Specifically Designed for Aerospace Industry

After working 18 months, engineers at Mitsui Seiki USA Inc. unveiled the Vertex 550-5XB during IMTS 2012. This 5-axis CNC vertical machining center is for the production of turbine blades from forgings, castings, bar stock, or solid billets of titanium and stainless steel. With input from customers, engineers focused on providing a 5-axis CNC at a reasonable cost with a small machine footprint, while delivering the ability to rough and finish parts in competitive cycle times, with improved part accuracy and surface finish. The total machining center package is smaller, faster, and more accurate than what customers have been using.

Key specifications include a footprint of approximately 65ft², an X, Y, and Z working envelope of 550mm x 600mm x 500mm, and rapid traverse rates in all linear axes of 48m/min. The A- and B-axis is represented in a rotating/tilting table, with the A-axis tilting from +45° to –90° angles and the B-axis featuring infinite positioning points.

Engineering of the rotary axes offer a new, non-traditional approach, which enhances manual and automatic load/unload operations, such as the integration of a robot and cellular manufacturing capability.

Engineers at Mitsui Seiki have incorporated its proven spindle configuration in the Vertex 550-5XB, ideally suited to cut hard titanium and stainless steel grades. CNC control comes from the latest, and most advanced, FANUC control system.

The Vertex 550-5XB’s geometric accuracy is carefully monitored in the tightest temperature-controlled factory environment. The machine features a cast bed that provides an ultra-rigid machine structure. An exclusive box-in-a-box design provides rigidity and stiffness that typically is not available in a machine of this size. All guideway mounting surfaces are hand-scraped, achieving very high volumetric accuracies, which would be impossible to achieve on surfaces that are simply machined and/or ground. This engineering and construction concept, coupled with a newly designed machine, provides users with competitive advantages over traditional, similar purpose machines. Go to http://bit.ly/SfgKRU to view a video of the Vertex 550-5XB.