Affordable five-axis machining: Two European companies are achieving the benefits of higher quality and shorter lead times

摘要

The Capecchi Srl machine shop is located in Borgo San Lorenzo (near Florence, Italy), where visitors to this 50-year-old family-owned business can 'read' its history from a collection of sample parts exhibited in two glass-fronted display cabinets in the foyer. The company once made components for optical instruments, such as theodolites. Later, it designed and built its own range of optical instruments and gauges. Most of the European companies that once made similar products are now gone, but Capecchi has survived because it has moved with the times. The most recent parts in the cabinets are seemingly random, complex prismatic components that are made mostly of aluminium, many with features and faces that could have only been produced using a five-axis CNC machine tool. In fact, the company's latest investment is a Haas UMC-750 (www.haascnc.com) - a machine that allows it to compete with far larger workshops by producing complex parts without the costs typically associated with multi-axis operations.