Introducing StarragHeckert’s Biggest Machine

Learn more about the largest machine tool StarragHeckert has produced. It’s designed to maximize material removal rates for long, titanium aerospace components.

StarragHeckert recently unveiled the largest machining center it has ever produced—the BTP 5000. I learned about the machine at IMTS 2010, although it was too massive for the company to bring it to McCormick Place. It was designed with titanium in mind (after all, BTP stands for Big Titanium Profiler). Specifically, the BTP 5000 is geared toward long aerospace parts such as wing and fuselage components. The machine, which weighs 200 tons and has 5 meters of X-axis travel, was not only engineered to accommodate very long parts, but to machine titanium effectively. In fact, tests have shown that it enables material removal rates of 46 cubic inches per minute in Ti 6Al4Vand 18 cubic inches per minute in Ti 5553.

Learn more about this machine here. And for additional information about various approaches and techniques for machining titanium, visit our Titanium Machining Zone.