Five-axis machining is transforming the way a Cambridgeshire engineering subcontractor works.
Andy Barnard, Milling Supervisor at Cambridge Precision Ltd., was instrumental in the company investing in 5-axis capability. They already used Alphacam CAD/CAM software to program their 27 milling machines, and he says it is now a vital part of their 5-axis operation.
The company ships hundreds of thousands of components a year, manufactured predominantly in aluminium, along with a variety of steels, brass, copper and copper tungsten. Nearly every job they were doing on their 3-axis mills involved more than two operations, with many requiring four, five or six ops. He says that he, along with Production Manager Nick Raven and programmer/setter Tom Szablicki, could see the advantages of moving over to 5-axis, and the directors agreed with their recommendation.
“Originally we were considering looking for a full 5-axis machine, but chose instead, to have Nikken tables added to two machines.” The tables have given a Haas mill full 5-axis simultaneous capability, while converting a Doosan 650 into a 4 + 1 machine.
Manufacturing a wide variety of components for several industry sectors, including medical, pharmaceutical, aerospace, and automotive, he says the company is looking to expand its 5-axis capability and invest in more seats of Alphacam. “It’s got to be the way forward, especially as it’s so easy for Alphacam to produce 5-axis programs.”
Cambridge Precision have used Alphacam for around 15 years, and Andy Barnard says they have at least 100,000 programs stored, any one of which can be used as a potential starting point for new jobs which require similar products. “We can quickly load up the existing program to give an estimated run time, and this will pay dividends on 5-axis work.”
Their Alphacam programming is done offline on any one of six suites, by a number of skilled engineers, with programs being sent via the server to the appropriate machining centre. After the initial set-up and full inspection of the first off, the machines can run for 24 hour periods, utilising the night shift.
