High speed machine tool for Israel
High speed machine tool for Israel
Keywords Aircraft,Component, Machine tools, Marwin
An Israeli aerospace subcontractor, Cyclone Engineering, has placed a £1 million order with Wolverhampton-based Marwin Production Systems (Tel: +44 (0) 1902 366633) for a high speed, horizontal machining centre, due for delivery early 1999.
This will be the first Marwin Automax II to be equipped with twin 3.1 metre pallets instead of the standard 2.1 metres, allowing Cyclone to machine a wider range of aluminium parts. The 40,000rpm, 40kW spindle will have variable bearing preload to ensure efficient cutting throughout the speed range.
Justification for the machine purchase was based on Cyclone's appointment to manufacture under license the patented GridLock range of structural components for aircraft, designed in the USA by Tolo Inc., California. A similar Automax II has been in use there since January this year (1998) producing GridLock parts.
The Cyclone machine will be a five-axis CNC model to allow complex metalcutting sequences. As on all Automax machines, the pallet is horizontal when the workpiece is fixtured but swings into the vertical position before presentation to the horizontal spindle. Gravity ensures efficient removal of swarf, so important when cutting aluminium.
Three Automax IIs with twin 2.1 metre pallets are currently being built by Marwin for BAe Filton and are due for delivery during the second half of the year (Plate 1). They will form a flexible manufacturing system complete with pallet load station and ten buffer storage stations, all interlinked by rail-guided vehicle.
Plate 1 One of the three Automax IIs in build at Marwin's Wolverhampton factory
