Breton and Rittal are the choice for Alenia-Aermacchi for the new 5-axis contouring centre.
Rittal and Breton have been working together for over 15 years providing latest generation systems and machining centres. Being technologically advanced does not mean just investing in research and innovation but also choosing suppliers who focus on the quality of their products and not on the cost, so as to offer customers advanced solutions. Breton was first founded in 1963 as a metal engineering company.
In the 90’s it moved into the high-speed CNC machining centre market and in just a few years became one of leading companies in this industry. Breton over the years has developed a wide choice of machining and milling centres that satisfy the most diverse and demanding production requirements and expectations across a broad range of industrial applications including: aerospace, aviation, defence, automotive, ship building, motor racing, gearing, energy, die making, model making and prototyping in both the automotive and precision engineering.
The Breton machining centres are acknowledged for their technology, superior production performance, innovative solutions and for the excellent quality offered. For this reason Alenia-Ammacchi chose a new machine from the Breton Flymill range to be incorporated into their production line.
This company, located in Vengono Superiore, is a major name in the aviation market and partner in a number of defence and civil aviation projects. The three main areas are: design, production and support to training military pilots; collaboration on a number of international military aviation projects; supply of components and parts to the civil aviation industry.
Alenia-Aermacchi decided to buy a Breton Flymill for 5-axis contouring and boring with the aim of increasing production as well as revamping their production line. Flymill is the new range of Breton machining centres, with a mobile crossbeam designed and developed in.-house, to satisfy the new high-speed machining requirements and demand of the aerospace industry.
For Alenia-Ammacchi their essential requirement was to machine diverse materials and produce parts with a double curved surface and to do this they needed a highly precise machine with a substantial loading capacity to satisfy intense production schedules and times.
Product rigidity and performance allow for machining various types of parts at high speed with an improved milling capacity.
Flymill thanks to the speed of the linear axes which reaches up to 60 m/min, to the Direct Drive head with a rotational speed of up to 100 rpm and to continuous rotation of axis C, this machining centre is the perfect solution for specific production requirements as profiling complex workpieces with 5 continuous axes ensuring and guaranteeing maximum machining precision and performance.
The Direct Drive twist head which can be positioned at any angle thanks to the powerful hydraulic brakes also allows for fitting spindles up to 40 kW with a rotational speed of up to 28,000 rpm incorporating into this machine powerful milling performance across a choice of materials as light and specials alloys which are used primarily in the aerospace industry for manufacturing precision components.
As this machine can offer shuttle batch operations, Alenia-Aermacchi can produce special pipes in Inconel which are used for the de-icing system in the engine as well as the external profiles located on the air inlets to the turbines and lips on the engine housing (nacelle) which require precision contouring machining.
The pipes for the de-iceing system in the engine are critical parts and as such require precision
engineering and machining. The main problem is related to keeping the part clean during machining and precision in the holes which must be positioned correctly and must be dimensionally precise. This is because the hot air is conveyed through the holes to prevent ice from forming in the engines.
It is of utmost importance to Rittal to launch new products on the market in collaboration with partners as Breton. To develop the automation system for the Breton Flymill machining centre only technologically advanced systems were used as the TS 8 enclosures, VIP 6000 containers and air conditioning systems.
The use of Ts 8 components offers high standards of safety for the electric and electronic apparatus respecting as requested by international market standards. The specific structure of this enclosure, produced using a 16 fold process, integrates perfectly with the main machining centre structure.
The heart of this centre is located in the VIP 6000 container offering maximum flexibility and safety without neglecting design appearance and ergonomics. Thanks to the castors the operator's panel can be positioned in any point next to the machining centre allowing the operator to work and monitor production in complete safety.
To ensure both electrics and mechanics function correctly air conditioning systems and chillers have been purposely designed to guarantee the Flymill range satisfies production standards.
Breton for over 45 years has been in the natural and engineered stone cutting and processing industry and in the 90’s moved into the CNC work centre market for metal processing and engineering companies. Breton is based in Castello di Godego in the province of Treviso, Italy and employs 500 people, 100 are technicians and engineers, and incorporates an in-house modern research unit.
