J&S Suprema earns its place

Quickmach is a high precision aerospace component manufacturer specialising in aircraft actuation and undercarriage equipment. Fittingly it is located in the heart of landing gear manufacturing territory with Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, Triumph Actuation Systems and many other specialists in aircraft undercarriage structures and assemblies being its near neighbours in Gloucestershire. “There has been a significate upturn in build rates for airliners such as the A320 and Dreamliner which has impacted our production volumes,” explains Malcolm Beach, Quickmach operations director. “This necessitates us manufacturing in batch quantities of up to 150 where the focus on repeatability is all important – hence our decision to invest in additional high precision grinding capacity. This is our first new J&S machine and we are in the process of integrating it into our CAD/CAM network. A significant proportion of Quickmach's manufacturing is of actuator pistons and cylinders, predominantly from 15-5ph and 17-4ph stainless steels with many also chromed. Machining tolerances are demanding, with 5 micron the minimum house tolerance and superfinishing to remove grinding burrs is frequently undertaken. Self-sufficiency was another factor in bringing more grinding in house at Quickmach. “Subcontracting out obviously adds cost but in such a highly regulated and quality accredited industry as aerospace it brings its own problems,” Beach explains. “If we keep as much as possible within our own four walls it makes life much more controllable” he adds. “We also undertake our own NDT on site so we have a very high proportion of manufacturing and quality testing in our control.” The Jones & Shipman Suprema EASY cylindrical grinding machine is a multi-purpose machine equally adept at processing volume high precision production grinding work or fulfilling demanding small batch quantities and one off work. A key factor in the design of these robust and comprehensive cylindrical machines was the ongoing need for high geometric accuracy with quick changeovers between different grinding operations to maximise machine usage. The machine installed at Quickmach has a 650mm work piece capacity although longer 1,000mm and 1,500mm capacities are available. Suprema machines offer two wheel head options - external only and universal (external with internal) - and have been specifically designed to offer unrivalled ease-of-use coupled to the highest levels of productivity. An additional bonus comes from the automatic dressing and grinding cycles, ensuring they can be quickly set, then left unmanned. Via the touchscreen on the Fanuc control, the operator accesses J&S's purpose designed, fast-to-set ‘EASY' grinding graphical software. Its ‘Self-Teach' features enable inexperienced and experienced operators alike to be immediately more productive. Quickmach's Suprema is equipped with Heidenhain 50nM linear scales on the X and Z axes and has the manual B axis option fitted which permits internal/external cycles to be carried out in one set up with a manual swivel between cycles and the rotational position being fed back into the Fanuc control. With the batch grinding a key requirement, Quickmach opted for both a Marposs single mounted diameter gauge with two gauge finger lengths as well as a shoulder location touch trigger probe designed to allow the position of the component to be detected in the Z axis plane. Also included is the Acoustic Gap Elimination, which proves invaluable, given the varying thickness of chrome plate. This saves table space and has a feature that will search for a component if the Z axis position changes; again a vital time saver in automated production. Concluding, Beach explains: “We have experience of older J&S models but this new machine, configured to our precise specification, has integrated well with good operator acceptance and proving itself a reliable and hardworking contributor to our manufacturing.” www.jonesshipman.com