ADM Fine Machining (ADM) is the result of two businesses — ADM Engineering Ltd and Fine Machining Ltd — combining their expertise and customer bases at a 12,000ft
2 facility in Littlehampton, Sussex. Traceability is a key factor in all the products it manufactures for the aerospace and petrochemical industries.
Peter Howell, business development manager for ADM says, “We are ISO 9000-approved, and AS9100 approval is due in the second quarter this year. Furthermore, we always work in partnership with our customers to develop the most efficient manufacturing processes for their components.
“Business is buoyant at the moment, and our investment in a DMG Mori NMV3000 DCG was an important step in enhancing our five-axis machining capacity. The manufacture of complex parts in just one or two settings without the need for costly fixtures is definitely the way forward.”
The machine — from Coventry-based DMG Mori UK (
www.dmgmori.com) — has a 34-station pallet changer and a 12,000rev/min spindle, and it can machine parts that fall within a 320mm cube. By using vices on each of the pallets, blocks of material can be quickly and easily located ready for machining, even while the machine is running. Parts can then be inverted, where necessary, and passed through the machine again to finish the back face.
Mr Howell says: æWe chose the NMV 3000 DCG for its speed, working envelope, tool capacity, rigidity and small footprint, plus the easy-to-use Mitsubishi controller. We process a lot of hard and exotic materials such as Inconel, Hastelloy and F51/55, and the machine cuts these with ease.
“For the more-complex parts we produce, the DMG Mori five-axis technology can eliminate many of the costly set-up requirements of three- and four-axis machining and significantly reduce lead times.
“Moreover, the machine can run for 24hr a day, seven days a week. Probing on the machine and sister tooling ensure the minimum of disruption during machining cycles , and we frequently run it unmanned.
“Programming is undertaken off-line, using our VISI CAD/CAM system working directly from customers’ solid models; we also make full use of techniques such as full-depth trochoidal cutting with carbide tools. Batch quantities can vary from just a few prototype components up to many thousands in series production.”
The aerospace parts produced by the company are mainly destined for cargo-safety applications, while the petrochemical parts include metal-to-metal valves and motor-activated needle valves.
ADM also builds complete assemblies and sub-assemblies for its customers, some of which can have more than 350 components. Traceability is crucial for all these applications, and the company has robust systems to track parts right back to the material source.
Mr Howell says: “When the two companies came together to form ADM Fine Machining, we effectively doubled our turnover. We are now looking to expand into other high-technology sectors, such as motor-sport, defence, power generation and medical, where our precision engineering expertise and traceability systems will be recognised as added value to potential new customers.
“Our plan is further expansion through diversification, which will see us investing in more DMG Mori five-axis machines.”