5 Ways Better: 5-Axis Machining

END USER: Wagner Machine Co., (217) 384-0072, www.wagner-machine.com. SOLUTION PROVIDER: 5th Axis Inc., (858) 505-0432, www.fifthaxis.com. CHALLENGE: Reliably and cost-effectively grip parts during 5-axis machining. SOLUTION: A compact, dovetail-style, 5-axis clamping system.

Most vo-tech graduates leave school and work for someone else. Not Werner Wagner. After completing a manufacturing technology program in the late 1970s at Parkland Community College, he and one of the instructors went into business for themselves. By 1982, however, Wagner had set off on his own and opened Wagner Machine Co. in Champaign, Ill.

Fast forward to 2011. The shop had grown to 30 employees and specialized; as it still does; in prototype to mid-volume machined parts “small enough to fit in your hand” for the optical, electronics, medical and other industries, said his son Kurt, who joined the company in 1998. The shop also purchased its first 5-axis machining center that year, a Hurco VX30U, and the Wagners were shaking their heads over the high cost of tooling their new equipment.

5th Axis workholders can grip large parts, such as this aluminum mounting bracket, even when there’s a minimal amount of workpiece material to grip. Image courtesy Wagner Machine.

“At that time, options for 5-axis workholding were limited, so we ordered a German-made vise,” Kurt Wagner said. “The vise works great, but was far too expensive for production work.”