Founded in 1980, European CNC Turned Parts Ltd has established a reputation for the manufacture of high-quality CNC turned and milled parts; and because the company has pursued a policy of employing skilled staff and consistently investing in the most up-to-date CNC technology, it can produce these parts for its still growing customer base at a cost-effective price.
European CNC Turned Parts has formed long-term relationships with customers in the automotive, water, rail, printing, oil and gas and power generating industries. Commonly produced parts include collars, elbows, seal
retainers, adapters, valves and spacers. The company’s constant focus on product quality is supported by a dedicated inspection room that is equipped with an extensive range of high-precision inspection equipment and provides full SPC analysis and reports.
As part of its on-going programme of updating its inspection capabilities, European CNC Turned Parts has recently bought an Axiom Too CNC co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) from Aberlink Ltd, which is based in Eastcombe, Gloucestershire (
www.aberlink.com).
Works manager Roy Goodwin, said: “We have achieved — and work to the requirements of — BS EN ISO 901:2008. To ensure that we maintain the high standards that our customers expect, our focus is always on quality; and while we ensure that in-process checks are constantly made, components are thoroughly inspected before dispatch.
“For those customers who have their own inspection regimes and requirements, we are happy to liaise with them and to embrace their specific inspection criteria and requirements.”
Meeting demand
As a constantly growing order book had begun to place a strain on the company’s inspection department, it needed a fast and accurate CMM that could keep pace with its output — hence the Axiom Too. To maximise the machine’s capabilities, it was specified with the addition of a CMM camera system, to allow non-contact inspection as well as touch-probe routines.
“Our staff soon became skilled in the machine’s use; and because they take responsibility for the quality of their own work, the Axiom Too has been placed in an environmental enclosure in the middle of our shopfloor, thereby
allowing all required in-process checks to be made instantly.
"Moreover, it allows us to load large batches of completed components onto its bed and perform fast and accurate final inspection routines fully automatically. Indeed, the CMM’s speed is such that we have removed the possibility of an inspection bottle-neck; it has also further improved our already high quality standards and inspection capabilities.”
The Axiom Too is Aberlink’s best-selling CMM. Available in manual and CNC variants and in a range of capacities, the recently upgraded machine achieves high measuring accuracies through the use of the latest metrology techniques and advanced in-house manufacturing methods.
It features an aluminium bridge with a very low thermal mass, allowing it to be used in controlled environments or in less than perfect shopfloor conditions. The machine’s low inertia also results in a class-leading speed of operation. For increased accuracy, air bearings of optimised stiffness are used on all axes, while a granite Y beam allows the bridge bearings to be pre-loaded in both directions.
‘Borrowed’ from the aerospace industry, the CMM’s component support comprises a granite/aluminium honeycomb construction that is sturdy, offers good damping characteristics, and further enhances the machine’s thermal properties. Despite a generous measuring volume (640 x 600 x 500mm or 640 x 900 x 500mm), the machine has a relatively small footprint, with the control and all peripherals housed within its ‘workbench’.
The Axiom Too features Aberlink’s intuitive 3-D software, which creates a picture of the component on the computer screen as it is being measured. Differences between the measured features and those that appear on the component drawing are then picked off as required. Aberlink says this software is the easiest to use of any CMM software currently available, adding that a complete novice is usually able to perform relatively involved measurement routines after just 5min training.