Castings company opts for Mitutoyo CNC CMM

When MBC Precision Castings was asked to produce a new intricate, high precision automotive casting, the company invested in a state-of-the-art CNC Co-ordinate Measuring Machine from Mitutoyo

When MBC Precision Castings was asked to produce a new intricate, high precision automotive casting, the company was faced with the complex task of inspecting samples from the 1200 parts needed every week.

It was soon realised that the only feasible way of achieving the inspection requirement was to invest in a state-of-the-art CNC Co-ordinate Measuring Machine from Mitutoyo.

MBC produces investment castings for the construction and automotive industries.

The Redditch based company supplies manufacturers in the UK and Europe with castings in various materials, including stainless steel, low alloy steel, bronze, brass and aluminium.

Components of between 5g and 75kg can be made from drawings or directly from rapid prototype models supplied by the customer, using the lost wax process to make an exact copy.

In order to avoid a lengthy setting up procedure, MBC mounts the new automotive parts to be inspected in a special fixture that holds four castings at a time.

This ensures the components are correctly orientated to enable the Mitutoyo C544 CMM to make the required measurements without the need to position each one individually.

The parts each have twelve elliptical blades that need to be checked for the correct profile.

The CMM takes readings from 50 points around each component to ensure the correct ellipse has been cast.

Every tenth casting produced is inspected by the CMM, the whole operation taking approximately six minutes.

"We just have to tell the machine to measure the parts and then walk away," states Andy Styman, Quality Engineer at MBC Precision Castings.

He continues: "The special fixture we have to hold four components at once even has a go - no go feature built in so we know every component is mounted correctly, the CMM does the rest.

We are actually checking an ellipse inside another ellipse and we can only do this with a CNC machine.

"We bought the C544 purely for doing this job.

Without it we would have needed to sub-contract the measurement for all the components so it was an essential investment.

It also impresses the customer when they visit to see inspection forms printed off for each part measured.

To further aid quality control, data from the CMM is downloaded for SPC purposes; an important consideration for the ISO 9002 registered company.

MBC already had a manual Mitutoyo CMM when the requirement arose for the new CNC machine, a factor which helped in the selection of the new equipment, as explained by Mr Styman.

"We have had a Mitutoyo AE122 manual CMM since 1981.

When we needed a new machine we knew we would get first class service and performance from Mitutoyo, so we purchased the C544.

Part of the package included training for four people, but because the machine is so simple and quick to operate, only one inspector is required at any one time.

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