MSP brings automation to Advanced Composite Manufacturer, Pentaxia

Leading composite tooling and component manufacturer, Pentaxia, has enhanced its capabilities by investing in automated technology from 5-axis CNC metrology specialist, MSP.

Following an increase in demand for more complex composite components that had longer manual setup processes and more off-machine inspection requirements than their previous work, Pentaxia recognised now was the time to introduce a fully-automated and controlled part production process. To achieve this goal, Pentaxia invested in MSP’s technology and also in new CNC machinery in the form of a CMS Ares 5-axis machine with a Fanuc 31i control.

Pentaxia’s investment in MSP’s PerfectPart suite of products, namely AutoClock, NC-Checker and NC-PartLocator, will enable the composite company to fully automate their entire machining process from beginning to end, significantly enhancing efficiency and the right-first-time quality of their parts.

MSP’s three steps to automation begins with AutoClock, a hardware device that automatically sets up the probe ready for calibration. Their NC-Checker software then automatically calibrates the probe in 5-axis and assesses the CNC machine’s capability of making parts to tolerance. Their NC-PartLocator software is the final stage of the automation process and comprises of three parts. First, it verifies the part’s condition of supply is good, it then automatically calculates the part alignment so it is accurate enough to suit the complexity of the components so they will be machined to tolerance. The final stage of the software gives the ability to perform on-machine inspection, reducing reliance on the CMM machines to quality check the components thus making CMM backlogs a thing of the past.

Pentaxia’s new CMS machine was commissioned in April, with MSP’s PerfectPart solution being fully installed last month.