Sonaca Montreal is a leading manufacturer of large aluminium aerostructure components for commercial and business aviation.
When the company recently needed additional milling capacity, it chose Fives Liné Machines (
www.fivesgroup.com) — based in Granby, Quebec — as its partner to develop a high-speed technologically advanced and maintenance-friendly five-axis gantry mill.
Sonaca Montreal says the speed and power of the Fives Liné Machines’ Powermill V spindle and axis drive systems provide substantial metal removal capabilities.
The 30,000rev/min milling head, which is manufactured at the Granby facility, is rated at 125/156kW and has an HSK A63/F80 tool taper, while linear motors give a rapid-traverse rate of 76m/min for significant reductions in cycle times.
The rails of the high-rail Powermill V are installed on an elevated ‘concrete foundation’ that provides a natural enclosure.
Brian Kilpatrick, regional sales manager at Fives Liné Machines, said: “The solution we developed with Sonaca Montreal involved vacuum-table work-holding, programmable high-pressure coolant that supports high chip loads, mist collection that includes a full-length machine roof system, thermal compensation, chip extraction, automated tool changing and tool/part probing systems.”
Meanwhile, the operator station area includes a “monitor of remote gauges” with real-time feedback for machine utilities and critical components; and HD cameras allow the operator to view cutting operations from a safe and remote position.
For periodic quality assurance verifications and reporting, a machine health-check system examines machine geometry, and a head-check cycle assesses the geometry of the milling head.
Sonaca Montreal will be showing the capabilities of its Powermill V to customers at an Open House on 11 December. The Canadian and Quebec governments supported the purchase of the machine with long-term loans.