Large hydrostatic boring machine with tilting table for a French aerospace multinational

This is without a doubt JUARISTI’s most remarkable project of 2020. It is a clear example of the company’s strong capacity for personalisation and its high component of innovation in turnkey projects. It is a large hydrostatic boring machine with a tilting table for machining landing gear parts delivered to a French aerospace giant last May.

Everything started when the French multinational started to look for a new center to simplify the manufacturing of some special landing gear pieces. It was an arduous and demanding task that they undertook using different machining techniques in which they had to manually manipulate the piece using special tools and fixtures.

With the goal of increasing their productivity, they were looking to develop a project to reduce human intervention to the bare minimum. As they were searching for suppliers, they discovered a tilting table project done recently by JUARISTI.

When they studied the customer’s production requirements, the JUARISTI managers realised they needed a machine with a high rough machining capacity that could handle very demanding machining tasks, so they recommended hydrostatic technology. Furthermore, developing a special horizontal head with built-in shock absorbing was studied to reduce vibration even more. It was an ad-hoc development done in conjunction with a JUARISTI technical partner.

The outcome of the project is a very complete machining center. It is an MP6-RAM hydrostatic boring machine with 5,500 mm, 2,000 mm and 2,400 mm (on X, Y, Z+W axes) travel lengths that has a spindle diameter of 160 mm and a rotation speed of 3,000 min^-1.

The key to the project: a large tilting table

What really sparked interest in the French manufacturer was the tilting table project developed by JUARISTI that they saw in a video on the manufacturer’s website.

They were so interested that, while on a visit to the JUARISTI facilities, they also stopped by the Sakana S. Coop company, who has the first component with those characteristics made by JUARISTI. It is a roto-traversing table with additional tilting movement that is perfect for aligning the inclined face of the hub of large wind turbines on a vertical plane.

The adjustments are done automatically without needing to use any special fixtures, so machining can be done on the horizontal axis of the machine and maximum performance can be achieved. It has automatic part adjustment for roughing and finishing and it is compatible with pieces of up to 100 tons.

Because of the specific characteristics of the components the French producer was going to machine, an ad-hoc adaptation of the tilting table was made. The table included in this project has a 2,000×2,500 mm work surface, it is compatible with pieces up to 40 tons and it can reach an inclination range on the tilting axis of -5°/+5°, achieving a precision of ± 0.005”. The angle adjustments are made using two synchronised pinions actuated by servomotors.

Absolutely No Vibration

The other great differentiating factor of the project is a special horizontal head developed specifically to adapt to the customer’s pieces. It is a very large – 650 mm – horizontal output that makes it possible to access hard to reach cavities in the landing gear piece and it has a spindle diameter of ø130 mm. It can reach rotation speeds up to 2,000 min^-1 and has 40 kW of power.

The head likewise has a special anti-vibration system and also includes vibration and temperature sensors to obtain maximum precision. Energy is transmitted from the main spindle using ground high precision straight gears. And the gears are lubricated using an oil mist system. The head has external cooling with four nozzles around the main spindle and a cooling system through the spindle itself.

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Special Part Cleaning System

The project was designed specifically to bring human interaction to a minimum, so it has the most advanced automation systems. It includes customized robot type ATC with 140 tools, four loading positions and it is compatible with tools up to 40 kg and ø150 mm.

Another automation system included, which is also a component outside JUARISTI’s standard products, is the part cleaning system with a Kuka robot.

The direction of a high flow and high-pressure cannon for removing chips that accumulate in the deep cavity can be aimed with the robot. In addition, it is protected by a built-in housing to protect the robot and increase its useful life.

After the cleaning process has started, the rotary table turns 90° and it moves along the V axis to move away from the machine. The robot pulls the arm out of the housing and makes a controlled movement around the cavity. The system is activated and the flow of coolant removes the chips built up in the cavity. The chips that jump towards the other side of the piece hit a stainless steel sheet located next to the pick-up.

The metal sheet directs the chips to the chip conveyor parallel to the V axis. The coolant flow can be adjusted on demand to remove all the chips wanted. The cleaning operation can be done in parallel with the automatic tool change to lower unproductive times even further.