"Reducing the amount of downtime when re-loading our 5-axis
Matsuura VMax800 machining centre was our highest priority," said
Nigel Dowding, MD of Dowding Precision (CNC) Ltd. in Bletchley,
Bucks. "We were making our own fixtures which were specific to each
part, but we were losing precious machining time when changing over
from one part to another!"
That's where System 3R's palletisation came into its own, in
providing a standard workholding system for the wide range of
different high precision engineering jobs for which Dowding
Precision is renowned.
By using a combination of manual Magnum and Macro chucks and their
corresponding pallets, each workpiece can be confidently mounted
and positioned to give consistent accuracy, a high degree of
machining flexibility and that all important increased speed in
changeover.
System 3R's unique reference system positively locates each
workpiece on the pallet so that if a job needs to be taken off the
machine for inspection or to get an even more urgent job on the
machine, it can be easily put back and machining continued without
any loss of accuracy or set-up time. Also, where more than one
process is involved, moving the part to a lathe, for example, for
other required machining also maintains its positional
integrity.
The pallets also allow for setting up of parts outside of the
machine whilst it is cutting another part, so at the end of a cycle
the parts can be changed in seconds and cutting recommenced! This
is especially important where cycle times may be short and batch
sizes small.
Inspection at any time is also made easier as there is a Macro
chuck on the table of the company's Mitutoyo CMM which again
ensures the highest degree of quality is maintained.
System 3R palletisation reduced machine downtime and
increased productivity by over 15% at Dowding
Precision.
Dowding Precision has an impressive list of customers that demand
just that. These include many of the top Formula 1 teams - with
suspension and engine components - and military applications for
the MOD. Parts they have engineered have also - it is hoped -
reached the surface of Mars, the Red Planet, as part of Beagle 2
Lander's soil sampling spectrometer instrumentation. Machining
metals as varied as titanium, aluminum, magnesium and high alloy
stainless steels for medical instruments, telecommunication and
surveillance systems also highlights their versatility.
"We have seen at least a 15% increase in productivity by using
System 3R pallets," said Nigel Dowding. "There is no doubt that our
customers have benefited through these increased efficiencies that
have also allowed us to remain highly competitive in the precision
engineering sector."
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