Looking for a used or new machine tool?
1,000s to choose from
Machinery-Locator
Mills CNC MPU 2021 Hurco MPU Ceratizit MPU

Machinery-Locator
The online search from the pages of Machinery Market.

2011 Emmegi SCA 450 sawing maching
Maximum speed: 2890 rpm
Blade size: 450mm
Machine dimensions LxWxH: 1400x1000x1550mm
Equipped wit
Maximum speed: 2890 rpm Blade size: 450mm Machine dimensions LxWxH: 1400x1000x1550mm Equipped wit...

Be seen in all the right places!

Metalshow & TIB 2025 Plastics & Rubber Thailand 2025 METALTECH & AUTOMEX 2025 Intermach 2025 ITM Industry Europe Smart Manufacturing Week 2025 Subcon 2025 EMO 2025 Maktek Konya Advanced Engineering 2025 Maktek Smart MACH 2026

Multi-axis combination machining centre

Posted on 14 Nov 2015. Edited by: John Hunter. Read 3714 times.
Multi-axis combination machining centre Mollart Engineering’s in-house-developed five-axis bed-type combination deep-hole drilling machine/machining centre is undertaking large-component production at its Chessington headquarters and sub-contract machining operation (www.mollart.co.uk).

Weighing in at more than 22 tonnes, the Mollart Prismabore machine provides a single-cycle production capability that combines milling sequences on components weighing up to 8 tonnes and requiring deep-hole drilling and boring.

Typical components being machined are multi-feature Inconel and titanium parts that incorporate extended-depth cooling holes and milled features on complex mould plates.

Mollart’s sub-contract operation supplies the semiconductor, nuclear, aerospace, medical, metrology, oil and gas, telecoms, sub-sea and special-materials industries, and most parts produced present new challenges relating to feature relationships, geometry, tolerances and material types.

Indeed, the deep-hole capability spans gun drilling, BTA drilling, ejector drilling, trepanning and special tooling applications in diameters from 0.5 to 410mm using high penetration rates while maintaining high orders of roundness, concentricity and straightness for bores up to 3,000mm deep.

The Mollart Prismabore has a 1,250 x 1,250mm B-axis rotary table and axis strokes of 2,000mm in X and 1,000mm in Y; a ram-type slide provides a Z-axis stroke of 800mm, while a fully independent U-axis governs the penetration of the gun drill to a depth of 1,500mm.

The ISO 50 machining-centre spindle is powered by an 11kW 6,000rev/min motor and supported by a 20-tool magazine with a swinging arm tool changer. Both the milling and drilling spindles are controlled by a single Fanuc 31i Model B unit.

The 11kW gun-drill drive has a two-speed gearbox to give either high speed or high torque — depending on the application. Comprehensive tool monitoring is used to protect tooling and components, and there is a refrigerated 80-bar coolant supply to both spindles (a sub-micron Micromag filter unit is incorporated in thecoolant circuit). The X, Y and Z axes feature Heidenhain glass scales.

Previous examples of Mollart’s ability to combine deep-hole drilling and conventional machining-centre-type applications within a single cycle include its five-axis Centreplex (pictured), which can incline (tilt) both the
gun drilling and milling spindles by 15deg (the spindles are mounted under/over — shotgun style).

This arrangement allows compound-angle features to be machined in cycle in conjunction with the rotary table.

In one particularly challenging application, Mollart had to produce 36 compound-angle oil-feed porting holes 20mm in diameter to individually specified depths in a 7.5 tonne nickel chrome steel forging for a marine bearing, which also required the taper thread milling of 30 holes to 3/4NPT.

The machining concept used by Mollart allowed it to produce the part in under three days.