Technoset UK specializes in manufacturing highly complex, precision machined components for the aerospace market. The parts, which are made from both common and exotic metals, are produced using sophisticated multi-axis turning and milling centers.
Following the line of investments in machine tools, the company invested in quality control technology including an OGP probe system, and, more recently, a Vici laser-scanning machine from Vicivision, said Kevin Kane, managing director of Technoset.
“The beauty of this machine is that you’re able to program the part very quickly,” he said. “In a lot of cases, an operator can go to the machine, load a part, press a button, it scans the product, and it auto-recognizes that product and goes automatically to the program.”
Kane said that it makes the job for easy for the operator. “Within 30 seconds, he has a report of maybe 30 to 35 different features and characteristics that are either hopefully conforming or need some attention to bring them back into the mean.”
“The Vici machine and the OGP machines are robust pieces of kit and they can be used in the production environment, which is where they really need to be because you’ve got to keep your spindles and production running. We keep them in the workshop, on the front line, right where they belong.”
Kane said the most important criteria the company had when choosing the system was reliability and repeatability. After that, the next important needs are service and support. “I have to say that they [Vicivision] are always on the end of the phone if we’ve got a problem or a query or relating to maybe a program or a part that’s running through a program."
“For me, it [quality control] is an integral part of what we do,” said Kane. “Without that measurement capability, you can’t produce the sophisticated products we produce with any degree of confidence. If a customer challenges something, how can you prove a result if you can't measure it? We need this modern technology to keep evolving.”
For more information on the Vici laser scanner, contact Vicivision America LLC at 480-212-5172 or visit www.vicivisionamerica.com.
Related Glossary Terms
- centers
centers
Cone-shaped pins that support a workpiece by one or two ends during machining. The centers fit into holes drilled in the workpiece ends. Centers that turn with the workpiece are called “live” centers; those that do not are called “dead” centers.
- gang cutting ( milling)
gang cutting ( milling)
Machining with several cutters mounted on a single arbor, generally for simultaneous cutting.
- milling
milling
Machining operation in which metal or other material is removed by applying power to a rotating cutter. In vertical milling, the cutting tool is mounted vertically on the spindle. In horizontal milling, the cutting tool is mounted horizontally, either directly on the spindle or on an arbor. Horizontal milling is further broken down into conventional milling, where the cutter rotates opposite the direction of feed, or “up” into the workpiece; and climb milling, where the cutter rotates in the direction of feed, or “down” into the workpiece. Milling operations include plane or surface milling, endmilling, facemilling, angle milling, form milling and profiling.
- quality assurance ( quality control)
quality assurance ( quality control)
Terms denoting a formal program for monitoring product quality. The denotations are the same, but QC typically connotes a more traditional postmachining inspection system, while QA implies a more comprehensive approach, with emphasis on “total quality,” broad quality principles, statistical process control and other statistical methods.
- turning
turning
Workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a face plate or secured between centers and rotated while a cutting tool, normally a single-point tool, is fed into it along its periphery or across its end or face. Takes the form of straight turning (cutting along the periphery of the workpiece); taper turning (creating a taper); step turning (turning different-size diameters on the same work); chamfering (beveling an edge or shoulder); facing (cutting on an end); turning threads (usually external but can be internal); roughing (high-volume metal removal); and finishing (final light cuts). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chucking machines, automatic screw machines and similar machines.
