Burdon investment continues with five-axis capability
Burdon Engineering, a first tier supplier to the aerospace, oil and gas, earth-moving, medical and specialist automotive sectors, is about to install a Deckel Maho DMU 200FD five-axis mill/turn centre at its Stokesley, Middlesborough facility.
The 44 kW swivelling head milling centre has axis travels of 1.8 m by 2 m by 1.1 m. Over the last three years, more than £8 million has been committed to the business, largely to bring together a five-axis milling and multi-axis mill/turning capability with the all-important infrastructure to support this level of technology.
A management team including specialists from the aerospace industry has also been appointed, as well as highly skilled setter/operators supported by very strong training programmes.
The machine shop at Burdon Engineering has five, very high specification multi-axis machining centres, all supplied by DMG (UK) of Luton over the last two years. There is also a separate area containing large capacity turn/mill lathes and a fully temperature controlled measuring room containing a 4 m by 2 m by 1.1 m gantry co-ordinate measuring machine. The Deckel Maho machining centres include a DMC 160FD duoBLOCK installed in 2005 that became the door-opener for the company to the oil and gas and medical sectors with the machining of large rings for body scanners.
This installation of the 1.6 m by 1.25 m by 1 m working volume, universal five-axis machine also kick-started Burdon’s ever-increasing schedules for aerospace contract work. With orders growing rapidly, a Deckel Maho DMU 200P and DMC 125FD duoBLOCK universal five-axis machines were then installed followed by the most recent purchase in Quarter 2 of 2007, of a second DMC 160PFD duoBLOCK and DMC 125FD duoBLOCK machines.
Each machine has the capability to provide full simultaneous, five-axis tool positioning. Each DMG (UK) supplied machine was delivered as a proven turnkey set up, tooled and programmed to minimise on-site commissioning.
To illustrate the level of complexity involved, most cycle times tend to vary between 20 and 100 hours with small to medium batch sizes.
The Deckel Maho DMU 200FD, due for installation in 2008, is a gantry style machine having a universal swivelling milling head with contouring B- and C- axes able to provide full simultaneous five-axis machining cycles. The universal head is infinitely programmable through horizontal and vertical axes.
Due to the type of high tensile materials Burdon Engineering are machining, such as Titanium, JetHeat and Waspalloy, high torque and power are prime requirements and here the DMU 200FD with its 44 kW spindle, able to develop 1,550 Nm of torque and deliver up to 6,300 revs/min is important.
The machine has a 120 tool magazine to supply the HSK-100 spindle that again defines the machine capability to remove material effectively and over long periods of time, maintain repeatability and accuracy.
Also important to the company is the ability to carry out turnkey processes on the 1.8 m diameter rotary table of the machine at up to 200 revs/min as part of any fully integrated cycle.
Rapid traverse rates over the 1800 mm in X, 2000 mm in Y and 1,100 mm in Z axes are 60 m/min that considerable shortens non-cutting time. The fully programmable NC rotary table will support loads up to five tonnes. Controlled by Siemens 840D Powerline, the machine, as with all Burdon Engineering’s installations, will be off-line programmed using the HyperMILL CADCAM system.
