A new Y-axis, sub-spindle, turning centre will help meet increased medical orders, and boost turn-milling productivity across the board at CPTE.
Established more than 30 years ago, Mildenhall subcontractor CTPE uses 3- to 5-axis machining centres as well as fixed- and sliding-head CNC lathes to manufacture complex, high precision components mainly for the scientific, medical, electronics and defence sectors. The latest addition to the plant list is a Biglia B 620 YS fixed-head turn-mill centre with Y-axis and sub-spindle (both optional) supplied by Whitehouse Machine Tools.
It is the first lathe from the Italian manufacturer on the subcontractor's shop floor and only the second of this new model to be installed in the UK, following its launch at the EMO 2019 machine tool show in Hannover. It has a 70mm bar capacity and billet up to 360 mm diameter can be manually loaded for turn-milling.
The B 620 YS is meeting a five-fold increase in demand for a tight-tolerance aluminium connector that forms part of medical equipment needed in the fight against Covid-19. CTPE has been making the component for the past 15 years on a Y-axis lathe with a single spindle, which meant that the part had to be refixtured by hand on the same machine for a second operation, following which manual deburring was necessary.
The component is now produced in larger volumes much faster as well as more accurately and consistently in a single hit on the Biglia, deburring being included in the machining cycle, allowing 600 to be shipped every week. This elevated supply rate started at the beginning of April and is likely to continue through to September 2020.
Alex Taylor, CTPE's operations director said, "The reason for buying the lathe was a significant uplift in orders from the medical industry in general, not only for the connector part.
"However, we were also on the lookout for a machine capable of raising turn-milling productivity across the board, including of larger components from billet.
"The Biglia provides a good balance for both types of turning of components up to 620 mm long and with its sub-spindle is ideal for one-hit machining.
The machine installed in CTPE’s Mildenhall shop has 15 turret stations, all of which are powered by a 13 kW, 6,000 rpm motor. Up to 30 cutters can be in the machining area at any one time.
The B 620 YS has a full C-axis on the 15 kW, 5,000 rpm, direct-drive sub-spindle as well as on the main spindle, making it easier to plan cycles so that machining is better balanced at either end of a component, minimising cycle times.