CMS announce new Antares customer

cms-announce-new-antares-customer
cms-announce-new-antares-customer

CMS Industries has announced that its customer, T&R Precision has recently installed a CMS Antares 5-axis CNC machine centre at its new composite facility.

The machine will be used initially to machine complex carbon fibre components for an aerospace customer, although T&R plan to rollout the facility to supply machining operations on a subcontract basis to all sectors of the composite industry. The Antares machine was supplied as part of a package including machine tool, touch probe, part location software, extraction and tooling. Existing programming software will be used to drive the Antares and current shrink-fit toolholders will be used to clamp the tooling within the machine spindle. All these items are vital in making this such a successful installation. Once machined, components are measured using a portable co-ordinate measuring arm to ensure they comply with the given tolerances and meet customer requirement. CMS advised on all elements of the package to provide T&R with a complete and fully-integrated system. CMS has installed many Antares machine centres in the aerospace and automotive sectors, the machine is highly flexible and is used typically for high speed machining of patterns and moulds in aluminium and non-ferrous materials and trimming or machining complex composite components. The Antares itself has been designed specifically by CMS to cope with the demands of operating in such a harsh environment with the capability of meeting the accuracy and repeatability required in these sectors. It has many features built in to ensure performance is maintained and its long-term reliability is preserved. Support for the machine comes from the Nottingham support centre with a number of directly employed application and service engineers. The specific part location software and touch probe are used to accurately identify the actual location of the component once it has been placed in the machine fixture. The software automatically updates the control system of the 5-axis alignment and has drastically reduced the set-up time, the need for manual intervention and the requirement for complex fixtures and multiple machine set-ups. The part is orientated and clamped to allow all machining operations to be completed in one setting as well as to compensate for twist in the component blank and orientate the program to ensure best fit through the centre line of the part. The software and probe also identify the surface of the blank to allow countersunk drill holes and machined detail in the component surface to meet the required depth and absolute tolerances. Good dust extraction is a pre-requisite when machining carbon-based materials. The system supplied is specific to the machine and has been supplied by a CMS partner company that has many years of experience together with CMS of supplying this type of equipment. The machine has a full enclosure with roof system ensuring all debris is contained within the work envelope of the machine. The extraction unit ensures all airborne particles are extracted during the machining process to maintain a clean and safe working environment for the machine operator. The tooling used to cut the carbon fibre is a mixture of PCD and carbide and has been designed specifically for this type of application with the correct tool geometry to allow the machine to optimise the cutting speed, delivering good surface finish, accuracy and high integrity of the part. Jason McQuillan of T&R Precision has been pivotal in the project and together with his colleagues has seen a threefold reduction in the time taken to produce the component from the initial estimate. The process is now producing parts not only in a timely manner, but also on a consistent basis whilst sustaining a clean and safe working environment. www.cmsukltd.co.uk www.trprecision.co.uk

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