firming 24 consecutive months of products with zero defects, Quadscot Precision Engineers (Glasgow) has proof that it has a history of serving the offshore oil & gas sector well. Until recently, the company relied on three-axis vertical
machining centers (VMCs) including a Hurco VMX1 installed in 2008 and a 12-year-old VMX42 with Nikken fourth axis for its prismatic machining require- ments. In order to bring their mill- ing capacity more into line with their 1.5 m × 500 mm diameter turning capability, two more VMCs were purchased in 2010. One of the new machining cen-
ters was Quadscot’s first five-axis model: the Hurco VMX60SR, with a 1525 × 660 × 610-mm working volume, a horizontal rotary C-axis table and a ±92° degree B-axis head that allows the 36-kW, 40-taper spindle to be positioned within a program anywhere between verti- cal and horizontal. Renishaw tool and part probing have been fitted to speed setups. Not only does the VMX60SR
wealth of experience in precision CNC subcontract machin- ing. Production of subsea Christmas tree parts, down-hole tools and wellhead equipment are particular specialties. A highly focused approach to customer service has been funda- mental to the development of the company, along with careful selection and purchase of CNC milling and turning machines.
meet the size requirement stipu- lated by Production Director Jim Smith, but it also allows multisided parts and those of complex geometry to be produced more accurately and cost effectively. “Some components that previously needed three separate setups for milling operations,” Smith said, “can be produced in one hit on the VMX60SR. Te faster cycles and reduced handling result in production cost savings of around 30% for some bigger parts. Terefore, our customers benefit from more competitive prices and faster turnaround. Additionally, tolerances of ±25 μm are easier to hold when not repeatedly refixturing heavy compo- nents in different axes and the cost of fixtures is also reduced. Te other new Hurco machining center is a VMX50-50
taper four-axis model with a 22-kW, 8000-rpm, 353 N•m CAT50 spindle, large axis travels of 1270 × 660 × 610 mm, and was supplied with 3D mold soſtware within the Hurco WinMax programming suite running in the proprietary twin- screen control system. Smith’s partner, Sales Director Billy Hepburn, said, “A lot of
our customers use high-performance materials such as Super Duplex, Inconel and Toughmet, which are challenging to a machine. Having the 50-50t allows us to be more cost-effective when machining tough and exotic metals. Te accuracy is there too—we frequently mill parts using four-axis simultane- ous movements to 25 μm tolerance.” Te 44-employee subcontractor was established 22 years ago by a team of skilled engineers and toolmakers with a
Inter-M-Swivel , the multipurpose deeper-water, longer-term mooring swivel that QED Sales helps produce for InterMoor.
Today, Quadscot operates from an 8500-ſt² (791-m²) factory a few miles southeast of Glasgow. The company is a long-time user of Hurco equipment.
Indeed, the first VMC it bought back in 1990 was one of the supplier’s KM3P knee mills with Ultimax II twin-screen CNC. Even in those days, the control and programming software was well ahead of its time, allowing Quadscot’s machine operators to program parts easily without needing to know or even learn G-codes. Any programming mistakes were picked up from the graphic screen before putting tool to metal. “We have stayed with Hurco equipment over the years,”
Smith said, “largely because of the flexibility of the control system, which has always been much faster than others on the market. Tat is important to us, as all of our programming is done on the shop floor. We looked at a number of five-axis machines before buying the VMX60SR and even considered a horizontal-spindle, twin-pallet machining center at one point. However, we opted again for the Hurcos due to the combina- tion of the user-friendly control and rigidity of construction, plus the versatility and robustness of the B-axis head design in the case of the five-axis machine.”
Edited by Yearbook Editor James D. Sawyer from information provided by Hurco Companies Inc.
Energy Manufacturing 2013 55
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