Without regular inspection and maintenance, CNC machine tools will gradually lose positioning accuracy and introduce errors over time. The manufacture of fuselage components for modern aircraft has stringent requirements for accuracy and quality consistency. The life expectancy of the fuselage components must match the life expectancy of the aircraft. Therefore, in the processing of metal and composite materials, it is crucial to ensure the production quality and reliability. BAE Systems, a global defense, aviation and security company, produces a variety of key airframe components for European typhoon fighter aircraft. Since its service in 2003, the European typhoon fighter has been included in the Air Force sequence of many countries in the world. At the advanced manufacturing facility at Summersbury Airport in the United Kingdom, BAE Systems has more than 80 CNC machine tools operating at high speed, producing a variety of high-value body components. In order to ensure the stable quality of parts, reduce material waste and improve efficiency, maintaining the performance and output of 5-axis machine tools has become one of the main responsibilities of the company's production line engineers. Regular inspections and calibration checks of CNC machine tools are of utmost importance. Early BAESystems used Renishaw's first generation QC10 ballbar machine tool diagnostic system. Since then, the second-generation wireless ballbar system has been started. QC20-W Ballbar System If the positioning performance of the numerically-controlled machine tool is in an ideal state, circular interpolation will be completely consistent with the set circular trajectory in any two linear axis linkages. The QC20-W wireless ballbar meter provides a way to compare the actual trajectory with the set trajectory to determine if there is an error. challenge Even if it is the best CNC machine tool, if it is not maintained, the positioning accuracy may gradually decrease, resulting in machining errors. Component wear, damage due to impact, incorrect installation, and even vibration of the pedestal and changes in ambient temperature can have an adverse effect on accuracy. BAE Systems' manufacturing engineers once discovered that the machining accuracy of one machine is slowly declining in many machine tools, and shop floor operators gradually lose confidence in their performance. As it becomes more and more difficult to produce the parts that meet the standards, the problem machine tool is gradually idled. solution To assist in regular performance diagnostics of CNC machine tools, BAE Systems previously used Renishaw's QC10 ballbar system to identify specific machine performance errors. The use of QC20-W wireless ballbars is now underway, and a preventive maintenance program covering the entire plant has also been launched to perform regular inspections of CNC machine tools. By resolving the QC20-W diagnostic data trend for all machine tools, BAE Systems has developed a reliable error range benchmark to quickly check the performance of all machine tools. BAE Systems is now able to study more deeply the problem machine that has exited the production sequence. It uses a ball bar to observe a 200 μm XY roundness error. With the ballbar diagnostic software, it was determined that the main failure mode of the machine tool was caused by servo mismatch, and then the second source of error was a large backlash error. The servo mismatch problem was corrected by optimizing the X-axis drive parameters. Check again with the ballbarometer to quantify the improvements obtained. However, the results of the re-inspection show that even if the servo mismatch has been eliminated, the machine tool still has serious errors. It was checked and measured using a ball bar and a conventional gauge. It was found that the error was caused by the wear of the ball screw on the X axis. After refurbishing the ball screw and resetting the backlash compensation value, the machine reached a XY roundness requirement of 30μm this time and rejoined the production sequence. Jim Walsh, BAE Systems' professional manufacturing engineer, commented: “Bellstick testing is an integral part of machine condition checks. It not only helps to ensure the consistent quality of the parts, but also the ballbars for machines that were once considered unworkable. It can also be rejuvenated." result In the past, long and costly machine inspections and repairs would have caused a lot of machine downtime, making it unbearable to businesses; now, BAE Systems' machine error diagnostics can be completed almost instantaneously, which results in a significant reduction in downtime. With the diagnosis of Renishaw ballbars, a faulty CNC machine was rejuvenated, and the workshop's production efficiency and quality compliance have also made significant progress, which has benefited BAE Systems. Intake Manifold ,Inlet Manifold,Air Intake Manifold,Engine Manifold Ruian LIAN Auto Parts Co.,LTD , https://www.lian-autoparts.com