Aerospace Subcontractor Takes-Off With Victor CNC 5-Axis

When McGreevy Engineering made a strategic decision to move into the aerospace industry, the company recognised the relatively complex component manufacture required multiple and time consuming set-ups. The Belfast subcontract business realised it needed to take its first step into 5-axis machining, the machine of choice was the Vcenter AX800 from Victor CNC.

Tommy Hanna, Works Manager at McGreevy Engineering says: “Until now a lot of the work we’ve been doing has required us to do it in 3 or 4 different operations. We saw a need to buy a 5-axis, first of all to compete with our competition and cut-out operations to help make us more competitive.”

Relatively new to the UK marketplace, the Vcenter AX800 appealed to the AS: 9100 certified manufacturer for a number of reasons, as Tommy says: “We already had a Victor CNC lathe and it’s been very reliable. So, the reason we bought the AX800 was because it has a bigger capacity than most of its competitors. It has 1.6m in the X-axis. This allows us to use it as a large bed 3-axis machine as well as a very versatile and robust 5-axis.”

“Additionally, the operators have very easy access to the machine. We also have a 15,000rpm spindle, which means we are conducting high speed machining on a lot of our work. Providing our jobs are set-up correctly, we can hit all 5 sides of the workpiece at high speed and this is making a huge saving for our business.”

The company has a variety of 3-axis machining centres but with the 5-axis AX800, the company needed more tool positions. As Mr Hanna recalls: “Obviously with 5-axis we need more tool stations to hit the job from all directions and the AX800 has 40 tool positions. Added to this, the Victor AX800 is the first machine we have with a BBT40 spindle configuration. This allows us to use our BT40 tools from the other machines.”

It is recognised that the BBT40 configuration generates more stability, rigidity and enhances tool life and performance. So, when McGreevy gets more familiar with the new Victor installation, the company will notice a marked improvement in tool life, surface finishes, greater precision levels and productivity. “As well as the BBT40 spindle, the overall build quality and rigidity of the Victor machine is outstanding. We recently delivered a job to a customer and they couldn’t believe the surface finish. The customer actually said that they often polish jobs after machining, but the quality and surface finish from jobs produced on our new Victor AX800 are outstanding and require no polishing.”

The machine specified by the Northern Ireland company was specified with the through coolant facility and swarf conveyor system, as Mr Hanna continues: “We opted for the full package and with the 700mm in the Y-axis and 1600mm in the X-axis, plus the 800mm rotary table means we can machine some particularly large parts on the machine. This is especially the case with the rotary table as we can machine one side of a long part and then rotate it to do the other side. We are expecting to considerably grow our aerospace work in the near future and we’ll certainly be looking at another Victor CNC 5-axis machine.”