Roeders RXP500 at Crossen Engineering "It's a joy to use"

Based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland, Crossen Engineering make high precision mould tools for the medical industry. In recent years their business has expanded to produce tooling for floor tiles, car mats and almost anything that needs to be moulded.
Vertical machining is provided on-site by several Hurco machines and a Roeders, but the company’s capabilities extend beyond cutting metal to offer design and prototyping, through to pressings and plastic injection moulding.
As a long-term user of Hurco machine tools, Crossen are well aware of the capabilities of the Hurco range and sometimes need a little bit extra in terms of accuracy and surface finish. The recent investment in a Hurco BX40i with its rigid bridge-design, motorized HSK63A 18,000RPM spindle, direct-drives and linear scales on all axes provides a highly stable and highly dynamic machine tool.
A super-fine finish is required for mating shut-out faces. The BX40i is able to produce these with little or no subsequent hand-finishing. Says Colin Morrow of Crossen “We are looking for high feeds and speeds and accuracy throughout the whole job. With it being a double-column, bridge machine, it is very rigid, and it gives us what we are looking for.”
In addition to a shop full of Hurcos, Crossen purchased a Roeders RXP500 from Hurco Europe Ltd. The 3 axis, high speed machining centre has a 42,000RPM spindle, linear motors on the X, Y and Z axes and travels of 550 x 450 x 240mm. This machine is able to achieve levels of accuracy and surface finish superior to almost any other machine on the market. Whilst often used to make electrodes, the Roeders RXP500 has been a game-changer, because detailed cavities can be machined directly into hard metal, reducing the number of operations required and dramatically reducing turnaround times. One major advantage of the Roeders RXP500 is that inspection cycles can be run on the machine using Renishaw probing that are as reliable and accurate as you would get from a CMM, eliminating a time-consuming procedure.
James Dunlop is the person responsible for running the Roeders. He states “It’s a joy to use; so accurate, so user friendly. It does exactly what you tell it to do.” Crossen use the Renishaw probe to check job set-up. Multiple datums are often used. This feature helps to eliminate human error.
As is the case for many businesses in Northern Ireland, the key to success has been the ability to diversify. Whilst the medical aerospace and automotive sectors are obvious outlets for their production, opportunities are arising in the evolving industries such as renewable energy and electric vehicles. This ability to adapt to change should ensure that Crossen Engineering continues to grow in the future.