Founded in 2009 by Adrian Baker, Derby based Baker Engineering Ltd has rapidly grown to be a prominent subcontract manufacturer in the aerospace, rail, energy and power generation sectors with customers in the UK, Europe, the US and beyond. The company has gained a reputation for impeccable precisio...

Workholding solutions for components that would be seemingly impossible to fixture any other way are now solved by the Triag triGEL range of freeze clamping plates that are now available from REM Systems.

Freeze clamping is a clamping technique that is primarily used for bulky parts made of metal, ...

To enable Starrag to ‘Engineer precisely what you value’ in terms of component demands, it is the relatively new range of affordable Heckert H, T and X four-/five-axis mill and mill/turn centres that offer aero manufacturers cost and time savings in the production of soft and hard metal structure and engine components.

Offering pallet sizes starting at 400mm and spindle/column options for highly dynamic aluminium cutting or heavy-duty titanium work, the machines have a footprint that is up to 30% less than traditional horizontal machines. This results in an estimated 15% increase in productivity per unit area. The machines also boast traverse rates up to 80m/min, acceleration rates of 1.2g, tool change (chip-to-chip) times of 2.2 secs and pallet change times down to 8.5 secs.

Many aspects of Starrag’s well-proven machine construction principles are applied, including a mineral bed for optimum temperature and vibration resistance, linear guideways and a centralised swarf conveyor, as well as unified and easily accessible coolant and lubricant systems. The result is minimal downtime and high levels of reliability.

Modular design allows different pallet sizes and spindle and column options to selected. Users can specify versions for either aluminium cutting (universal HSK 63 spindle on a lightweight aluminium column on the Heckert X40) or a high-torque HSK 100A unit (utilising a steel column on the Heckert mill-turn T45) for heavy-duty work on hard materials including titanium. The Heckert X40 has X, Y and Z axes travel of 700 by 750 by 750mm and can accommodate loads of 400kg.

On the 5-axis Heckert T45, everything is geared towards increased productivity with combined turning and hobbing/skiving with milling for versatile single set-up working. The machine has 750mm of travel in all three main axes and it can accommodate loads of 400kg and its HSK 100A spindle is rated at 292Nm and 15,000 revs/min. 

With eight brand ranges of machines, all suited to the cost-effective production of aerostructures and aero engines, Starrag UK is well-placed to offer a machining solution to any demand. The machines cover aspects from micro-machining of fuel injector parts or 20m long wing spas. Many of the machines are suited to machining specific components in a single set-up with the Berthiez range aimed at turning and grinding of engine casings, the Bumotec for fuel systems, the Dörries for large engine casings, the Ecospeed for high-speed aluminium cutting, the Heckert for 5-axis engine and aerostructure applications, Starrag machines for 5-axis aerostructures, blades and blisks and the SIP series for very precise components.

Starrag UK Director for Sales and Applications Lee Scott says: “Whatever the choice, users are guaranteed substantial rewards from a relatively small outlay on machines with unmatched specifications. It is a myth that we only supply to OEMs, so we are not on everyone’s radar – in fact, we have customers of all sizes benefiting from our solutions.”

By Ian Barker, Managing Director of Close Brothers Asset Finance

For the past decade, Close Brothers Asset Finance has been surveying businesses in the manufacturing and engineering sector on a quarterly basis, tracking a variety of business indicators and using that data. Now, we have launched our Business Sentiment Index (BSI). This analysis certainly provides some interesting statistics.

The BSI provides a score that is calculated and based upon business owners’:

• Appetite for investment in their business in the coming 12 months
• Access to finance and whether they’ve missed a business opportunity due to a lack of available finance
• Views about the UK’s economic outlook
• Thoughts on their likely performance in the coming 12 months 

Here, I will analyse both the reasons for the current score and also take a look back to 2016 and analyse the reasons for any fluctuations.

In January, the confidence of the sector was at its highest following the election and certainty around leaving the EU. This was echoed in various indices and anecdotally as well. Then came COVID-19 and unsurprisingly, the outlook changed almost 180 degrees, with the score falling to 7.5, the lowest figure registered for the sector. This even surpasses the impact of the elongated ‘soft’ Brexit uncertainty. All that being said, some things don’t change. Sentiment in our industry still tracks higher than the UK average, as it has consistently done, historically.

Unpicking the data

Starting with ‘investment appetite’, the number of firms looking to secure funding for investment remained remarkably stable with an almost identical number both post-lockdown (69%) and pre-lockdown (72%).

This is not about companies wanting loans purely to survive. Business owners are looking beyond the immediate and are still confident they want to invest to grow and that it’s in their best interests to do so. It’s encouraging business bosses are still ambitious and are thinking beyond the short and medium-term.

Missed opportunities

The next measure that forms an important component of the BSI score looks at whether a company has missed a business opportunity in the last 12 months because of a lack of available finance. The figure for ‘missed opportunities’ has remained very stable, with only a nominal increase in companies missing out; although we expect this to widen the longer the economy takes to recover.

Economic outlook

Predictably, respondents’ views about the economy contributed most to the dip in the latest BSI figure. In January, 77% of those in manufacturing who took part in the research felt positive about the prospects for the UK’s economy; by the end of April, this had fallen to 46% as the lockdown measures continued to take effect.

Predicted business performance

We ask business owners to predict how their firm is going to perform in the coming 12 months, and the differences between January and April is clear. The number of firms looking to expand has halved while those expecting to contract has more than tripled.

Summary

Yes, these are troubled times, but business sentiment has been at these levels before. We must not forget that for nearly two years from April 2018 business sentiment was high and there should be no reason why we can’t return to those levels. We remain realistically optimistic about what the future will hold and look forward to renewing acquaintances when the time is right. 

How we’ve been helping…

We are among a number of funders approved to offer CBILS (Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme) loans aimed at helping firms through this difficult time.

CBILS can provide working capital for smaller businesses in the UK that are experiencing lost or deferred revenues due to Coronavirus. Under the scheme, we can offer government-backed facilities between £1,000 and £5m to businesses and professionals using our current finance facilities.

How does CBILS work?

If your otherwise viable business has been adversely impacted by COVID-19 and the provision of finance will enable you to trade out of any short-to-medium term difficulties, we may be able to provide you with additional lending that you would otherwise not have access to by using our suite of asset finance products.

The facility is underwritten, approved and managed by Close Brothers and repayments are paid directly to us, just like any other business loan. We offer CBILS facilities of up to £5m over a maximum term of six years. For eligibility criteria and further details, please visit www.closeasset.co.uk/CBILS.

To ensure accurate testing of parts, the Bowers Group has provided NMB Minebea UK Ltd with an INNOVATEST Falcon 507 Vickers, Knoop & Brinell Hardness Tester. The Falcon tester has enabled NMB Minebea to increase its PTP testing results from Class 3 to Class 1, deliver faster turnaround of samples and increase accuracy of the tests.

NMB Minebea manufactures a variety of aerospace and military parts like bearings and landing gear. Producing precision-engineered products means that testing and quality assurance is key to NMB Minebea UK success.

Jason Woodhouse, Laboratory Manager at NMB Minebea UK Ltd said: “Since investing in the Falcon, the accuracy of our hardness testing has improved by 60%. It’s not just accurate, it’s really simple and easy to use too.”

Precise and accurate hardness measurement is of the utmost importance to performance-critical parts made using the cold form process. Hardness needs to be accurately measured to prevent fracture during the cold form process, which can result in components having to be scrapped, and also damage to the dies and tooling on machines.

Jason Woodhouse continued: “We chose the Falcon 507 because it offered us all the features we needed at the right price. It was the perfect balance for us. Most people in the metallurgy lab use the hardness tester daily.”

Testing for aerospace companies and their supply chains must be carried out in accordance with a Proficiency Testing Program (PTP), which refer to a series of tests established by a number of aerospace firms including Airbus, Safran, GE, MTU, GKN, Airbus Helicopters and Rolls Royce in order to qualify Laboratories around the world based on ISO:13528:2015 standard.

NMB Minebea UK Ltd can now test to ASTM and British Standards on the hardness tester, validate paperwork, and export all results to Microsoft Windows. To ensure the hardness tester is as accurate as it can be it is calibrated by an external company every 6 months. NMB Minebea UK Ltd also has some dimensional metrology equipment from Bowers Group including 3 point bore gauges used for bore measurements, stick mics and thread mics.

When Senior Aerospace Weston wanted to become more efficient in the inspection of critical machined aerostructure parts, the company turned to Renishaw and its Equator™ gauging system. The Equator gauge has cut inspection times per part by around 75% and introduced more comprehensive component traceability.

Background

Senior Aerospace supplies a range of complex machined components and sub-assemblies for commercial aviation. At the company’s machine shop in Earby, 95% of output is for Airbus aircraft, mainly A320 and A321, but also A330, A380 and A350.

Most of the components are aerostructure (wing and mainframe) components; everything from small items measuring 50mm, up to large engine pylon brackets and landing gear fittings.

Challenge

Some complex aerostructure parts were taking 10 minutes to inspect using Senior Aerospace’s existing CMMs. This would often cause bottlenecks and limitations around the CMMs. To address the problem, the company introduced manual inspection methods using traditional equipment and hard gauging with limited effect.

With build-rates increasing, Senior Aerospace Weston recognised its responsibility to become more efficient with in-cycle measurement without compromising quality.

“Inspection cycle time has been cut by 75%. Previously a manual measurement would be taken and recorded on paper; now, we have fully electronic reports with every dimension recorded. We can also use trend data to help identify potential areas for improvement in manufacturing.”

Solution

“We spoke with Renishaw and they proposed the Equator gauge, which is another level up from a traditional 3-axis CMM in terms of speed,” explains CMM Programmer Andy Wright.

The thermally-insensitive Equator system is a flexible gauge that is designed to provide speed, repeatability and ease-of-use.

“We have 70 parts that could fit on the gauging system, so there is high potential,” states Mr Wright, who is also impressed with the system’s ease of use. “No special skills are required; the operator simply loads the part into the fixture, lets the cycle run and receives an easy-to-read report.”

Another factor behind the success of the project has been the sales and applications support from Renishaw: “The support we receive is first class,” says Mr Wright. “Renishaw is very quick to answer any queries, and it almost feels like we’ve been assigned our own special support team.”

A key part of the support team for Senior Aerospace Weston is Renishaw Applications Engineer, Ed Clarke, who comments: “For any customer with a turnkey project, we will provide support for their project. If there are any queries, the customer can come directly to us for support.”

Results

Among the parts inspected at Senior Aerospace Weston using the Equator gauge is a titanium wing flap track component for Airbus.

“Over the years, we have gone through several process iterations and various equipment solutions trying to measure the part quicker with the required accuracy, but inspection would regularly fail due to component complexity and tight tolerances,” concedes Mr Wright. “However, using the Equator gauge we have been able to achieve a process that delivers accurate gauging and repeatability. The Equator measures around 25 different features on this part, taking just 90 seconds in total.”

“The in-cycle measurement time has been significantly reduced, with our operators now just reviewing an electronic report,” says Mr Wright. “Inspection cycle time has been cut by 75%. Previously a manual measurement would be taken and recorded on paper; now, we have fully electronic reports with every dimension recorded. We can also use trend data to help identify potential areas for improvement in our manufacturing process.” 

It has been a difficult few months for all industries, especially the aerospace sector. With commercial airlines grounded since April and only limited cargo and private flights running, demand for new aircraft and maintenance has dropped dramatically, giving an opportunity to look towards improving business practices.

Several aircraft engine manufacturers have warehouses piled high with quarantined engine parts that have been removed and replaced, but without extensive quality control checks to see if the parts removed parts are within the serviceable repair domain.  In essence, they could be throwing away a perfectly sound component, or one which can be repaired and returned to flight.

The costs associated with the MRO sector are huge, replacing turbine blades can exceed £10,000 for a single component. Decision making on whether defects and deterioration can be repaired is a labour-intensive process for engine manufacturers and MRO bases across the country. This is where GOM’s ATOS systems come in. With its automatic measurement and defect detection, the decision-making process is sped up and the 3D data can be reused to streamline additive and adaptive manufacturing processes.

One of the highest-resolution scanners in the GOM arsenal, the ATOS 5 for Airfoil parts has been designed specifically for turbine industries. With its optimised working distance and measuring areas from 100 by 70mm², it delivers high-precision 3D data of the smallest details in a short measuring time. The ATOS 5 can create a full 3D ‘digital twin’ of a turbine blade within a few minutes or a complete blisk in less than one hour. Once an inspection has been defined, it can be automatically repeated for any number of blades or blisks.

For more traditional quality control analysis of turbine blades and vane airfoils, the typical 2D sectional inspections included are the profile mean line, profile centroid, profile and edge thickness measurements and more. Having the digital twin allows for many more possibilities. The component wear, corrosion, dents and chips in ceramic coatings are some parameters being automatically analysed during the inspection process.  In advanced customer scenarios, GOM sees the data being used to help analyse and anticipate structural failures, Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and component life. The rich 3D data and detailed insights allow for a more complete picture of the component, reducing the component repair process.

The component repair solution is realised by combining the ATOS 5 for Airfoil, GOM Inspect software and the automation of an ATOS ScanBox. GOM’s range of ScanBox’s has been designed to make manufacturers life easier by automating the scanning process. Instead of an inspector using a scanner manually spending hours trying to fully scan one component, they can load it into a ScanBox and the 3D scanner and robotic automated arm will take a full scan in minutes. 

The evolution and speed of the ATOS ScanBox allows it to be combined with Batch Processing System (BPS) giving the ultimate in metrology autonomy. It can measure more than 80 turbine blades without human intervention, giving a ‘lights out’ process. Robustness and measuring speed are key features of the system. For example, an inspector will load the BPS that will select each blade and insert it into the measuring space. The ATOS 5 for Airfoil scanning with an automated robotic arm, will then take a complete 3D scan of the blade before the BPS takes the blade out and then methodically selects the next blade for measuring. Traceability of the part is maintained with an RFID chip, which the system uses to track from the start to the end of the inspection process. 

GOM systems have long been used to support the aerospace industry and the team is available to support new and existing customers through the current situation. Where safe to do so, engineers and technicians are visiting sites around the UK, supporting clients that may have been shut down for a few weeks and need assistance with the re-start process on their systems.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) has thrown industry into unchartered territory with many machine shops running reduced capacity, idling some machines or completely closing the doors to the business. But what about your machine tools? Here, ROCOL gives engineers some tips on what to do from both a coolant and machine tool perspective…

If it is known that a machine is going to be stood idle for a long period of time, it should be fully cleaned out with ULTRAGUARD® SC System Cleaner and left dry. The fixtures should be removed, the machine bed and tooling should be wiped down, then coated with ROCOL MOISTURE GUARD® SPRAY. If this has not been done, engineers can either discuss options with ROCOL and/or follow a few measures:

l Skim all tramp oil from machines as it is a food source for bacteria and large amounts of surface oil will limit the oxygen supply to the fluid.

l Increase the strength of the fluid in the sump. Do this by turning up the fluid mixer and topping up as much as possible.

l While topping up the machines add a dose of ULTRAGUARD® BX 2000. This should be added at a ratio of 2000:1. For example, a 300L sump would require a treatment of 150ml.

l Where possible circulate the coolant for an hour each day. Circulating the coolant reduces stagnation and will introduce oxygen and limit the growth of bacteria.

l Where possible fit airlines in sump to oxygenate the fluid.

l If any sumps require a cleanout, use ULTRAGUARD® SC, follow the standard cleanout procedure and leave the sump dry until required.

l If a full cleanout is not possible then a full system cleaner flush, potentially at 50:1 should be carried out, followed by removal of the old fluid.

Upon returning to production as many business now are, both preserved and freshly filled sumps should be treated with additives such as ROCOL ULTRAGUARD® BX 2000 and ULTRAGUARD® FX. For engineers not so familiar with ROCOL products, the ULTRAGUARD® BX 2000 is a biocide additive that can be safely used with all types of water mix metalworking fluids to give long lasting protection against bacterial activity.

From a machine tool perspective, the impact of any plant or equipment being dormant for extended periods can be damaging, even catastrophic. If you are conscious of the impact that prolonged downtime may cause, ROCOL has fact sheets, technical data, support and of course extensive product lines to get your business back to its optimal level of productivity. The first advice note is to ensure that your sumps and coolant systems are completely clean and free of stagnant fluid, more information on this can be found via https://www.rocol.com/knowledge-centre/rocol_expert/cutting-fluid-preservation-guidelines

For excessive grime or dirt build-up, machine tool users should consider using the Flawfinder cleaner spray. ROCOL also has its Foam Cleaner Spray for external cleaning of any vertical surfaces and once surfaces are clean, there is ROCOL’s MOISTUREGUARD® GREEN spray or fluid to prevent corrosion and the ingress of water.

The humble beginnings of Vision Engineering date back to 1958 when Jaguar Racing Team mechanic Rob Freeman developed a borescope for internal inspection of race engine components without the need for disassembly. He subsequently formed the Woking-based company to pursue his interest in optics applied to manufacturing technology.

Wind forward more than 50 years and the company that started off as a specialist optical subcontractor to companies like Rolls-Royce, Vickers and GEC, now employs more than 220 people in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia supplying stereo inspection and optical measurement products around the world. In 2018, the company opened an 84,000sq/ft manufacturing and R&D facility in Surrey and this site is crammed with the latest machine tool innovations that are used for manufacturing its own products as well as offering a subcontract machining service. With machines from Mazak, Kitamura, FANUC, XYZ and Citizen, the finished parts are inspected on Aberlink metrology equipment.

[inlineVideo link="https://mtd.network/news/mazak-quadrex-wow"]

Speaking about the latest addition, a new Mazak Hyper Quadrex HQR-150MSY, Vision Engineering’s Steve Mead says: “The latest machine we have is the Mazak Hyper Quadrex turning centre. It’s a fantastic machine and it’s given us loads of extra capacity. It has a front loader and a back loader, it can run 16 to 18 hours a day and parts are very accurate; we are really pleased with it.” Referring to the automation of the machine, Steve says: “The machine has a Hydrafeed barfeed unit at one end and the parts catcher at the other end. We wanted a bespoke parts catcher, as we run the machine for so many hours and we have more than one size component go through the machine. Some of the parts and the runs are too large to fit in one container, so we had a device fitted that has an automatic shutter that would crossover to drop parts into the second bin when the first is full.”

Taking a closer look at the machine, MTD spoke with the Mazak Hyper Quadrex operator, Mr Zoltan Bors, he told MTD: “This machine is a twin-spindle double turret machine that works on the X, Y, Z, and C-axes, and it has the latest Smooth control system, which is particularly easy and functional to use. With the Hydrafeed barfeeder, a 5-inch chuck capacity and a bespoke part catcher system, the machine is geared for around-the-clock machining.”

Referring to the flexibility of the machine, Zoltan says: “To demonstrate the flexibility of the Mazak machine, we have a small part here that used to be done on the sliding head machines. It consists of turning, milling and internal and external threading with a 0.5mm pitch, and next to this, we have a larger part that is essentially a milling job. Using the chuck transfer, we can hold our position from front face machining to rear face machining, which is essential, as there are a lot of features that are all tied up to tight tolerances.”

With a bar capacity of 65mm diameter, the bar fed Hyper Quadrex is the epitome of productivity and flexibility, offering simultaneous cutting of two workpieces on front and rear spindles to double productivity for end-users. Incorporating a lower tooling turret with 12 tool capacity and another turret with an additional 12 tool capacity, the flexibility of this machine was a key factor in Vision Engineering making the acquisition. Complementing the flexibility of the machine is a powerful 15kW spindle motor and a work envelope that provides up to 175mm X-axis travel and 580mm in the Z-axis with a 320mm maximum swing.