Product category:
Machinery and Production Equipment
News Release from: TW Ward CNC Machinery | Subject: Soraluce CNC milling machine
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 19 January 2001
Master modelmaking times slashed by up
to 90%
The use of a Soraluce CNC milling machine supplied by Ward CNC has enabled a leading producer of prototype tooling to slash master modelmaking times by up to an incredible 90 per cent
The use of a Soraluce CNC milling machine supplied by Ward CNC has enabled a leading producer of prototype tooling to slash master modelmaking times by up to an incredible 90 per cent compared with manual methods At Linecross IDAT, a specialist producer of prototype tooling mainly for the automotive sector, the creation of a master model tool for a bumper, for example, used to take two men between eight and ten weeks with extensive hand shaping and finishing
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 2 Jun 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
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Today, the job is completed within a week thanks to the Soraluce SL4000 three- plus two-axis (universal head) machine.
With 4 m long by 800 mm wide fixed table, and a working envelope of 2.5 m by 1 m by 1 m, the 28 kW Soraluce gives the company the flexibility to machine a wide range of prototype tools.
With a substantial sub-table and universal head, the installation provides the flexibility to handle prototypes of all sizes, since really large tooling elements and master models can also be supported and progressively machined in sections.
Extensive use is made of the universal head for angular pockets and profiles as well as providing all-round machining access at a single set-up.
Another important aspect of the installation was the selection of a Faemat high-speed spindle adapter - also supplied by Ward CNC as part of the turnkey - which is rated at 5.5 Nm and produces 1,000 to 12,000 revs/min and enables the prototypes to be machined at high speed.
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The soft tooling produced by Linecross IDAT (formerly IDAT Developments) is used for the vacuum forming of various trim prototypes such as roof parts, central consoles, sill mouldings, wheel arch liners, dashboard tops and a variety of interior trim elements for a range of automotive and agricultural machinery customers.
One of the company's most prestigious projects was the production of all the master body forms for the McLaren road car.
Around 90 per cent of the prototype tooling is machined from UREOL polyurethane, while styling clay models and aluminium tools are also pro duced at the site in Benfleet, Essex.
And the machine that has transformed Linecross IDAT's ability to produce complex and large prototype tooling direct from three-dimensional CAD data (supplied in IGES format by customers) is the Soraluce travelling column mill.
As CAD/CAM manager Russell Carter recalls: "The Soraluce has had a big impact on our machining capability and flexibility, and has enabled us to produce large prototype tools much more efficiently.
We used to manufacture such large tooling and master models by highly skilled manual methods that involved extensive hand shaping and finishing.
For example, the production time for a master seat back mould that used to take three to four weeks is now only two days." Predominantly used to machine UREOL blocks which are bonded together, the Soraluce runs dry and as such is equipped with a powerful dust extraction system.
All slides, ballscrews and other moving elements of the machine are also protected against the dust generated during machining.
The complex three-dimensional forms required by such prototype tooling requires sequential rouging and finishing operations and the cycle times are, therefore, long -- ranging from 20 hours for a roof clip tool and up to over 120 hours for machining a master clay model of a car.
Part-programs are equally lengthy and these are produced off-line.
A recent job produced on the machine was a prototype roof tool for a new sports car.
Three slabs of UREOL were bonded together to provide the overall working dimensions of 1,350 mm by 950 mm.
The sculpted form was roughed out using an 80 mm diameter ballnose cutter which took cuts up to 100 mm deep in one pass and finished with 15 mm diameter endworking mill at feed rates of up to 2.5 m/min.
Total machining time for this complicated three-dimensional form - which took four hours to program - was around 23 hours.
The Soraluce is the most expensive machine ever purchased by Linecross IDAT.
However, the 25-strong company is in no doubt as to the contribution it has made in terms of optimising all-round machining efficiency, as Russell Carter confirms: "We bought the Soraluce because it represented good value for money, provided the means to increase production flexibility and could hold general tolerances of ? 0.2 mm on large components and tools.
Reverse engineering from models is also possible using a surface probe mounted in the machine's spindle." The machine is regularly run for 20 hours a day over two shifts (six days a week) and has performed well and reliably.
The company's 10,000 ft? factory on the Stadium Trading Estate is currently being expanded with the addition of another 5,000 ft? unit.
And when this expansion programme is finally complete, Linecross IDAT will have the room it needs to re-organise key production functions and possibly install additional new equipment - including another Soraluce.
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