Metalcraft Technology Inc has come a long way since it opened in Cedar City, UT in 1989, making $3 clips for the fuselages of McDonnell Douglas MD80 assemblies. Founder/president David Grant started the company with 25 employees; Metalcraft now employs 250 at its two facilities and has seen its revenues increase about 60% a year for the last decade.
Today, Metalcraft is one of the foremost manufacturers of complex structural components and integrated assemblies. The company has built thousands of airframe assemblies and details for Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Learjet, American Utilcraft and other top aerospace companies. In addition to sheet metal, turning, and full service metals processing, Metalcraft provides a broad range of precision machining for the aerospace industry including CATIA-based CAD/CAM engineering interfaces, chemical metal processing, and FAA-compliant subassembly manufacturing.
Meeting Challenges With New Technology
The company's rapid growth is attributable to several factors, said Wayne Johnson, vice president of operations. Savvy management, a dedicated staff, and the company's ability to attract engineering and manufacturing expertise from aerospace companies that have consolidated and downsized have all been crucial elements. "We've been very fortunate to hire top talent directly from the aircraft industry. This resource allows us to retrain our existing employees in the most advanced aerospace work, and grow our business quickly," Johnson explained.
In addition, "we're expert in anticipating the new demands and challenges our customers will face, and adapting our capabilities and technology to meet them," he said.
As an example of its ability to move into new technology, Johnson said, Metalcraft had to quickly move into high-speed, 5-axis machining when the Defense Department approached the company in 1998 to machine wing spars for the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter.
The F-16 wing spar work meant that Metalcraft would have to purchase not only a 5-axis machine with high speeds, but also one that could handle the size of the complex, monolithic spars. The wing spars, Johnson noted, begin as a 400-pound block of 7075 aluminum, which are machined out to 80 pounds when finished. To achieve optimum metal removal, Metalcraft chose a Cincinnati Machine 5-axis V5-3000™ Vertical Machining Center. (Photo shows operator Alan Alger adjusting a test piece on the V5-3000.)
The Clear Choice: Cincinnati Machine
Johnson visited manufacturers and studied more than 30 5-axis machining centers. After six months, he had narrowed his choices to three machines, based on three key factors: price, dependability, and reputation. At WESTEC 1999, Johnson watched the machines on his short list in operation. His clear choice was Cincinnati V5-3000, and Metalcraft purchased the one that was on the floor at Cincinnati's WESTEC booth.
What sold him on the V5-3000 was its twin-axis tilt head with a full ±40º range in A- (forward and back) and B- (side-to-side) axes because it is the most advanced and proven head on the market, he said.
"First, its range is 10º greater than its competitors. Second, a lot of machine tool manufacturers are just starting to make 5-axis machines and are having many problems with leaking heads and breaking seals. In my research, I found that Cincinnati's 5-axis machines had the most reliable reputation. They have 35 years experience in 5-axis machining and they know what they're doing," he noted.
The V5-3000 is perfect for machining the F-16 wing spars, Johnson said, because its massive 130 x 30.1 in. (3302 X 765 mm) work table rides on four sturdy, widely-spaced Y-axis linear ways that support more than two tons of parts and fixtures. The X-axis travel is a full 120 in. (3048 mm).
The twin-axis tilt head provides the rigidity than enables the V5 to optimize the production capability of its 15,000 rpm, HSK-63A spindle, allowing Metalcraft to machine at extremely high speeds and reduce cycle times. The increased stiffness of the 35 hp, S6-60 Duty Rated spindle allows the V5 to speed through complex part routines with high precision. The ballscrew-driven twin-axis head gives the V5-3000 the fastest rotational speed and greatest tilt range in its class, while reducing moving mass for smooth feed and axis changes.
Metalcraft's V5-3000 is equipped with the 21-tool capacity automatic tool exchanger, which "parks" outside the work area to help keep tools free of chips and coolant, as well as with high performance, high capacity chip conveyors, and coolant flush system.
The V5 has solidly proven its ability to machine larger, more complex parts faster and at higher quality, Johnson said, and productivity for parts machined on the V5-3000 has more than doubled. For example, he noted, one part that was being machined in 11 hours on 3- and 4-axis machines can now be completed in four hours.
"The V5 has done real well for us. We've had no problems with it at all, absolutely no downtime. It's reliable and it's excellent at holding tolerances. I would not be reluctant to recommend this machine for any company that's looking at 5-axis machining," he continued.
New Opportunities, New 5-Sided Machining
The performance of the V5-3000, with its ability to machine aluminum parts with very complex contours at high speeds, heavily influenced Johnson's decision to buy a Cincinnati Machine U5™ 5-Axis/5-Sided Machining Center when the door opened to new opportunities.
When Metalcraft gained a contract last year to machine leading edge skins for the Boeing 737 wing assembly, the company realized the programming would require 5-sided as well as 5-axis capabilities. Johnson again analyzed the machines that could handle the job and discovered that the U5 Machining Center was far ahead of the competition in its ability to machine large parts. The U5's fast, precise, and maintenance-free linear guideways and digital linear scales in X, Y, and Z hold extremely tight positioning accuracies and slide repeatability for highest quality machining, Johnson said.
Metalcraft purchased the U5 Bridge Type with a stationary cross rail and large 66.9 x 137.8 in. (1700 x 3500 mm) work table with 20,000-pound (9000kg) load capacity which moves the part 157.5 in. (4000mm) in the X-axis. First machining with the U5 was performed late last year and it is more than meeting Johnson's expectations, especially since it not only machines the skins but also inspects the parts with its spindle-mounted probe. (Pictured are vp manufacturing Wayne Johnson, left, and engineer/operator Sid England checking the setup of a leadng edge skin.)
Metalcraft bought the U5 with the AcraSense™ feature package, which includes the probe, an electronic gage that locates a hole or surface, determines fixture offsets, and inspects a finished part during the machining process. For now, the U5 will be devoted to the leading edge skins, but in the future it definitely will be used for other, more complex applications. And just as the V5-3000 doubled productivity on machined parts, Metalcraft expects the same kind of results with the U5, he noted.
"With the V5 and the U5, and the experience we've quickly developed in 5-axis and 5-sided machining, Metalcraft is well positioned to take advantage of any opportunity that develops in the aerospace industry. If those opportunities require that we shift to new technology or newer machines, we'll adapt to it. And we'll look to Cincinnati Machine to help us find the machining solutions we need," Johnson said.
