Intensive investment at the University of Nottingham’s Precision Manufacturing Centre (PMC) has helped to confirm the facility’s position as a world class research and engineering centre. Among the many leading industrial partners using the expertise and technology on offer at the PMC are aerospace giants such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems.

“Although we are technically part of the university we have particular commercial awareness that makes us attractive to industry,” explains Dr Adam Clare, associate director at the PMC and lecturer in Advanced Manufacturing at the University of Nottingham. “Over the past two years we’ve worked with over 300 companies and organisations.”

High end manufacturing is the core business at the PMC and although it serves companies from a host of different industries, aerospace is certainly a sector that provides a high number of interesting projects. In fact, the PMC has signed a five year strategic agreement with Airbus to act as a ‘hub’ for both product and tooling development work. The centre also undertakes projects for Rolls-Royce, producing artefacts for the precision assembly of aero engine components.

EDM is a crucial manufacturing technology at the PMC where some of the more exotic EDM projects are related to the space sector, with PMC working extensively with companies such as Magna Parva, a provider of R&D services that has extensive experience in delivering engineering solutions for hostile environments.

The nature of these exotic projects necessitates supporting technology capable of meeting high level demands. Among the recent additions to the centre’s portfolio are four Sodick machines: an AP200L micro-precision wire EDM with linear motor drives; an AP1L micro-precision die sink EDM with zero-flush technology; an AQ750L large capacity wire EDM with linear drives; and a K1C high speed, small hole EDM drilling machine.

The parts produced at the facility are often complex and in many cases have never been manufactured before. This demands specific expertise on the part of PMC technicians and the centre’s machine tool technology, which must be able to respond rapidly to the demands of the customer.

Many of the parts processed at the PMC are either micro-components or macro-components with micro-features, a market for which there is emerging potential. “We can cut sub 1mm parts quite easily using a 0.03mm wire on the Sodick AP200L,” says Dr Clare. “We can also fit a 0.01mm wire on this machine, which extends our micro-manufacturing capability even further when required. Furthermore, the mirror surface finishes produced by the Sodick machines are demanded by many of our customers.”

He adds: “Because some of the materials we handle are fairly new in engineering terms we have to define new sets of EDM parameters. It is a great benefit to us that the software used on the Sodick machines has the capability to make this process as painless as possible.”

Sodi-Tech EDM
www.sodi-techedm.co.uk