Capabilities
We cover the full flow - from sawing and CNC turning or milling to grinding, wire EDM and 3D dimensional inspection. Full simultaneous 5-axis on our Mazak CV5-500.
- 01 Sawing and material preparation Two dual-column bandsaws cut bar stock and sections up to 560 mm. Stress relieving is done in-house, on the sawn blank, before machining.
- 02 CNC turning Ten CNC lathes, mostly Mazak, many with live tooling and a few of those also with a Y-axis. Bar-fed or chucked components up to Ø600 mm.
- 03 CNC milling and 5-axis The Mazak CV5-500 Smooth X machines complex parts in a single set-up on five simultaneous axes, up to Ø500 × 320 mm. For prismatic work, the Haas VF-2.
- 04 Surface grinding Surface grinding on a magnetic table, after CNC machining: flatness, parallelism and a fine finish on functional faces, hardened parts included.
- 05 Wire EDM Wire EDM for complex contours, keyways and hardened parts up to 500 mm thick.
- 06 3D measurement and inspection Two coordinate measuring machines - a ZEISS CONTURA and a TESA MICRO-HITE 3D - cover the whole flow: first article, in-process control and the dimensional report that ships with the batch.
What fits, and at what size
The six operations do not take the same part. The saw cuts bar thicker than the lathe can turn, and 3-axis milling has a longer travel than any lathe diameter. Moving the slider to the part’s cross dimension shows where it fits and where it does not.
Takes it
Does not take it
- 3-axis milling
- 762 × 406 × 508 mm
- CNC turning
- Ø600 mm
- Sawing
- Ø560 mm
- 5-axis milling
- Ø500 × 320 mm
- Wire EDM
- 500 mm
The axis is the largest cross dimension the operation takes - diameter for turning and sawing, cutting thickness for wire EDM. These are not the same thing, which is why each bar carries its full figure.
Which process, for which part
The five processes above are combined according to the part. Below is the rule by which each is selected, and why their order matters.
- A part of revolution - shaft, bushing, flange
- It starts at turning. If it also has off-axis holes, flats or a keyway, the lathes with live tooling do them in the same set-up; with a Y-axis, off-axis milling too. Every set-up avoided is one positioning error fewer.
- A prismatic part, with faces in several directions
- It goes to milling. On the five-axis centre, angled faces are clamped once: position is not lost between set-ups and their deviations do not add up. For simple parts with parallel faces, the three-axis centre is cheaper and just as good.
- A hardened part, above roughly 55 HRC
- The shape is cut before heat treatment, with an allowance; final dimensions afterwards, by grinding or wire EDM. The wire also cuts sharp internal corners that no cutter can produce - the cutter radius stays in the corner.
- Every part, at the start and at the end
- Everything begins at sawing, and the length ordered is always greater than the one on the drawing: the sawn end is faced off, and the part needs a section to be held by. Measurement accompanies the whole route, not only its end.
One part, from drawing to delivery
An example, not a reference: the shaft drawn above, in a run of 250 pieces from quenched-and-tempered 42CrMo4, with a keyway and a sealing surface. The input figures are chosen for the example; what the table shows is the order, and what each operation leaves for the next.
| Operation | What happens | What it leaves behind |
|---|---|---|
| Sawing | The bar is cut to the ordered length, longer than the one on the drawing. | An allowance to face off the sawn end, and a section for the chuck to hold. |
| Stress relief | The blank is held at temperature and cooled slowly. | The stresses from rolling, released now, no longer move the part between roughing and finishing. |
| Blank preparation | On the conventional lathes the sawn blank is prepared for clamping in the chuck of the CNC lathe. | A part ready for clamping, not the bar as it comes off the saw. |
| Roughing | The bulk of the material comes off, with deep passes and a firm feed. | An even allowance of a few tenths, so that finishing cuts the same everywhere. |
| Finishing | The functional dimensions are turned, with live tooling for the keyway. | The diameter inside the h7 field and the sealing surface at the required finish, in a single set-up. |
| Measurement | The first article is measured in full; the rest is sampled on the agreed characteristics. | The first article report before the series, the dimensional protocol with every batch. |
| Delivery | The parts leave with the batch documentation. | A 3.1 material certificate, the dimensional protocol, traceability to the heat number. |
Times and price are deliberately absent from the table: they are calculated on the actual drawing, and an example that also gave figures would be somebody else’s quotation.
Whether the part fits the machine park
Entering a diameter and a length returns the machines the part can be cut on.
Send a drawing