Bigger capacity makes a difference
The Hurco DCX22 bridge-type, vertical machining centre installed in a purpose-built extension at the Coylton works of contract machinist, Ayrshire Precision
A 2,200 by 1,700 by 750 mm capacity vertical machining centre, the only one of its type in Scotland, is winning new business for Ayrshire Precision in the nuclear, mining and oil & gas sectors.
Few contract machinists in Scotland have a machine to match the Hurco twin-column, bridge-type DCX22 installed at the Ayrshire’s Coylton works, which is precisely why managing director, Bert Bradford, purchased the machine on spec in February 2011.
The first new job to come along was refurbishment of explosion-proof, steel covers for transformers used in coal mines. They are cooled by water flowing through a hollow jacket, the inner surfaces of which need to be roughened to create turbulence and increase heat transfer to the water. These and other plates up to four metres long are machined for the mining sector on the 50-taper DCX22, the larger workpieces requiring two clampings on the 2,100 x 1,600 mm table.
Forty-metre-long distillation tanks for nuclear waste storage require many large, high tensile steel panels to be machined and 25 such
vessels are planned in the UK to cool and make safe spent radioactive material. Ayrshire Precision has won a contract to contribute to this project, which involves not only milling the panels but also drilling large numbers of holes to accept temperature probes.
More recently, 500 mm diameter flanges for the oil industry have been machined cost-effectively on the DCX22, the first such machine to be installed in Scotland, thanks in part to the ability to set up four at a time on the table. Each flange requires milling and drilling of 16 holes. Centres have to be within ± 25 microns, while the tolerance held on a sealing groove is 18 microns total.
All four parts are completed in one hit to minimise tool changes and maximise production efficiency.
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