Makino T2 launched in Europe on 7th July 2011 at NCMT's Coventry technical centre

New aircraft have to fulfil ever-higher standards of efficiency to reduce emission levels, so increasing use is being made of titanium to take advantage of its lightness and strength.  Fifteen per cent of the extra-wide-body version of the Airbus A350 by weight will be titanium, compared with five per cent of the A300 and nine per cent of the A380. Titanium is used widely in all three variants of the F-35 Lightening II (Joint Strike Fighter) and Lockheed Martin has identified its machining as a significant cost driver.

With this growth potential in mind, and in the light of an increasing number of applications for titanium emerging in other sectors such as F1, marine and petrochemical, Japanese machine tool builder, Makino, has introduced a new, 5/6-axis, horizontal machining centre specifically for manufacturing components efficiently from titanium and its alloys.

Designated Makino T2, the machine is sold in Britain and Ireland through sole agent, NCMT. The company hosted the European launch of the machining centre at its Middlemarch technical centre, near Coventry, on 7th July 2011. Representatives from manufacturers throughout the UK and Europe, including some of the foremost aerospace companies, witnessed the awesome cutting power of the machine.

It is able to hog up to 500 cm3 of Ti-6Al-4V per minute and will be capable of much higher metal removal rates when cutting tool technology catches up. Even so, current metalcutting performance is five times faster than the industry average. Despite having such impressive roughing performance, the machine is also capable of 5-axis simultaneous finishing to very high precision.

The T2, which has a 2,000 mm x 2,000 mm x 1,800 mm working envelope and a compact, 7 m x 9.8 m footprint, incorporates a significant technological advance in that it has three rotary CNC axes. The ±110-degree A-axis and 360-degree C-axis are on the spindle head, while the B-axis table also provides 360 degrees of continuous movement. Only two of the three rotary axes may be interpolated simultaneously with the linear axes.

A customer is able to choose A/C mode and position the B-axis for machining airframe parts, for example. Alternatively, it can select A/B for efficiently machining engine casings and other circular components. In either case, the sixth CNC axis can be repeatedly repositioned during a machining cycle. Benefits of being able to choose between the 5-axis modes to suit the job include reduced cycle times and better surface finish.

Problems when cutting titanium...

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