Products

 

Ultramill - state of the art 5 axis micromilling machine developed in collaboration with Brunel University under the FP6 flagship project, MASMICRO.

 

Features

• Desktop size machine with 1.1 x 0.8 m footprint
• Electronic drives and high resolution encoders on all axes
• Air bearings on rotary table and all linear axes
• 200 krpm air bearing spindle with 400 Watt DC Brushless motor
• Squeeze film dampers on rotary table and all linear axes
• User friendly HMI
• Robot handling and condition monitoring systems available as additional extras

Performance

• Suitable for milling, drilling and micro grinding
• Component size of up to 150 x 150 x 80 mm
• Sub micron accuracy
• Surfaces finishes better than 10 nm Ra
• Flatnesses better than 0.1 um over 50 mm travel
• Suitable for tools 0.05 to 2 mm in diameter made from diamond, cvd cbn and tungsten carbide

Applications

High precision mould tools, optical components, medical devices, transducers, watch components, micro printed circuit boards, electronic and tribological components.

 

 

 

 

Sheet Metal Micro Forming Press - a high precision press for flexible micro forming thin metal components. Developed in collaboration with Strathclyde University, Tekniker and Pascoe Engineering Ltd under the FP6 flagship project, MASMICRO.

Features

• Desktop sized production machine with 400 x 400 mm workspace
• Direct drive linear motor operation
• Fully programmable tool motion profile
• High resolution tool position accuracy
• Flexible set up capability
• Includes guiding bridge, sheet feeding and part transport mechanisms

Performance

• 1000 strokes/minute
• 5000 N maximum press force
• Component thicknesses down to 20 um
• Component sizes in the range 1 to 50 mm
• Accuracy - 5 um

Applications

Miniature components for the automotive, electronics, medical and watch industries such as micro springs, micro gears, micro cups and micro lead frames.

 

 

 

 

Electrochemical Micromachining - a low cost, rapid manufacturing process for machining shallow features into metal component surfaces.

Features

• No tool wear means an indefinite tool life
• Uses low voltages and neutral salt solutions to give an inherently safe process

Performance

• Feature depths to a maximum of 100 um
• Feature widths to a minimum of 200 um
• Depth control to +/- 1 um
• Surface finishes dow to 50 nm Ra
• Machining times of less than 5 seconds
• No burrs
• No residual stress, surface damage or thermal distortion
• Machining process independent of material hardness

Applications

Ideal for putting fine features such as herringbone grooves, chevron grooves, recesses and pits into fluid film bearing surfaces.

 

 

 

 

Micro Recessed Air Bearings - Patent applied for

• A new design of aerostatic bearing offering significantly improved stiffness, load capacity and power loss compared to conventional bearing designs
• Developed with the aid of a UK Department of Trade and Industry Research Grant administered by the Southwest Regional Development Agency

Performance

• What is new is the concept that recesses of large area can be machined into air bearing surfaces to improve pressure distribution without risk of pneumatic instability provided they also reduce the bearing's response time to the application of a sudden load
• Typical improvements in performance are:-
  • Increase in load capacity - 25%
  • Increase in static stiffness - 50%
  • Decrease in power loss - 30%

Applications

• Air bearing slides, rotary tables and spindles for ultra precision machining, metrology, PCB drilling, routing, dicing and atomising
• Ideal for down sizing current spindle designs in order to reduce net costs or to achieve new performance goals.

Air Bearing Products

• UPM is able to develop and supply a wide range of bespoke air bearing products incorporating micro recessed air bearings.