MMC Magazine

Constantly enhancing productivity with small-size machine tools Pioneering a new field with the SPEEDIO Series

Machine tools and cutting tools are always closely associated. Given this, it is surprising that Brother Industries, Ltd., a well-known leader in machine tools, and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, a specialist in cutting tools, have not worked together before despite both companies having more than 100 years in the industry. This has changed, though, as the two companies have now teamed up to start a joint project for the creation of an integrated holder, closely collaborating on development, joint promotion and expansion into new fields and evolve together. We invited people involved in this collaboration from both companies to a roundtable.

More than a century of experience / Outstanding small-scale machines for 60 years

Brother Industries, Ltd. opened for business as a sewing machine repair shop in 1908. In the one hundred years since then, the company has captured the top market share for both home-use and industrial sewing machines. It also leads the industry in printers and multi-functional peripherals.

In 1962, Brother Industries leveraged its leading-edge technology to introduce tapping machines for threaded hole processing. In 1985, it launched the CNC Tapping Centre an outstanding advancement in the industry that brought increased accuracy and productivity. Since then, it has continued to develop equipment and control devices as a major core strength.

“It’s because engineers involved in the development of the NC (numerical controller) device are deeply familiar with the mechanics of the machine, we were successful in reducing wasted movement to maximize efficiency. Our primary focus from the beginning with the BT30 spindle for small-size machine tools was on boosting productivity by increasing the speed at which materials could be cut,” said Nagoya Sales Office’s Kenta Shimodaira. He explained that they repeated a process of trial and error not only to increase cutting speed, but also to process larger materials and materials with a higher tool load than what was possible with a conventional BT30 spindle.

The initial CNC Tapping Centre design eliminated functions, in spite of the trend for multi-functional machine tools, to focus on machining productivity. Keeping pace with market demand, milling and fine boring functions were added. With the popularization of personal computers and mobile phones, the CNC Tapping Centre gradually established itself as a small-size machine tool in both Japan and China.

Development of the SPEEDIO brand and collaboration with Mitsubishi Materials

Launch of the compact SPEEDIO machining centre brand in 2013 was a major turning point in Brother Industries’ machinery business. After successfully launching the S Series, which focused on the BT30’s high productivity, Brother introduced the M Series, which incorporated lathe functions, the R Series, which incorporated a high-speed double surface pallet changer, and the W Series, which has the largest processing area for the BT30 class. The success of these products has solidified the brand’s standing in the machinery business.

“The most notable characteristic of the BT30 is high productivity. Since the launch of SPEEDIO, which has been very well received, market share has been growing steadily with upgrades being introduced every year to keep pace with the need for new machining trends, technology and increased productivity. Such progress in machine tools requires ongoing evolution in tools for machining,” said Yunosuke Hirose of Development Group 1. He continued, “Even before the launch of SPEEDIO, the quality of milling cutters produced by Mitsubishi Materials was well known in the company. Surprisingly, however, there were no joint projects with them despite the fact that Brother had prioritized relationships with tool manufacturers.”

Atsuhi Kitamura, Tooling Management Section, Technical Sales Dept., Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, said, “We did not understand the BT30’s potential until a few years ago. We all thought BT30 was inappropriate for difficult-to-cut materials. We now know differently.”

SPEEDIO S SERIES
S300Xd1 / S500Xd1 /S700Xd1

Launched in 2013, the SPEEDIO S Series has become the best seller.
In 2022, the first model change in three years improved the intuitive operability with the newest CNC device and a large touch panel. The maximum weight of the tools allowed increased significantly to 4 kg. Broadening the range of more usable tools gained high praise from customers engaged in the machining of components for automobiles and IT devices.

Strengthening the business collaboration structure through the development of the iMX BT30-Integrated Holder

Brother Industries and Mitsubishi Materials did not have a business collaboration structure in place when Mr. Hirose and Mr. Kitamura met in 2019. It was then that Mr. Hirose first asked Mr. Kitamura, about the possibility of developing a new, integrated BT30 holder that connects the head of the iMX end mill series to SPEEDIO without the need for a separate tool holder.

To explore the request, Mr. Kitamura and the team started working on the new holder concept. It took approximately two years, but in 2021, a prototype of the iMX BT30-integrated holder with a unique fastening mechanism was ready.
Mr. Hirose told us that he initially wondered if they could produce anything that would be significantly different from what other manufacturers had on the market; but as the team progressed, it became clear that they could significantly suppress tool vibration and increase accuracy. This also reduced noise to increase operator comfort during machining.
“I could see the process up close, so I saw how motivated Mr. Kitamura and the team were to develop the tool.”

The iMX exchangeable end mill head series achieves high rigidity with a double-face contact system of taper and end face and utilizes a unique technology that enables the attachment of special steel to screws. The two companies successfully collaborated to develop a holder that connects the head directly to the SPEEDIO unit that enabled an improvement in stability even under high cutting loads. This would be a bridge that connects Mitsubishi Materials and Brother Industries.

Approaches to processing difficult-to-cut materials using advanced technology gained through the joint development of the new holder

The power of the SPEEDIO series has improved each year, and it is now able to process materials at the same level as BT40 spindles can. The F series in particular has astounding rigidity, the highest among BT30 spindles. However, even if the machine tool can deliver extremely high power, capacity is ultimately determined by the rigidity of the tools and holders. Therefore, using the know-how and relationships built up through the development of the iMX BT30-integrated holder, Brother Industries and Mitsubishi Materials started a new joint promotion project.

Looking back on the experience, Mitsubishi Materials’ Soshi Washimi said that they first recommended customers to use the SMART MIRACLE end mill series, which is excellent for machining difficult-to-cut materials. They demonstrated this by machining some stainless steel and other difficult materials. When customers had the chance to observe this machining, they could see that the speed was significantly higher than with BT40 series machines and they were clearly impressed with how much faster it was than conventional equipment. The Technical Sales Department’s Tooling Management Section worked together to deliver a comprehensive range of   support, not only for tool selection, but also for operating conditions and machining methods.

According to Masato Yukitoki, who was involved in the promotion, it was their first experience in an undeveloped field and to make videos of actual processing that would later be uploaded to their website. It was a great opportunity for them to move toward the next generation.

SPEEDIO F SERIES
F600X1

The F series is designed for high rigidity with outstanding machining capabilities added to its superior conventional productivity. It is suitable for difficult-to-cut materials such as stainless steel, titanium alloys and pre-hardened steels.

Medical-Use Components Utilizing the Simultaneous Five-Axis Machining Function

While the SPEEDIO Series is used for a wide range of applications in the automotive industry, the unpredictability of the industry as it shifts to EV production has prompted Brother Industries to explore new areas. One of these key areas is the machining of components used in the medical industry.

Yasuhiro Itsubo told us that the new direction presented a challenge for him and the other members of the Promotion Team, but they eagerly brought themselves up to speed with this market segment and identified the best point of entry. “We received a tremendous boost when a specialist from Mitsubishi Materials stepped in to help us familiarize ourselves with a variety of highly regarded products that were used in health care throughout the United States and Europe.”

“We discussed these at length and settled on artificial knee joints for patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and similar diseases that affect an estimated 10 to 30 million people in Japan alone. As society ages, the number of surgeries for knee-joint replacement will continue to increase, and this will create a demand for increased productivity. The SPEEDIO M Series, with its simultaneous five-axis machining function seemed the ideal solution to meet these demands. Producing the components for artificial knee joints requires extremely complicated multi-facet machining. The long-term use of these parts in the human body means that safety and precision are extremely important. The SMART MIRACLE end mill series from Mitsubishi Materials because of their high rigidity, performance and long tool life was selected to machine the knee replacement components made from titanium alloy.”

SPEEDIO M SERIES
M200Xd1/M200Xd1-5AX

SPEEDIO M are multi-tasking machine tools capable of performing a wide range of applications such as milling and turning on one machine. The M200Xd1 was launched in 2022 to handle not only complex work, but also simultaneous five-axis cutting to machine more complex geometries.

SPEEDIO and Automotive Industry Moving into the Future

While moving forward with medical components, the automotive industry still remains SPEEDIO’s major market. With the industry shifting to EVs, aluminium components will become larger and more complicated, which will increase the need of multi-facet machining centres.

The SPEEDIO U Series was launched in 2022 to meet these needs. The U series incorporates a large tilting rotary table with an expanded jig area of 500 mm in diameter with a BT30 spindle as standard equipment. The first model, the U500Fd1, maintains the same compactness and productivity as conventional BT30 tools, but is capable of five-axis machining, which allows the production of small-size motor cases, battery cases, gear case covers, bearing shields, pumps, housings, inverter cases and many other EV components.

It is still early days for EV production and many changes in machining specifications can be expected. But while changing specifications during three-axis machining forces a complete reprograming of the unit, five-axis machining allows a great deal of flexibility.

There was also a focus on the increased number of tools used for machining these complex geometries, which meant increasing the tool magazine for the U500Xd1 from 14 and 21 to 28 places. The Tooling Management Section’s Mr. Kitamura told us that they did not have enough tools for demonstrations that they conducted with Brother Industries. “This wasn’t a problem for the machining, but there was the danger of overloading the tools when multiple processes were assigned to each tool. With a 28-tool capacity, it is possible to have spare tools available in the magazine, which can prevent problems. On the other hand,” he continued, “the more tools incorporated into the magazine, the larger the total weight becomes. We worked on reducing the weight of each tool.” He told us that this is something they’ll have to incorporate into development along with advancements in small-size machine tools.

SPEEDIO has been improved by reducing waste in terms of power consumption, air flow and coolant. Compared with large machine tools and machining centres with BT30 spindles produced by other manufacturers, SPEEDIO’s energy saving tops the industry. The shift to EVs began with carbon neutrality initiatives aiming to reduce environmental load. During the transition period, SPEEDIO’s market reach will continue to expand.

SPEEDIO U SERIES
U500Xd1

This universal model enables five-axis machining while requiring less space and maintaining high productivity, and also includes other specifications that are standard in conventional models. The U Series features a tilting rotary table with maximum jig area as standard equipment.

両社が共に進化し続けるために

In 2023, Brother Industries launched the SPEEDIO H Series, the first horizontal machining centre with a BT30 spindle. This unique BT30 model maintains the same machine width as conventional models while achieving a maximum jig area of 800 mm diameter by alleviating interference.

Mr. Hirose said, “This new machining centre enables the machining of large and long workpieces that aren’t possible for conventional units. The application of BT30 spindles will continue to expand in the future; and to realize the full range of capabilities, we want to deepen our partnership with Mitsubishi Materials. As we look to gain experience in unexplored fields such as the aerospace industry, we are counting on support from Mitsubishi Materials; and we are confident that the good partnership we’re building will allow both companies to continue evolving.”  

Hiroto Murakami from the Anjo Sales Office feels that Mitsubishi Materials still has much more to offer to Brother Industries. “Our FMAX high-efficiency face-milling cutter, which features light weight and high rigidity, will be a great asset when processing aluminium alloys for the aerospace industry as well as for the machining of EV components. FMAX was developed with a focus on high machining speed, so synergetic effects with SPEEDIO can be expected. We’ll bring new tools based on FMAX to Brother Industries that I’m confident will make a very positive impression.”

Looking back on their relationship, Mr. Yukitoki closed the roundtable discussion by commenting on the comprehensive support provided by Mitsubishi Materials. “When I was in Thailand a few years ago, we always received excellent support from on-site staff and others via web conference. We also received outstanding support that enabled us to respond very effectively to customers in India and Vietnam, and they provided comprehensive layout ideas at demonstrations held in Japan. This level of support is invaluable and provides us with a great sense of security.”

SPEEDIO H SERIES
H550Xd1

This compact machining centre processes large and long workpieces with a horizontal main axis. It enables high productivity, which allows multi-face and large component machining with a BT30 spindle.