What types of milling operations are you able to carry out?
We specialise in 5-axis micro-milling.
We can produce single parts, batches and carry out reworking on parts that have already been machined.
As our machine is fitted with an ‘Erowa’ chuck, we are able to produce large batches of parts.
The parts to be machined must not exceed a maximum size of 150 x 150 x 150 mm.
What machinery do you have?
We are equipped with a Matsuura LX0, capable of 5-axis continuous machining.
This machine features positioning accuracy to 1/100th of a micron and travel accuracy to 1/10th of a micron (excellent for fine surface finishes and optical contours).
It is fitted with a spindle running at 60,000 revolutions per minute, which allows us to use tools with very small diameters.
It is also fitted with a Blum Nano laser for probing milling cutters with a diameter greater than 1 mm, and a Blum Pico probe for milling cutters with diameters between 1 and 0.1 mm
We hold an OpenMind (HyperMill) licence for 5-axis continuous programming, which enables the use of short tools.
We can carry out three-dimensional measurements of the workpiece within the machine using Blum’s ‘Formcontrol’ software, with an integrated inspection report.
What types of materials are you able to mill?
We are able to mill hardened steel (69 HRC) using micro-milling cutters.
Copper and Sparkal for our electrodes.
We also mill titanium, Inconel, Asteloy, chromium-cobalt, unsintered zirconia, molybdenum, tungsten, iridium, sintered ceramics, machinable tungsten carbide using diamond tools, and much more…
How accurate can you be?
Our machine features a positioning system accurate to 1/100th of a micron, with a real and visible increment of 1/10th of a micron.
We are able to carry out coordinated grinding to calibrate parts of very high precision.
We routinely achieve a surface roughness (Ra) of 0.2, including in continuous 5-axis machining, as well as surface finishes that are directly glossy on the machine or mirror-polished surfaces achieved using a natural diamond tool.
What are the smallest tools you can use?
For visible applications, such as pre-chamfering in watchmaking, we use milling cutters with a diameter of 0.2 or 0.1.
For applications, such as microfluidics, which are barely visible to the naked eye, we mill using tools with diameters ranging from 0.1 to 0.02.
In 2018, we won a ‘Micron d’Or’ award at the Micronora trade fair (Europe’s largest trade fair dedicated to micro-technology) for a project for the University of Valenciennes, in which we had to mill a micro-sinusoid onto the surface of a mould. This microstructure was invisible to the naked eye, invisible under a magnifying glass, and still invisible under a microscope with a magnification of less than 100 times. This micro-milling was carried out using a pointed tool with a tip measuring less than 1 µm and a milling pitch of 0.5 µm.
What quality control measures do you have in place to ensure such small dimensions?
We are very well equipped with microscopes. Our Marcel Aubert microscope, which is a benchmark in the watchmaking industry in Switzerland, enables us to carry out 2D inspections at magnifications ranging from 60 to 500 times. We had the equipment customised to include a second camera offering magnifications of 400X, 800X, 1,300X and 2,000X.
Thanks to the 2,000X zoom, we can view the diameter of a hair across almost the entire width of the screen. We also use this zoom to carry out Z-axis measurements with a very high degree of precision.
To inspect micro-milled features smaller than 10 µm, we observe and measure them using our scanning electron microscope (SEM), which can zoom in to over 50,000 times and observe nanometre-scale features.
