When Stainless Metalcraft won a new contract to produce cryogenic vessels for a customer in Switzerland, it needed to develop the appropriate manufacturing processes and instal the appropriate machining capacity very quickly. The answer was a Soraluce FP8000 travelling column, floor-type milling machine from Ward CNC. The fabricated vessels, which are used for particle acceleration, also contain various tubes, forgings, castings and other items.
These components are ‘prepped’ machined by Stainless Metalcraft before being welded by the company into the finished fabricated structures.
Knowing there were few machines that could provide the required bed capacity to accommodate the 5.2m long by 550mm diameter vessels, and having seen the Soraluce at MACH 2000, Stainless Metalcraft’s project manager John Tadman recognised that the machine’s 8000mm x axis would comfortably accommodate the large workpieces.
He also saw how the machine’s 28kW spindle motor, coupled with the use of Soraluce’s 4000rev/min universal head, would result in the most cost-effective machining of the stainless steel vessels.
“Equally importantly”, he says, “because the machine was available ex-stock, we were able to have it delivered with minimal lead time direct from Ward CNC’s Sheffield showroom”.
Stainless Metalcraft is this year looking to purchase another, larger capacity Soraluce from Ward CNC to replace existing equipment at its site in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, UK.
