Big deal

The sheer choice of machines available from Gosport-based Geo Kingsbury make it a strong contender for manufacturers looking for a turnkey solution to produce bulky prismatic parts – whether open tolerance or very high precision.

As UK and Ireland agent for six German manufacturers of top quality machine tools, four of which specialise in building large to very large machining centres, Geo Kingsbury offers an extensive portfolio of equipment for applications ranging from automotive model making, through to the production of aluminium and titanium structurals for aircraft, to the machining of heavy steel parts for railways, ships and off-road vehicles. This capability led to the establishment of the company's Large Prismatic Machines (LPM) division, set-up 18 months ago.

At the time, Geo Kingsbury was already sole sales and service agent for SHW and F Zimmermann. Growth across this side of the business, along with the established sales of Hermle's smaller 3- to 5-axis machining centres and Index/Traub single- and multi-spindle CNC lathes, prompted the company to open its LPM division on the Blythe Valley Business Park in Birmingham in August 2014.

The division is headed up by business development director Chris Hewitson, ably assisted by senior applications engineer Steve Burrows, both well-known figures in the machine tool industry. Addition of the prestigious Burkhardt+Weber and Waldrich Coburg agencies, acquired in 2014 and 2015 respectively, has further strengthened the division's repertoire. As well as machining centres, the Waldrich Coburg agency line introduces new machine types to the Geo Kingsbury product programme, namely large, 5-axis vertical milling machines, large capacity vertical turning lathes and grinding machines.

Scaling up

Little needed to be done to integrate large machines into the company's product portfolio and start diversifying and expanding the business. In-house engineering knowledge and expertise, from programming to metalcutting and automation to on-machine probing, were already in place – it was simply a matter of scaling everything up.

Geo Kingsbury's managing director Richard Kingsbury comments: “Five years ago we made a strategic decision to start introducing larger capacity machine tools into our range. We wanted to source only top-end equipment to match the quality of our other agency lines and it is no coincidence that all of the machines we sell are built in southern Germany. I believe that German-built machine tools lead the world in terms of quality and technology.

“This type of high value equipment tends to be for major, long-term, capital manufacturing projects at OEMs and larger subcontractors. It is therefore less susceptible to fluctuating market conditions. As planned, it has provided Geo Kingsbury with more business stability and offers customers a wider choice of machines.

“The formation of the LPM division has consolidated this side of our activities and has received a fantastic response from the marketplace. In 2015, the division's first full year of trading, order intake for these larger machines exceeded £6 million.”

Highlights from the four German machine tool producers:

Burkhardt+Weber
Ultra-high precision, robust, horizontal spindle machining centres (HMCs) and special purpose machines are manufactured by Burkhardt+Weber in Reutlingen. The firm is well known for supplying equipment to the automotive manufacturing sector. MCX and MCR machining centres and mill-turn centres are frequently to be found producing large engine blocks, crankcases, cylinder heads and gearbox housings to tight tolerances.

The machines are equally well suited to cutting difficult materials such as Inconel, Duplex, Super Duplex and aerospace titanium alloys, so the company regularly supplies to other industries as well, including power generation, aerospace, oil and gas, printing, paper, packaging, hydraulics, steelmaking and mining as well as the machine tool manufacturing sector itself.

Latest offering from this manufacturer is the MCµ series of micron accuracy HMCs which despite being designed for automatic pallet change production can nevertheless achieve jig borer tolerances. Positional repeatability over 2.5m is 3-4µm and reversal accuracy is 2-3µm, figures that naturally require machine operation in a temperature controlled environment. Launched in October 2015, the range comprises five sizes of machine ranging from 1.1 to 2.5m in the X-axis.

It is interesting that within the past year, Burkhardt+Weber and Geo Kingsbury have used the latter's experience in machining of titanium airframe parts to develop this side of the German machine builder's business. With pallet sizes ranging from 630mm to 3m, the structure of the machines is perfect for titanium machining due to the high torque on the spindle and rotary axis, stable build, large working envelope and the ability to automatically exchange long tools.

SHW

One of the first pioneering engineering companies in the world, SHW was established in Germany in 1365 to produce pig iron and now manufactures large capacity machining centres at its Aalen factory. The machine tool division dates back to 1940 at which time it was in the vanguard of one hit production with its philosophy of machining cubic workpieces on multiple sides in a single set-up.

Today, the most compact production centre that SHW offers has an axis travel envelope of 2 x 1.3 x 1.3m with a rotary or fixed table, whilst the largest travelling-column machine has a 30m X-axis and is powered by a 60kW spindle. All are normally supplied in 5-axis configuration and the watchwords of the machine designs are versatility and power.

Applications are to be found across many industrial sectors for machining off-road vehicle parts, aerospace components, rolls for papermaking machinery, diesel engine blocks for ship propulsion, power generation components, and large tools and dies. There are also twin column arrangements for making parts for cranes and large off-road vehicles.

Geo Kingsbury had particular success selling these machines in 2015. Two SHW UniSpeed 5(T) 6-axis, twin pallet mill-turn centres were ordered by a major UK manufacturer of pumps and an SHW PowerSpeed 6c machine was ordered by a blue chip OEM in the marine sector.

Latest news from the manufacturer is the recent launch of a derivative of its C-series machine with automatic head change. The manufacturer is renowned for the vast number of multi-axis CNC heads that it produces, running into hundreds of variables, and it is always prepared to develop a new, bespoke head to suit a customer's requirements.

Waldrich Coburg

Very large, high precision machining centres and flexible manufacturing systems, 5-axis vertical milling machines, grinding machines and vertical turning lathes with tables from 2m to 14m in diameter are built by Waldrich Coburg. The manufacturer has historically focused on portal type mills, normally with five CNC axes, designed for specific applications.
The largest machines produced are over 50m in the X-axis and support 800 tonnes on the table. Acquisition of one of these machines is a strategic asset purchase and not for the financially fainthearted. Customers are typically manufacturers in the marine, rail, power generation, defence, machine tool, printing and construction sectors.

In November 2015, a pair of smaller, standard VMCs was introduced at a highly attractive price/performance ratio, called the Taurus 25 and 30. With an optimised footprint and no compromise on technology, the machines are available on relatively short delivery (under six months) and mark a major development by the German manufacturer, which is seeking to widen its appeal to Tier One suppliers as well as OEMs.

The policy seems to be working as three machines per month have been sold since the launch date. On a recent visit to the factory, Chris Hewitson witnessed the pass off of the first Taurus machine to an Indian manufacturer that produces switches and points for the railway industry.

Zimmermann

Portal machining centre manufacturer F Zimmermann builds high-speed, 5- and 6-axis machines mainly for producing large composite and aluminium components. It is a major supplier to the aerospace supply chains in the USA and Europe. Their machines are consequently Geo Kingsbury's first line of attack when it receives enquiries for manufacturing aircraft structurals, models for the F1 and automotive sectors, prototypes for boatbuilding and the like. Machining of steel, plastic, foam and wood are also areas of expertise.

In conclusion, Mr Hewitson commented on a technical innovation typical of advanced German engineering: “One of Zimmermann's standout technology highlights is its patented M3 ABC 3-axis head, developed in the late 2000s. Few people know about it in the UK, yet it stands alone in the market in terms of its incredible versatility and machining performance.

“Full 6-axis machining may be undertaken continuously because the ±15° B-axis avoids the pole position problem of traditional 2-axis A/C rotary tilt heads, whereby when A is at zero degrees it cannot move.

“The M3 ABC can swivel, tilt and incline to any angle, significantly reducing machining times as well as improving component surface finish, as cutter chatter on the surface of a component due to excessive C-axis movements is eliminated.

“As a result, an aluminium aerospace cavity with sloping walls for example can be machined between 30 and 40% faster – a massive productivity advantage.”

Geo Kingsbury
www.geokingsbury.com