Driving innovation at Portsmouth University

Ranked as one of the world’s top 100 new universities in the ‘Times Higher Education Rankings 2017’, Portsmouth University has rapidly ascended the UK’s academic pecking order. This is credit to a £150m+ investment over the past 10 years in buildings and resources. Part of this strategy has seen the university procure the latest metrology equipment from Mitutoyo for its School of Engineering.

Commenting upon the recent purchase of four Mitutoyo metrology instruments, William Keeble, lead technician at Portsmouth University’s School of Engineering, says: “We’ve been using Mitutoyo equipment for decades. It has always been consistently precise, reliable and robust, which is a pre-requisite when equipment is frequently operated by inexperienced undergraduates. Furthermore, the Mitutoyo brand is well supported with excellent training and technical support. The software is user friendly, intuitive and gives detailed reporting, which is another critical factor for staff and researchers alike.”
To cater for its diverse demands, Portsmouth University specified the Mitutoyo Crysta-Apex S776 CMM, a Roundtest RA-1600, a Formtracer SV-C3200 and a QuickVision Apex non-contact measuring system.
“The CMM bed is considerably larger than its predecessor at 700 x 700 x 600 mm,” says Keeble. “It allows us to effectively measure more projects than our old CMM. For undergraduates to learn the basics of metrology, we have a cylinder head from an old 1960s Austin, and students will measure the diameter and concentricity of the port holes, as well as the distances between reference points. More experienced students will use the Crysta-Apex S776 CMM to reverse-engineer components.
For further information www.mitutoyo.co.uk

Pocket rocket goes even faster with HyperMill

When Vetech Product Design & Development first opened its doors for business in 1994, the founders of the Buxton-based company exploited their expertise in the garden equipment sector to win business from Bosch. Providing design, consultancy, subcontract manufacture and mould and die tooling, the business has retained Bosch as a core customer while branching into the military, general subcontract, electronic sensor and plastic moulding sectors.

This diversification has been a welcome respite for a company that has noticed a dip in European business during the Brexit process. However, not a business to rest on its laurels, Vetech has applied its expertise to the motorsport sector, converting a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine for use in the Mark I to VII Mini produced from 1959 to 2000. It is here the expertise of CAM developer Open Mind Technologies has come to the fore.
The subcontract company has a plant list that includes manual and CNC machining centres, injection mould machines and test facilities. Part of the acquisition trail includes a Hurco VMX42M and a VMX30Ti machining centre, with the larger VMX42M being retro-fitted with a fourth-axis rotary unit two years ago. Designing and manufacturing complex aluminium mould tools, military sensors and the Hayabusa engine, the previous CADCAM system was struggling to cope.
Commenting upon the situation prior to the arrival of Open Mind’s HyperMill CAM system, Vetech’s senior design engineer Andy Smith says: “Our longstanding CAD package had an integrated CAM system that we were using for all our machining tasks. One day we machined a mid-housing part for our Hayabusa engine and the VMX42M did a rapid traverse between two points, crashing into our fixtures and ruining the spindle. The result was weeks without the machine while we installed a costly new spindle. The lack of collision detection was a major cause for concern. We then programmed a gear selector barrel that proved almost impossible with our old package. We needed to change our CAM software and invited all the leading vendors to present their solutions.”
Being an experienced CADCAM designer and programmer, Smith has knowledge of all major CAM packages, coincidentally being one of the first UK engineers to be trained on HyperMill in the mid-1990s during previous employment at the Hyde Aerospace Group.
“Re-designing and re-manufacturing the Hayabusa 1300 cc engine to fit into a Mini meant we had to re-position the gearbox and add a reverse gear,” he explains. “I gave the gear selector barrel to all the leading CAM vendors and asked them to program it. Open Mind provided the most efficient and productive solution with an intuitive presentation that detailed the benefits of HyperMill over its competitors particularly well. Due to our previous experiences, collision prevention was a critical factor, something Open Mind certainly convinced us of. Furthermore, we needed to achieve faster programming times for our aluminium mould tools; HyperMill was once again streets ahead for mould tool programming.”

Re-engineering the Suzuki Hayabusa engine is undoubtedly an impressive feat of engineering that has genuine purpose. Once the power unit for the world’s fastest production road bike, the Hayabusa engine is a compact and powerful powertrain unit that can fit straight into the classic Mini while offering reliability despite the massive increase in performance. Such reliability is a rarity for any classic car.
The repackaged engine has seen Vetech engineers retain many of the power-producing components of the original Hayabusa. However, the conversion has seen the company add internal final drive gears and a differential, and re-position the gearbox beneath the engine, as well as introduce a fully integrated reverse gear. The engine has been turned back to front. Here, the repackaged engine/transmission has ‘universal’ engine mounts; bespoke mountings have been designed and manufactured for the mini but the engine mounting bosses provided permit easy integration into other vehicles such as the Fiat 500 or Lotus Elise.
Even the most powerful production Mini variant ever only developed 96 bhp, although the vast majority of Minis only offered around 65 bhp or less. An exceptionally highly tuned model can generate upwards of 120-130 bhp, but with very low reliability as a consequence. The Hayabusa engine has a power output of 197 bhp as standard and when re-packaged by Vetech, it weighs just 100 kg. This is a 32% engine weight reduction over the original unit. For those with an inclination for seemingly jet-propelled speed, Vetech also offers a super-charged 300 bhp unit.
During the development phase of the Hayabusa project, Vetech entered the 2016 ‘Fastest Mini in The World’ race at Brands Hatch. Starting in last position on the grid, the power to weight ratio propelled the car to second position in just three laps, only failing to win the race due to a water pump problem.
Programming the 11 core components of the re-modelled engine with HyperMill, Vetech has certainly benefitted from the CAM system, as Smith continues: “Programming and machining the Hayabusa project is not time-critical. What is important for us is the ability to program and machine complex parts with confidence in the collision avoidance system. Open Mind has completely modelled the work envelope into the CAM system with fixtures, machine spindle, tool holders and the Hurco fourth-axis rotary table all factored in. HyperMill stores a complete library of tool holders and tools, so we have 100% confidence in the anti-collision system. From a time-reduction standpoint, we programmed an aluminium mould tool for Hayabusa inlet and exhaust caps. With our previous system it took 20 hours to program and with HyperMill this same tool was completed in less than 10 hours.”
The upper housing of the engine consists of seven individual set-ups. With its previous CAM package, Vetech could not carry the stock model from one process to the next.
“Without the ability to carry the stock model forward to the next set-up, we would have to manually jog through the cycle on each set-up to minimise non-cutting times or run the program and wait for the tool path to finish ‘fresh-air’ cutting,“ says Smith. “The stock model feature within HyperMill eliminates fresh-air cutting and enables us to maximise machine utilisation at every set-up. This makes huge savings on complex parts with multiple set-ups.”
With over 60% of Vetech work consisting of aluminium mould tool production, the manufacturer programs the cores and cavities with HyperMill and simultaneously machines the two mating tool components overnight on the two Hurco machining centres.

To reduce lead-times, Vetech has invested in two HyperMIll seats, so one team member can program the core, while another programs the cavity. “We undertake prototype design, development and testing work on lawnmowers and there is often an urgency to respond to the customer. In most cases, we are expected to design, program and manufacture the mould tool [cavity and core] and then mould the plastic prototypes and conduct thermal and stress tests within 3-4 days. To achieve this, our programming and machining times have to be extremely efficient.”
For further information www.openmind-tech.com

Programming tool unveiled

Industrial robot specialist, TM Robotics, is introducing the new TSAssist software, a programming tool from Toshiba Machine. The software offers assistance to all phases of automation, including planning, design and improvement, and arrives at a time when more businesses are turning to high-performance 3D simulation for manufacturing.

TSAssist is a step up from the company’s standard TSPC programming software, bringing more features and capabilities in the midst of Industry 4.0. As more businesses are investing in automation, there are increasing options for third-party control and monitoring software. However, working across multiple software platforms can bring issues in calibration.
“Everything is in one place with TSAssist,” explains Nigel Smith, founder and CEO of TM Robotics. “Interference checking, cycle-time measurement and 3D CAD manipulation are integrated together in calibration, bringing a high level of accuracy. In 3D editor mode, you can input positioning data just by dragging the mouse, with no need for complex position calculations. This saves businesses huge amounts of time that can be better spent on training and product improvement.”
TSAssist is a hub of 3D simulation; from simple outline simulation to intricate multi-angle simulation, the options are endless, says the company. The user can save the 3D simulation to a video file, before archiving it into a folder. Similarly, TSAssist offers easy calibration between the robot and a vision system to enable automated bulk picking. The software is compatible with any of TM Robotic’s SCARA, Cartesian and six-axis robots.
For further information www.tmrobotics.co.uk

MetraScan 3D R-Series solution updated

Creaform, a specialist in portable 3D measurement solutions and engineering services, has launched the R-Series Productivity Station and R-Series Autocalibration Kit. Both are key upgrades to the company’s robotic metrology dimensional measurement solution, which is designed to offer an alternative to traditional shop-floor CMMs.

The MetraScan 3D R-Series solution enables manufacturing companies to combine both optical measurements and industrial automation, to ensure reliability and increase inspection cycles. According to the company, the solution provides actionable results with a smaller footprint, facilitating integration into any factory.
“The major mechanical and software upgrades to the R-Series product line allow operators to run data acquisition, while simultaneously analysing previously acquired data to maximise throughput,” says Jérôme-Alexandre Lavoie, product manager at Creaform. “Self-calibration limits the need for human involvement, ensuring higher throughput and 24/7 operation.”
MetraScan 3D R-Series products include an automatic field calibration procedure, so there is no accuracy drift over time, thus allowing continuous operation. The system uses industrial components that include an industrial-grade tool changer, computers and touch screens. Creaform says the device carries NEMA 12 certification and is accurate up to 0.030 mm, with a resolution of up to 0.050 mm.
“Automated quality control has been one of our driving forces since 2013; Creaform is now fully braced to support a large range of customer needs in terms of industrial automated quality control,” says Marco St-Pierre, division vice-president technology and innovation at Creaform.
The R-Series solution will make its first appearance at the Control exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany on 24-27 April.
For further information www.creaform3d.com

Microscope offers adaptive multi-lighting

The new Keyence VHX-6000 series digital microscope integrates next-generation adaptive multi-lighting, advanced auto-focussing and high-definition imaging in an all-in-one system. Keyence’s VHX-6000 features the company’s VH-ZST lens with its 20x to 2000x magnification range.

With no need for time-consuming object repositioning, the direction and level of light is optimised as users simply move a digital flashlight icon around the screen for optimum illumination. All the data can be saved with the image; this function can even be applied after the image has been captured and saved to any compatible PC running VHX-6000 software. As a result, users have the ability to re-interpret images at any time, and importantly, at any location.
Adaptive multi-lighting is complemented by the VHX-6000´s real time depth composition technology, which harnesses the microscope´s high frame rate camera and graphics engine to scan through the focal range of a sample and build a fully-focused image in seconds. This one-touch process is easily repeated over the complete sample area utilising the motorised stage. Furthermore, a simultaneous 3D image may also be captured, allowing even greater inspection flexibility. These two major features combine with HDR (high dynamic range) imaging to provide optimally illuminated high-definition images with far more visual information than convention focussing systems, says Keyence.
Large area image observation at high magnification is now made possible with an image stitching algorithm that can synchronise positional information from the motorised XY stage to automatically move and stitch together adjacent images measuring up to 20,000 × 20,000 pixels.
For further information www.keyence.co.uk