and non-negotiable deadlines, it was critical that we were able do everything in our power to reduce part cycle times in order to assemble ‘finished’ gearboxes for Dyno Testing.
“Despite such demands our HPM 800U machines have not been found wanting and are amongst the most accurate, dynamic and reliable machining centres we have in our facility.”
