Working area of the five-axis Hurco VC500i, showing the rotary table/swivelling trunnion positioned from front-to-back, instead of in the more usual side-to-side arrangement. Doors on two sides open to allow easy operator access

Based in Hayes, near London Heathrow Airport, in its 20,000ft² purpose-built factory, sub-contractor Wellington Engineering uses 45 CNC machine tools to produce parts for sectors as diverse as aerospace, medical, semi conductors and cryogenics. The latest machine to arrive on the shopfloor, in mid-2022, was a Hurco VC500i machining centre supplied by High Wycombe-based Hurco Europe Ltd.

Daimon Wellington, owner and managing director, said: “We recently adopted a strategy of looking to take on more complex prismatic machining work and had already identified a number of contracts. It was just a question of finding a suitable machining centre. Full five-axis capability was the next step up for us in terms of technology and as we use a lot of Hurcos, we decided to source our first true five-axis machining centre from the company.”

The cantilever-type VC500i is ergonomically designed for easy operator access, has a 520 x 450 x 400mm working volume and a ±100deg swivelling trunnion carrying a rotary table, ideal for machining five faces of a component in a single set-up. It drastically reduces the number of separate operations needed compared with using the sub-contractor’s three-axis machines, including those fitted with single- or two-axis dividing heads.

Mr Wellington observed: “Our other machining centres were taking too long to produce the increasingly complex components. Productivity drives profits and we have had excellent results in this respect since the five-axis Hurco was installed.

“Parts come off much quicker and we are not tying up the capacity of our other machines and their operators. Also there are far fewer issues with workholding and there is less deburring and hand fettling, all of which saves time. With five-axis strategies, jobs are coming off more economically in shorter cycle times, giving us more confidence to tell customers reliably when they can expect deliveries.”

Pictured right: the Hurco VC500i five-axis machining centre in operation

Wellington Engineering uses machine efficiency software to monitor cycle times and the uptime of its plant. Immediately apparent were the efficiency benefits of completing a job in two operations maximum on the VC500i, rather than having to put it up four or five times on different machine tools. One of the advantages is that manufacturing procedures are less complicated. Previously if the operator of one of the machines called in sick it would disrupt the entire process chain, but that is no longer the case, greatly improving efficiency.

In Mr Wellington’s opinion, there is a shortage of young talent coming through in manufacturing these days, so it is highly beneficial to install a machine that can do the work of four or five yet be operated by just one person.

He said: “With Hurco’s support and the ease of conversational programming using the Max 5 control, we are getting around the skills shortage and producing high quality components in fast times. Our operators especially like the ability to edit during the machining process, giving confidence that the part will come off right first time.

“We are now looking at jobs in a completely different way. Whenever we produce an estimate to quote for a new job, we always look at it as one that will potentially go onto the five-axis machine. That is because of the benefits it brings, especially when we are able to use simultaneous five-axis cycles, which is impossible on our other machines, while the VC500i is equally beneficial for five-sided work.”

He is delighted to be receiving reports from customers saying that the prices he is now charging are competitive with those of low-cost sources overseas. It is largely due to being able to cut down massively on set-up times as well as the cost of jigs and fixtures for presenting components at multiple specific angles to the spindle. The sub-contractor is now quoting successfully for work that it had previously considered but had to turn down, as its prices were too expensive.

In conclusion, Mr Wellington’s overall perspective on his latest machine tool investment is that the main benefit is the high level of output. Jobs that would normally take three to four weeks to complete are produced in days, without all the work-in-progress involved manufacturing parts on several machines sequentially. The other significant advantage is that the three- and four-axis machines on the shopfloor are freed up for simpler work.