With more than 50 years of experience, Linecross is a world class manufacturer of custom thermoplastic and polyurethane components and provides the highest quality polymer solutions for a wide range of industries (e.g. automotive, off-highway, leisure, and mass transport markets).
The British group, which now relies on two manufacturing facilites (Linecross Rutland located in the East Midlands and Linecross Composites in the West Midlands), has a wide range of processes – from vacuum forming and compression molding to injection molding and assembly – for the production of both low-volume prototypes and high volume series components.
Linecross success is based on strategic partnerships established with both customers and suppliers, and the one with Belotti SpA falls within the most successful ones.
The purchase of a Belotti RO4 machining center for 4-axis machining of thermoplastic materials dates back to the late 1990s. Then, a first 5-axis cnc machining center, a Belotti TRIM4020, was purchased in 2010 and quickly followed by two additional cnc centers of the same model, entered to meet the industrial development and the new production needs.
Over time, the partnership between Linecross and Belotti has been consolidated and further developed: in fact, the British company has found in the Belotti TRIM Series a faithful partner, being able to guarantee extreme machining speed, cutting precision and safety.
“Linecross have been delighted with the speed and accuracy achieved on 5 axis trimming of plastic and composite components on our Belotti CNC machines”, said Stuart Fry, Managing Director of Linecross. “The CNC trimming process enables our CNC team to trim vacuum-formed parts across all the sectors we work with”.
The high-levels of reliability and productivity granted by this technology has led Linecross to make further investments, with three new Belotti TRIM 4022 machining centers purchased in 2022. By the end of 2023 the overall production process will benefit from six Belotti TRIM machining centers, fully operative within the British group facilities: three Belotti TRIM 4020 and three Belotti TRIM 4022.
“We have benefitted from the flexibility of the machines both in terms of interchangeability of programs across the multiple centres as well as the overall trimming volume offered for both large and small parts alike”, declared Stuart Fry.
The fruitful partnership lays its basis on the excellent support provided by Cannon Shelley company, Belotti official distributor for the UK area. “It’s a pleasure to be part of the growth of Linecross and over the years we have created a solid pathership between the compaines. Linecross and Cannon Shelley have been working together for over 25 years”, said Robert Lornie, Operations & Technical Sales Manager of Cannon Shelley.
From a technical point of view, Belotti TRIM 4020 installed at Linecross have operating units equipped with double exit electrospindles, controlled by an inverter with performance from 1,000 to 24,000 rpm, capable of guaranteeing high-speed milling and trimming operations.
The working zone is divided in two independent areas which enable to work with alternate cycle, i.e.: while the machine is working on one side, pieces can be loaded and/or unloaded on the other side. By means of the alternate cycle productivity can be highly increased.
Below are the additional technical features installed on the latest Belotti 5-axis machining centers at Linecross:
- Belotti MyB IoT suite
- Perimeter enclosure with telescopic and automatic doors to reduce noise levels
- SDS measurement system
- Numerical control: Siemens Sinumerik ONE
Belotti TRIM 5-axis machining center is the ideal solution for trimming plastic and composite materials. The processing speed of this Series does not compromise the cutting and trimming quality, guaranteeing a maximum productivity level.
The cycle time is further optimised by:
- the different head configurations (revolver head, double-exit electrospindle) that allow a wide range of processing, even the most complex ones, using only one machine;
- the automated loading/unloading system, to almost zeroing the set-up times: fixed table, rotary table, twin shuttle;
- the second independent bridge for simoultaneous machining operations on different pieces or on the same piece.
Belotti TRIM Serie includes a wide range of models, with a baseframe or columns structure, that can be equipped with different tables for mechanical or vacuum clamping and accessories.
For further information on Belotti machining centers, please contact us via our website Contact page.
