With over 80 years of expertise in manufacturing specialist gears under its belt, Leicestershire-based
Sovereign Gears Ltd has built a reputation for the quality of its products and services in the niche market segment. As a sub-contractor to the automotive, motorsport, industrial, agricultural and vintage market sectors, precision and quality is a must – this is why the manufacturer has recently invested in a Quaser MF400UH five-axis machining centre that follows on from three Nakamura turning centres also supplied by the
Engineering Technology Group (ETG).
Located in Croft, just the opposite side of the M1 from Leicester, Sovereign Gears services customers nationally and internationally across the complete spectrum of gear products, including helical and spur gears, sprockets, straight bevels, worm and wheel gears spiral bevel gears and splines. To manufacture this extremely diverse range of products, the manufacturing capabilities at Sovereign Gears include everything from turning, milling, wire EDM, grinding, lapping, gear cutting and reverse engineering through to gearbox design and ratio changes.
To further improve its productivity, the company has been on an investment drive recently, initially purchasing three Nakamura-Tome AS200 turning centres that were subsequently followed by a Quaser MF400UH five-axis machining centre. As a small family business, Sovereign Gears is always aiming to optimise its processes to reduce set-ups and improve throughput.
This philosophy led to the purchase of the two Nakamura AS200 and one AS200L turning centre in a single order – all aimed at using the powerful milling capacity on the tool turret with Y-axis capability to reduce set-ups and free capacity in the milling department. With the Nakamura machines achieving their intended aims, the company replicated this philosophy in the milling department – acquiring the Quaser MF400UH to reduce set-ups and significantly increase throughput.
Sovereign Gears director Ryan Spring said: “The majority of our work is one and two-off bespoke gears as well as jigs and kits for holding, assembling and working with the gears. Unfortunately, with so many complex forms, most of our milling work sometimes requires two, three or even four set-ups and this can take a lot of time and slow down our throughput. We bought the Quaser MF400UH along with with Open Mind’s high-end hyperMILL CAM software, also supplied via ETG, to reduce our set-ups. The Quaser is our first five-axis machine and it is a technological leap we are still getting used to. Despite this, we are already seeing huge benefits with the Quaser.”
The multitude of gears and associated jigs and kits have three to four set-ups per part and due to the complex nature of the components and the precision required, each set-up can average 1hr. This means that each part often spends up to 4-5hr being set up for machining. The Quaser has instantly eliminated 75% of this time, and with only a single set-up required for five-sided machining, the precision of each component is significantly improved.
He continued: “As a small business, it is imperative that we maximise the productivity of both our machine tools and our staff. By having the Quaser machine and reducing our set-ups, we are freeing up the capacity of two employees. Instead of spending excessive hours repeatedly setting up 3-axis machines, staff can be allocated to other tasks.”
When looking for a five-axis solution, Sovereign Gears reviewed the market extensively and narrowed the selection process down to two machines, the Quaser MF400UH machining centre and a high-end five-axis machine from a competitor.
Mr Spring continued: “The machine from one of the world’s leading brands wasn’t on a par with the Quaser which proved to be a better option with dynamic kinematics and a high specification. Furthermore, the 320mm diameter worktable is perfect for our business, as we have very few parts that extend beyond 200mm diameter. Within this compact work area, the Quaser is a very fast, powerful and dynamic machine.”
“Since having the Quaser, we have improved our ability to machine complex forms and this has ultimately won us new business that previously we would have turned away. The ability to increase the type of work that we can machine, such as round gear teeth, challenging chamfers, forms and keyways has enabled us to increase our customer base and our offering to those customers.”
The Quaser MF400UH provides an X, Y and Z axis of 680 x 610 x 510mm with an A-axis tilt of +30 to -120deg with a 360deg continuous C axis, providing an impressive work envelope in a small footprint machine. The BBT40 spindle taper is supplied by a 30-position ATC with 48, 60 and 120 positions available.
The end-user also has a variety of options to choose from, ranging from all of the leading CNC systems, a range of spindles with speeds from 10,000 to 20,000rev/min as well as several torque outputs. Similarly, coolant, swarf evacuation, automation and a host of other features have a number of options to suit the specific demands of the customer.
As well as the multitude of options to configure the machine, the compact footprint with a considerable work area was another reason why Sovereign Gears opted for the Quaser from ETG. Mr Spring concluded: “We have bought machine tools from ETG for many years and I am pleaseed to report that the service and support has always been outstanding. Whenever we have required assitance or if there has ever been an issue with a project or a specific problem with a machine, ETG has been on hand to help us every time.”