Stalybridge-based engineering company Park Engineering has significantly increased the size of parts it can machine and subsequently measure on a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). It follows the installation at the start of 2022 of two new machines, a Spanish-built Correa Fox 50 5-axis machining centre having a 5.0 x 3.25 x 1.6 m working envelope, nearly 16% larger than the previous largest machine, and an ALTERA M 30.20.15 CMM with 3.0 x 2.0 x 1.5 m axis travels built by LK Metrology in Castle Donnington, UK. Compared with the largest of three LK machines previously operated by Park Engineering, it offers twice the measuring volume.
A member of the tooling division within the Hyde Group in the North of England, Park Engineering specialises in the design, manufacture, assembly and certification of tooling jigs and fixtures for the aerospace, nuclear, defence and automotive sectors, so the company is accustomed to dealing with large components. It also provides a subcontract machining service. When looking to invest in new technology to offer even larger capacity, there was a desire to inspect the bigger parts on a ‘gold standard’ CMM platform rather than rely on portable measuring systems, which may have a larger measuring volume but are usually lower in accuracy.
Park Engineering first encountered LK in the mid-1990s when buying a pre-owned, 10 year old, 2.5 x 1.5 x 1.2m capacity G80K. The performance of the machine coupled with the good back-up provided by LK in maintaining the equipment’s mechanics and its ability to provide control and software upgrades prompted the purchase a few years later of another pre-owned LK CMM – a 2.0 x 1.0 x 0.8m G80C. Both were the mainstay of jig, fixture and tooling inspection not only for the company’s own production but also for a growing subcontract customer measurement service.
