Aerospace subcontractor takes first steps in 5-Axis

When McGreevy Engineering made a strategic decision to move into the aerospace industry, the company recognised the relatively complex component manufacture required multiple, time consuming set-ups.

The Belfast subcontract business realised it needed to take its first step into 5-axis machining and decided the machine of choice was the Vcenter AX800 from Victor CNC.

Tommy Hanna, works manager at McGreevy Engineering says: “Until now a lot of the work we’ve been doing has required three or four different operations. We saw a need to buy 5-axis technology to be able to compete in the marketplace and cut-out operations to reduce cycle times and make us more efficient operationally.”

Relatively new to the UK marketplace, the Vcenter AX800 appealed to the AS 9100 certified manufacturer for a number of reasons.

Mr Hanna says: “We already had a Victor CNC lathe and it’s been very reliable so this was a primary consideration. Additionally, the AX800 has a bigger capacity than most of its competitors. It has 1.6m in the X-axis which allows us to use it as a large bed 3-axis machine as well as a very versatile and robust 5-axis solution.

“Additionally, the operators have easy access to the machine. We also have a 15,000rpm spindle, which means we are conducting high-speed machining on a lot of our work. Providing our jobs are set-up correctly, we can hit all five sides of the workpiece at high speed and this is making a huge saving for our business.”

The company has a variety of 3-axis machining centres but with the 5-axis AX800, the company needed more tool positions.

“Obviously with 5-axis we need more tool stations to hit the job from all directions and the AX800 has 40 tool positions,” Mr Hanna explains. “Added to this, it is the first machine we have purchased with a BBT40 spindle configuration which allows us to use our BT40 tools from the other machines.”

It is recognised that the BBT40 configuration generates more stability, rigidity and enhances tool life and performance, so when McGreevy gets more familiar with the new Victor installation, the company expects to see a marked improvement in tool life, surface finishes, greater precision levels and productivity.

“As well as the BBT40 spindle, the overall build quality and rigidity of the Victor machine is outstanding,” Mr Hanna enthuses. “We recently delivered a job to a customer and they couldn’t believe the surface finish. The client actually said that they often polish jobs after machining, but the quality and surface finish from parts produced on the AX800 are excellent and require no further processing.”

The machine chosen by the Northern Ireland company was specified with a through coolant facility and swarf conveyor system.

“We opted for the full package and with 700mm in the Y-axis and 1,600mm in the X-axis, plus the 800mm rotary table, this means we can machine some particularly large parts on the machine,” Mr Hanna continues.

“This is especially the case with the rotary table as we can machine one side of a long part and then rotate it to do the other side. We are expecting to considerably grow our aerospace work in the near future and we’ll certainly be looking at another Victor CNC 5-axis machine.”

VICTOR CNC www.victorcnc.com

Company

Victor CNC

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