High standards

Founded in 1980, European CNC Turned Parts has established an excellent reputation for providing a cost-effective service and for the manufacture and supply of high quality CNC turned parts.

Having pursued a policy of employing skilled staff and consistently reinvesting in the most up to date, high yield CNC technology over the past 36 years, the company is able to deliver high quality CNC turned parts cost effectively to its growing customer base.

European CNC Turned Parts has formed long-term relationships with many loyal clients; amongst other sectors served the company currently manufactures components for the demanding automotive, water, rail, printing, oil, gas and power generation industries. Commonly produced parts include collars, elbows, seal retainers, adaptors, valves and spacers.

Given European CNC Turned Parts’ constant focus on product quality, a dedicated inspection room is equipped with an extensive range of precise inspection aids, whilst full SPC analysis and reports are also made available.

In addition to purchasing state-of-the-art machine tools, the company makes regular investments in the best available inspection equipment. As part of an ongoing program of updating its quality function, the company has recently invested in an Aberlink Axiom too CNC CMM.

European CNC Turned Parts’ works manager Roy Goodwin explains: “Our quality system is approved to the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 and to ensure that we maintain the high standards that our customers expect, our focus is always on quality. We ensure that in-process checks are constantly made as well as components being thoroughly inspected before despatch. For those customers who have their own inspection regimes and requirements, we are happy to liaise with them and to embrace their specific inspection criteria and requirements.

“As a constantly growing order book had begun to place a strain on our inspection department, we recently decided to purchase an accurate, rapid acting CMM that could keep pace with our output. We found the ideal answer to our problem in a high performance CNC Axiom Too CMM from Aberlink. Adding to its flexibility in addition to a touch probe the CMM was specified with a CMM camera to enable non-contact inspection routines to be performed.

“Since its installation and training of operators our staff have become skilled in the machine’s use,” he adds. “As our operators take responsibility for the quality of their own output and as the Axiom Too is so easy to operate we have placed it in an environmental enclosure in the middle of our shopfloor. Now all required in-process checks can be made instantly. Also, the rapid CNC nature of the CMM allows us to load large batches of completed components onto the machine’s bed and perform fully automatic fast and accurate final inspection routines.

“The high precision and fast operating speed of the Aberlink CMM has significantly sped up our inspection throughput and has removed the possibility of inspection bottlenecks. The Axiom Too has really enhanced our inspection capabilities.”

The Axiom Too is the best-selling CMM from Aberlink Innovative Metrology, the largest UK owned CMM manufacturer. Available in manual and CNC variants and in a range of capacities, it features an aluminium bridge with a low thermal mass, rendering the machine ideal for use either in controlled environments or within less than perfect shopfloor conditions.

Courtesy of the Axiom Too’s use of advanced materials, the machine’s reduced inertia results in high-speed operation. For increased accuracy air bearings of optimised stiffness are employed on all axes, whilst a granite Y-beam allows preloading of bridge bearings in both directions.

Inspired by the aerospace industry, the CMM’s sturdy component support consists of an advanced granite/aluminium honeycomb construction – technology that provides natural damping and further improves the machine’s thermal properties. Despite the Axiom Too’s generous measuring volume of 640mm x 600mm x 500mm or 640mm x 900mm x 500mm, the machine’s compact design occupies a relatively small footprint, with the controller and all peripherals housed within the Axiom Too’s workbench.

The Axiom Too utilises Aberlink’s intuitive 3D software, ensuring greater user productivity and profitability. A welcome bi-product of any Aberlink CMM inspection routine is that a simultaneous picture of the measured component is created on the computer screen. Dimensions between the measured features, mirroring those that appear on the component drawing, are then picked off as required.

In essence this ‘smart’ software represents an intelligent measuring system that is able to automatically recognise and define the various features being measured. Aberlink claims its 3D software is the easiest to use CMM software currently available and as a result a complete novice is usually able to perform relatively involved measurement routines after just five minutes of training.

Aberlink www.aberlink.com

European CNC Turned Parts www.europeancnc.co.uk

Company

Aberlink

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