Leveling Up Athena’s Precision Machining Services with Our New Spinner Machine
The Athena Manufacturing team is thrilled to unveil the newest tool, the MICROTURN-LTBS Ultra-Precision Turn-Mill Center by Spinner North America. Designed primarily for parts less than two inches in diameter, this versatile machine can handle large quantities of small components made from both square bar and round stock. With lights-out and single-setup capabilities, this equipment has proven to be an invaluable new addition to our machining arsenal.
Continue reading to learn more about our investment in this cutting-edge tool and how it benefits our comprehensive contract manufacturing services.
Why SPINNER? Our Strategic Decision
While Spinner is not the only supplier offering turn-mill centers, we were especially impressed by this machine’s top-tier specs and pleased with previous investments we’ve made from this manufacturer.
Spinner, an established player in the European market, is relatively new to North America. As a family-owned company, they offer an approachable and collaborative partnership, which aligns perfectly with our values at Athena Manufacturing. Our excellent relationship with the tool seller Prosper Tool in the Texas region further reinforced our choice. We wanted to partner with a company dedicated to helping contract manufacturers like us thrive, and Spinner fits that bill perfectly. Prosper provided excellent start-up support.
How Customers Benefit from This New Machinery
Lights-Out Manufacturing
The MICROTURN-LTBS operates unmanned, adding value in the following ways:
Decreased risk: With minimal to no human intervention, the possibility of human error is reduced and, in some cases, eliminated. And, our highly-trained machinists are thereby free to do productive and creative work while the Spinner continuously cranks out parts.
Greater efficiency: Because this machine can run 24/7 without a human operator, it can produce components even after everyone has gone home for the day. As a result, customer lead times are significantly reduced.
Exceptional Accuracy
The Spinner machine's exceptional accuracy sets it apart from other mill-turn applications. It boasts a positional accuracy of less than one micron — about 1/40th the width of a human hair! This level of precision ensures that we can produce parts with incredibly tight tolerances, meeting the highest industry standards.
Quick Changeover and Versatility
This equipment features a 72-tool station, far surpassing the 20 to 30 tools typical in standard mill-turn machines. This extensive tool capacity allows us to change over between different part runs quickly, significantly reducing setup times. Instead of spending hours setting up for a new part run, we can transition in mere hours, yielding significant time savings for our customers.
Single Setup Capabilities
One of the key advantages of the MICROTURN-LTBS is its ability to perform high-accuracy operations in a single setup without re-fixturing parts. This efficiency reduces the need for multiple machine setups and any necessary queuing time between machines, thus speeding up production and improving accuracy.
Expanding Our Precision Machining Services with Advanced Equipment
Before acquiring this machine, certain parts would have required different quoting strategies or might not have been quoted at all, especially for high-volume orders. Previously, a part would have to go through separate turning and milling processes on different machines, which involved multiple setups and queue times.
The addition of this highly precise machinery marks two things:
A significant milestone for Athena Manufacturing’s precision machining capabilities
One of many investments in automation on our shop floor.
Now, with everything handled on one machine, we can achieve better accuracy and faster turnaround times with fewer operations. As a result, our team is better equipped to serve our customers with superior precision, efficiency, and versatility.
If you want to learn more about how this cutting-edge equipment can benefit your next project, contact the Athena Manufacturing team today!