#Industry News
The dynamic duo: machining competence and 5-axis know-how
Carbomill AG, a competence centre for machining fibre-composite materials, motorsports components, integral components for the aerospace sector as well as mould making, has extended its range of services and supply flexibility with the aid
of a Hermle C 42 U.
Over 10 years of many-faceted experience in developing, moulding and machining composite Formula 1 components, including tool making and manufacturing of clamping devices for special structural machining – that was the basis on which Patrick Meyer took the courageous step of setting up as an independent competence centre for services across mould making and jig construction, integrated milling and large component machining as well as product development for CFRP/GFRP and CAD/CAM in 2011. With the focus on these niche areas, his technology firm Carbomill AG in Seon, Switzerland, quickly established itself in an excellent position within the Swiss metal cutting services community. Carbomill’s customers very soon realized what potential was available to them in all that know-how regarding composite structural components and their precision machining. In order to be able to cope with the increasing demand reliably and on schedule, the now four specialists at Carbomill face the dual challenge of staying at the technological cutting edge while at the same time increasing capacity. Patrick Meyer comments: “We were and still are receiving more and more enquiries and orders for precision machining of highly demanding integrated components from the aerospace sector. On the one hand, this means working on both aluminium and titanium materials. On the other hand, integrated component manufacturing from solid material involves an extremely large amount of cutting work. As we have already had a great deal of success with a five-axis machining centre for large parts, we began searching for a five-axis machining centre with the capacity to manufacture components up to medium size from beginning to end in a single clamping set-up. In several cases we thought we had found the right supplier for us, only to have our initial euphoria dampened when we got down to the details regarding performance, reliability, the depth of the support and not least the service provision. But we cannot afford to make compromises in what we offer our own customers, and that is why we finally went of a C 42 U five-axis machining centre from Hermle. Hermle fittet the bill excellently from several points of view, and put together a perfect package. Their thought-through five-axis concept is tried and tested, guaranteeing absolute long-term accuracy, everyone we asked confirmed the high degree of availability, and we got the same kind of answer to our questions about the service.”
FIVE-AXIS, HIGH-END MACHINING SEVEN DAYS A WEEK
So the end of 2016 saw delivery of a C 42 U five-axis machining centre, equipped with a ZM 88 additional magazine for another 88 tools (making a total of 130 tools with the 42 tools in the standard magazine) and a 440 mm swivelling rotary table.
With the generous machining and traverse paths of X = 800 mm, Y = 800 mm and Z = 550 mm, the large C axis swivelling range of +/- 130° (torque drive) plus the A swivelling axis with 55 rpm (tandem drive) and finally a maximum table load of 450 kg, the C 42 U machining centre is ideally suited for 5-side / 5-axis complete / simultaneous machining of highly complex integrated and structural components. To round this off, the 130 tools allow a broad range of applications using whole families of parts, so retooling work is reduced to a minimum. The tool spindle used here that rotates at up to 18000 rpm allows for optimal machining of the aluminium, steel and titanium materials. The rotational speeds can be individually adjusted to suit the rough or finishing operations as required. In most cases the machining is performed ‘dry’, but for steel and titanium machining there is an 80 bar ICS system available (internal coolant supply system). Additional features include a measurement device for tool measurement, tool breakage monitoring, touch probes, sealing air for the glass scales, linear axis dynamic version, HIMS base package (Hermle Information Monitoring Software) and the Heidenhain TNC 640 control system.
