Thomas Brown Engineering Ltd has invested in a new high-performance Mikron 5-axis machining centre that will used to produce high accuracy components with a Ra 0.2µm surface finish.
Supplied by GF Machining Solutions, the Mikron MILL P 500U was installed at the company’s 20,000 square foot facility in Huddersfield in January 2019 and is being used to machine precision components for customers operating in the aerospace, medical, automotive, robotics, food processing, oil and gas and steel manufacturing/ processing sectors.
The components machined on the MILL P 500U are diverse and varied. Typical materials machined include aluminium, steel, stainless steel and Inconel, and batch volumes (sizes) are mainly in the low to medium range.
The components machined on the Mikron are characterised by their accuracy and impressive surface finishes with a 20 micron geometric tolerance and a Ra 0.2µm surface finish requirement being the rule rather than the exception.
Managing Director Tom Brown said: “The sectors where we operate are competitive and demanding. Quality is non-negotiable, and ever-stringent delivery times are increasingly prevalent.
“To meet customer demands and survive in these environments you need to be committed to continuous improvement and continually raise your game.
“By investing in the latest (and most advanced) machine tool technologies and by combining our manufacturing prowess with excellent customer service, we have found that we have been able to grow our business.”
Thomas Brown Engineering was established in 1983 by current managing director, Tom Brown. Over the last 35 years the company has grown steadily from being a one-man band to a business that now employs 20 members of staff.
Today the company has 14 CNC machine tools and is looking to increase its floor space by an extra 4,000 square feet before the end of the year.
Tom Brown says: “We are a Tier 2 supplier in the sectors where we operate. The investment we have made in a plant, people, technologies, systems and processes has enabled us to consolidate our position in these sectors with existing customers and win new contracts with new customers too.”
This increase in demand ultimately led to the decision to invest in the new Mikron MILL P 500U.
Explains Tom Brown: “We audited and reviewed our machining strengths and weaknesses, and identified where the ‘pinch’ points existed. The exercise helped determine that we needed to increase our 5-axis milling capacity and capabilities as a matter of some urgency.
“We had previously invested in a Mikron HPM 450U (5-axis) machine some years earlier and the machine had served us well. We particularly liked the machine’s built-in automation and the way in which its integrated automatic pallet changers have helped us increase our productivity and efficiency and reduce our operational costs.”
The company drew up a list of technical and performance requirements for the new machine and benchmarked these against the 5-axis machines in GF Machining Solutions’ portfolio.
The Mikron MILL P 500U is an ultra high-performance, simultaneous 5-axis machining centre that offers powerful and dynamic material removal capabilities, thermal stability and high stiffness, to deliver high precision and surface finish on complex parts.
The machine features a thermo-stable and symmetrical design, so that even when machining at a fast pace and over long production runs, accuracy and process reliability remain high and consistent.
The company also wanted the machine to be able to perform interpolation turning operations. This is a machining technique developed for advanced machining centres and B-axis multi-task machines. It enables a turning operation to be carried out by interpolating the X- and Y-axis in a circular direction and rotating the machine spindle in time with the rotational contour.
The circular movement can either increase or decrease in diameter to produce facing operations or be combined with the Z-axis to produce a bore or outer diameter.