Methods Customer Wins Five-Axis Competition

Machine tool supplier Methods Machine Tools (Sudbury, Massachussetts) has announced that one of its customers has been named the winner of the Matsuura 2008 International Five-Axis Machining Competition. MAC Machine (Baltimore, Maryland) earned the award based on its successful process development of an extremely complex aerospace part. Involving very thin walls and tool length challenges, this part would have formerly needed to be cast, incurring significant time and expense in terms of lead time and development tooling cost.

Rather, the part was processed by MAC Machine lead programmer Randy Barbe using MasterCAM X and CAMPlete TruePath software on a Matsuura MAM72-63V. Working with Mike Kaminski, senior application engineer at Methods, Mr. Barbe machined the part from a solid billet. Mr. Kaminski trained Mr. Barbe on the use of CAMplete TruePath software to verify and optimize the process prior to cutting the part on the Matsuura machine.

The Matsuura MAM72-63V is a five-axis, multi-pallet machine designed for processing large, geometrically complex components within a work envelope of 24.8 × 17.7 inches. With weight capacity of 770 lbs., the machine features a bridge-type construction for both light finishing cuts and heavy-duty roughing in hardened materials. Its 40-taper Matsuura Hi-Tech spindle features a 20,000-rpm, 80-mm bearing unit for cutting performance. Other features include easy access to the part through two operator doors, an offline post-processor and a collision-detection software package.