Avant Manufacturing is investing in a small footprint five-axis machining centre to cope with a sharp upturn in new and existing business.
The new machine is due in April, but the need for capacity was so urgent that Avant hired a similar machine from the same supplier that could be delivered immediately.
Dominic Roach, who founded the company in April 2021, wanted to install a 5-axis production centre to reap the benefits of fewer re-clampings of parts. The advantages are principally higher speed of production, and less risk of errors and damage to workpieces due to excessive manual handling. He also wanted to be able to produce more complex components, preferably in one hit. However, the space remaining on the shop floor was limited and 5-axis machines tend to be large.
A Brother Speedio U500Xd1 5-axis, swivelling-trunnion VMC with a 30-taper spindle was provided on hire from from Whitehouse Machine Tools, sole UK agent for the Japanese manufacturer. Having a 1,560 x 2,026 mm footprint, the machine fitted neatly into the available space when it was delivered in December 2024.
The suppliers say that the 30-taper interface, especially with the BIG-Plus face and taper contact option, is becoming popular as it combines 40-taper rigidity with the exceptionally high speed motions of which the smaller form factor machines are capable.
Dominic said of the machine: "I was impressed not only by the metal removal rate, but also by the size of parts that can be produced in such a small footprint.
"I would have no hesitation producing components from tougher materials either, as it's an easy matter to change the machining strategy to limit the width and depth of cut and increase the spindle speed and feed rate."
The U500Xd2 model which is on order has longer travels in X and Y, giving a working volume of 500 x 450 x 380 mm and the control is full 5-axis rather than 4+1.
Comparing the Brother machines to his existing 40-taper vertical machining centres, Dominic cited a scientific part produced from solid aluminium that formerly required four separate set-ups on 3-axis machines. The number of operations has been halved and the same component is now produced in 36% of the time. That is because although Op 1 is the same, Ops 2, 3 and 4 are now completed on the 5-axis Brother in a single clamping using the rotary axes to position the part for 5-sided machining.
A job completed in January 2025, involving drilling 60 holes at eight different angles into a medical plastic block, could not have feasibly been done on the 3-axis machines. So the availability of the Brother is allowing Avant Manufacturing to gain new business that it previously had to turn down.
BACK TO ENGINERING CAPACITY NEWS PAGE