5-axis for more complex parts

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Boyce Precision Engineering, which primarily serves the commercial aerospace sector, has moved into 5-axis machining in response to the increasing complexity of the parts it is producing.

A majority of throughput at then Northern Ireland subcontractor involves producing aluminium parts for first-class and business-class seating, plus various aluminium structural components. Aerospace recognitions include AS9100 accreditation (the global quality management system for the aerospace industry), as well as supply chain recognition SC21 (Bronze Award) and ADS Group membership.

The contract machinists started operations in 2006 and in little more than a decade have made significant strides, the company now employing 34 staff. Earlier this year, Democratic Unionist Party MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) for the local Upper Bann constituency, Carla Lockhart, hosted a visit to the firm by party leader Arlene Foster and the Chief Executive of Invest Northern Ireland, Alistair Hamilton.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the complexity of the prismatic aerospace parts that Boyce Precision manufactures, making a progression from 3-axis to 5-axis machining necessary. For the new machining capacity, joint owners and brothers George and Brian Boyce opted for a 600 x 550 x 450 mm capacity, German-built Hermle C 250, which was supplied in July 2017 by sole UK and Ireland agent, Kingsbury.

The 5-axis machine's suitability was immediately apparent and a second, identical model was installed three months later. The configuration of Hermle vertical machining centres places the three linear axes within a modified gantry above the working area, whilst the integrated trunnion provides a rigid, stable platform for the two rotary axes, which includes a ± 115 degree swivel for considerable production flexibility. The machines in Craigavon have integral Blum tool breakage detection to allow long periods of unattended running across the two shifts that Boyce Precision operates.

A further trend within the aircraft seating sector is towards larger components, which are even more complex, to avoid the labour costs and delays associated with assembly. Once orders for such parts were promised, Mr Boyce had no hesitation in placing an order for a larger Hermle C 400 with a working volume of 850 x 700 x 500 mm.

It will be delivered in November 2018 directly to a new, 18,000 sq ft factory unit currently being built for the subcontractor in Portadown. Treble the size of the current premises, the building represents a £3 million investment, taking into account the capital cost of the third Hermle 5-axis machine and the imminent purchase of two further 3-axis machining centres.

The benefits of 5-axis machining to Boyce Precision are far-reaching. One-third of the time, the two Hermle C 250s are executing programs requiring interpolation of all five CNC axes simultaneously – work which formerly could not have been carried out.

To fulfil other contracts requiring only 3-axis cycles, automatic positioning and clamping of the rotary axes reduces the number of separate operations needed to complete a job, in some cases dramatically. Aerospace parts that used to require two or three separate operations are now completed in one hit.

www.boyceprecisionengineering.com

Photo caption: Arlene Foster; Carla Lockhart, MLA for Upper Bann; and George Boyce, during a visit earlier this year to Boyce Precision Engineering.

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