GTR Composites Group cuts chassis setup time 66% with MSP metrology

GTR Composites Group, a composite component manufacturer working mainly in motorsport, has cut the time it takes to set up a chassis for machining by more than 66%. The change came from putting metrology inside the machining process rather than treating setup as a manual measurement task.

The company builds carbon-fibre monocoques and bodywork for customers whose tolerances keep tightening. Lead Machine Shop Engineer Steven Davis said expectations in motorsport have risen to the point where parts that would have been considered impossible to machine five years ago are now routine requirements.

Accuracy of the finished chassis is set by how the part is set up and machined, so the gap between what the sector expects and what the shop can deliver repeatedly is the problem GTR set out to close.

The tooling had moved on. The setup routine had not. GTR was still aligning each part by hand before the first cut, on a component where a millimetre of error is visible in the finished surface.

Parts coming out of the mould deform, which pushed sections of the chassis out by a millimetre or more. Aligning each part was labour-intensive and could take up to 15 hours.

The time was only half the problem. Errors still surfaced after machining, when a setup that looked acceptable on the machine turned out not to be. Davis said the result was deeply frustrating, because hours of setup had already been spent by the time the errors showed up.

GTR introduced MSP PerfectPart on its Zimmermann FZU400. The suite combines AutoClock, NC-Checker and NC-PartLocator to automate setup steps, monitor machine performance and remove manual error from setup routines.

NC-PartLocator has made the biggest difference. It measures the component on the machine using 5-axis probing, uses that data to compensate automatically for misalignment, and takes part deformation into account when it generates the updated alignment. Nothing is then adjusted by hand.

The result is 10 hours removed from each chassis setup, and confirmation at the point of setup that the alignment is right. Fixturing simplified with it: Davis said the team no longer builds a fixture from the ground up each time. The part goes onto the machine, it is probed, and the software establishes where it actually sits.

NC-Checker has moved GTR from reactive to planned maintenance. Benchmarking CNC machine performance and monitoring geometric accuracy over time makes it possible to see a problem before it reaches production.

Early in the deployment the software found an error in the machine's C-axis before the machine had been laser aligned, so the correction could be made before any parts were cut.

Davis said the company now runs a full NC-Checker benchmark every time, covering the axes, repeatability and probe health, so the shop knows the machine is producing parts to the accuracy the job requires.

The benefits reach past the shopfloor. Customers increasingly ask for evidence of quality, and GTR now uses MSP-generated reports to demonstrate machining accuracy and support its bids.

Tom Hay, Group Business and Operations Development Manager at GTR, said that gives the confidence to approach new tenders, particularly high-risk ones, because the company can iron out issues and show the consistency and quality of supply.

Reliability has also brought more work. Hay said that once a level of accuracy is reached it becomes the baseline, and GTR's aim is to stay ahead of it. MSP is part of Renishaw's Industrial Metrology business, supplying CNC machine metrology, gauging and calibration products.

Get the long read at MSP