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Innovative Approach Staggers Customer
01 Jan 2002
Previous work on two sides of turbine blades made from Inconel, an exotic, hard to machine material, had always been done by solid sink EDM, and that is what subcontract specialist Wines was asked to do. However, the Kent based company suggested an alternative method that staggered and delighted the customer.
Subcontractor to the likes of BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Lucas Aerospace, Wines suggested that 5 axis, high speed CNC milling with a 1.2mm diameter cutter might offer significant cost and time savings compared to the accepted EDM method. The client said it defied convention and couldn't be done, but allowed Wines to experiment anyway.
Due to the geometry of the task, manufacture of electrodes and tooling for EDM would have been complex and the job would have to be positioned at differing compound angles for each face to be worked on.
With 5 axis, high speed, CNC milling, the benefits (and associated cost savings) were threefold: the fixtures were straightforward, the cycle time was halved, and the surface finish was superb thereby eliminating bead blasting.
By thinking 'outside the box', Nik Tipler, managing director of Wines, was able to offer significant savings to the customer and secured future work for his company.
Tel: 01732 740542
