The front-line players choose Breton vertical machining centres

A large number of leading companies have invested in Breton 5-axis machining centres. The Machine Tools Division of this ever-expanding machine manufacturer is meeting the requirements of some of the world's most prestigious aerospace industry companies.

The machines are gaining ascendancy on the market for a host of reasons: firstly because of their high performance and suitability for machining materials and parts in aluminium, steel or titanium. Breton's high speed machining centres are the high-tech solution adopted by world-famous aerospace companies to reduce production times and maximise the quality of their machining operations.

Many top-players in the aerospace industry have purchased Breton vertical machining centres:

The following overview illustrates a range of components created using Breton machine tools.

Machining with chip removal of structural components and engines of  aircraft, helicopters, and satellites, including rotary and static parts, made of materials from titanium to carbon fibre.

LARGE SIZES

High chip removal rates, high speed milling also of large size parts. High precision guaranteed on five continuous interpolated axes offering the ease to create the complex geometrical shapes typically found in the aerospace industry.

Aircraft engine structure, from Wikipedia

BLISKS AND IMPELLERS

Among the most common components in aerospace engineering are various types of blisk created using the 5 continuous axes, impellers for starting aircraft engines, or Cases accommodating blisks and impellers. High-precision turning, for the disc, and milling, for the vanes, all performed on the same machine.

AUTOMATION

The workpieces can be loaded into Breton machining centres through an automatic pallet changer for higher throughput and greater flexibility of daily production schedules, with a live load capacity on each pallet of up to 2000 kg and a static load capacity of 2500 kg, as on the Xceeder machines. 

While the maximum swing over bed in this case on the  Ultrix, another machining centre that is especially suitable for the aerospace industry, is 800 mm (Ultrix 800 RT), 1000 mm (Ultrix 1000 RT) or 1500 mm (Ultrix 1200 RT).

There are several possible solutions. Just as installed on the  Breton Maxima machining centre: a special pallet changer system for turning with round pallets (1600 mm diameter) for rotation of 350 rpm at maximum precision.


The machine can operate in pendulum mode. For example, Alenia-Aermacchi produces a range of engines and structural components with its Breton Flymill machining centre, a machine series that is especially suitable for the aerospace industry.

Piaggio Aerospace has actually acquired  6 Ultrix machining centres, with pallet changer and unique ergonomic design to facilitate operator access to the workpiece. The Indian company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), has a Flymill with double beam, double carriage and double head: two machines in one; an even more sophisticated pendulum system in which machining operations can be performed simultaneously on both sides of the machine on different workpieces or on the same workpiece, thus slashing production times.



Conversely, TAI (Turkish Aerospace Industries) has chosen 3 Flymills with automatic mobile table changer, as shown in action in the video clip.

Also the new Matrix machines can be customised, with some clients opting for a K80 version with X axis travel of 8,000 mm.
To minimise costs and times Breton supplies its customers with increasingly automated and unmannedmachining centres connecting multiple pallets and FMS (Flexible Manufacturing System) transfer systems.

COMPOSITES

The Eagle and Raptor machining centres have proved popular among companies needing especially to work with composites, resins, and fibres for lightweight aerostructures and other components.

For example, take a look at the ultrasound cutting head with a sandwich honeycomb panel, a composite structural aircraft component. This accessory has been developed by Breton for ultrasound cutting, a technology that is already employed by several of Breton's, clients, including TAI; ideal for machining aramid and aluminium honeycomb core materials for structural components that call for ever lower weight combined with greater rigidity.

The following video clip, filmed at Jec World in Paris, shows a Breton Eagle 1400 5 interpolated axis machining centre at work, with both an ultrasound head and a head for counterboring, which drills the holes in an aircraft door thanks to 3 transducers positioned around the drilling tool, with no need for special programming operations.

The transducers come into contact with the carbon fibre surface and define the real spatial position, directly compensating the direction perpendicular to the surface and measuring the precise depth of counterboring.

A unique solution, already adopted by various aerostructure manufacturers, including Sonaca, which now offers higher precision components with far shorter lead times.

PERFORMANCE

The exceptional performance in terms of chip removal rates of the Breton Matrix 1000/K60 Dynamic machining centres is attracting growing interest: up to 11000 cm3/min, torque output in S1, with electrospindles having power rating of 70 kW, capable of rotating at 28,000 rpm.

A machining centre already chosen by Merletti Aerospace and Halgand, with high power, masses of torque and high rpm in a single spindle, to handle processes such as aluminium roughing and finishing.

Breton machining centres are chosen not only for their accuracy and reliability, but also because they are tailor-made.

If you think our machining centres could match the requirements of your production processes, get in touch at mail@breton.it .

We'll get back to you promptly.
Well, that’s all for today. 
Bye-bye

Sergio Prior

5-axis high-speed machining, aerospace, blisk, breton cnc, breton vertical machining centres, chip removal, impeller, pallet