With over 80 years of expertise in manufacturing specialist gears, Sovereign Gears Ltd has built a reputation for the quality of its products and services in a niche market segment. As a supplier to the automotive, motorsport, industrial, agricultural and vintage market sectors, precision and quality is a must – this is why the Leicestershire manufacturer has recently invested in Quaser 5-axis machining that follows on from three Nakamura turning centres also purchased from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).
Located in Croft, Sovereign Gears services customers internationally with a complete spectrum of gear products. This ranges from helical and spur gears, sprockets, straight bevels, worm and wheel gears spiral bevel gears, splines and much more. To manufacture this extremely diverse range of products, the manufacturing capabilities at Sovereign Gears include everything from turning, milling, wire EDM, grinding, lapping, gear cutting and reverse engineering.
To further improve productivity, the company has purchased three Nakamura-Tome AS200 turning centres that were subsequently followed by a Quaser MF400UH 5-axis machining centre. The company purchased two Nakamura AS200 and one AS200L turning centre in a single order – all aimed at utilising the powerful milling capacity on the tool turret with Y-axis capability to reduce set-ups and free capacity in the milling department. With the Nakamura machines achieving their intended aims, the company replicated this philosophy in the milling department – acquiring a Quaser MF400UH 5-axis machining centre to reduce set-ups and expedite throughput.
Commenting upon the compact 5-axis powerhouse Sovereign Gears Director, Mr Ryan Spring says: “The majority of our work is 1 and 2-off bespoke gears as well as jigs and kits for holding, assembling and working with the gears. Unfortunately, most of our milling work requires 2, 3 or 4 set-ups and this can slow down throughput. We bought the Quaser MF400UH with OPEN MIND’s hyperMILL CAM software, also supplied via ETG to reduce our set-ups. The Quaser is our first 5-axis machine and it’s a technological leap we are still getting used to. Despite this, we are already seeing huge benefits with the Quaser.”
The multitude of gears and associated jigs and kits have upward of 3 to 4 set-ups per part and due to the complex nature of the components and the precision required, each set-up can average an hour. This means that each part often spends up to 4-5 hours being set up for machining. The Quaser has instantly eliminated 75% of this time, and with only a single set-up required for 5-sided machining, the precision of each component is significantly improved.
Commenting upon why the company opted for the Quaser, Ryan says: “We looked at another machine from a world leading brand, it wasn’t on a par with the Quaser. The Quaser was a better option with dynamic kinematics and high specification. Furthermore, the 320mm diameter worktable is perfect, as we have very few parts that extend beyond 200mm diameter. Within this compact work area, the Quaser is a very fast, powerful and dynamic machine. Since having the Quaser, we have improved our ability to machine complex forms and this has ultimately won us new business that previously, we would have turned away.”
The Quaser MF400UH provides an X, Y and Z axis of 680 by 610 by 510mm with an A-axis tilt of +30 to -120 degrees with a 360-degree continuous C-axis, providing an impressive work envelope in a small footprint machine. The BBT40 spindle taper is supplied by a 30-position ATC with 48, 60 and 120 positions available.
As well as the multitude of options to configure the machine, the compact footprint with a considerable work area was another reason why Sovereign Gears opted for the Quaser from ETG. As Ryan concludes: “We have bought machine tools from ETG for many years. The service and support have been outstanding. Whenever we have required technical support or if there has ever been an issue with a project or a specific problem with a machine, ETG has been on hand to help us 100%.”
