CENTROID Performance Racing has introduced a heavy-duty machine frame for its 5-axis A560XL Port/Block CNC Engine Shop System. The new A560XL is now available and was introduced at the recent Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show in Indianapolis, IN.
Weighing 23,000 lbs., the A560XL features a 25.5" X 66.9" worktable and XYZ travels of 60", 26.7" and 37.7". This Engine Shop System is equipped with a 27 HP, 20,000 RPM spindle, or optional 40 HP, 16,000 RPM spindle. The A560XL comes with 1,000 PSI coolant through spindle capability.
This machine has the work envelope for a wide variety of cylinder heads, v8s, v10, v12s, four and six cylinders, quads, diesel heads and engine blocks. Port heads up to 46" in length and machine blocks up to 42" in length.
"The A560XL is three machines in one. It performs machining operations on a wide variety of automotive parts that normally would have required multiple machines and operators," said a company spokesperson. "Race engine shops can CNC blueprint and machine cylinder heads and engine blocks on the same machine with no fixtures to swap or realign, all while having the advantage of an all-around 5-axis CNC machining center. CENTROID's patented machine fixture design allows immediate switching from one type of operation to the next, eliminating cumbersome fixture swaps and realignment. Switching from decking a block to porting a cylinder head to making parts only takes minutes. Additional fixtures are available to port multiple heads at once."
At PRI Jesse Warren of Warren Diesel Injection was machining his Billet Ford 6.0 Powerstroke Block on the CENTROID A560.
According to Warren, "The stock 6.0-liter Powerstroke engines we were working on were not nearly strong enough, so we ended up redesigning and machining an entire billet block on our CENTROID CNC 5-axis machine. Our billet block is two and a half times stronger than the stock cast iron block. As far as remanufactured engines go, we do a lot of head porting and machine a lot of blocks on our CENTROID 5-axis machine every day. Overall, the CENTROID machine is a great investment. It increased our business revenue by a substantial amount, and in a couple years' time it has already paid for itself. That is why we recently purchased another CENTROID."
Also at PRI, the Edelbrock/Musi 555 BBC Cylinder Head was being machined on the CENTROID A560XL. Pat Musi Racing is home to the Edelbrock Race Center and is producing the Edelbrock/Musi series of 555 BBC and Big Victor 12 Cylinder heads on Edelbrock's CENTROID 5-axis machining center. Musi commented, "This is the best Bowl Blend I have seen."
The CENTROID A560XL is equipped with a high-performance roller cam rotary table combined with an ultra-precision rotary digital scale and dual brakes for precise positioning. Standard on the A560XL is the CENTROID 5-axis Digitizing package and canned push button part probing cycles that are used to set up and copy 2D and 3D shapes which can then be modified and reproduced. The machine itself can copy and blueprint cylinder heads and blocks, with no need for another machine or out-of-house digitizing services.
With the A560XL, engine shops can reproduce hand shaped combustion chambers and intake/exhaust ports on one machine. The shapes are then CNC machined exactly on a new casting or billet. New ports and combustion chambers can be created entirely on the computer. The probing feature eliminates set-up time by automatically finding and setting part zero locations, increasing accuracy and decreasing set-up time.
An automatic tool changer is standard on both the A560 and A560XL machines along with automatic tool height measurement. Tool lengths are measured automatically, increasing accuracy and reducing set-up time. The machines are equipped with a state-of-the-art CNC control, CENTROID's own M400.
For more information contact:
John Cowher
CENTROID Performance Racing
159 Gates Rd.
Howard, PA 16841
814-353-9256
jcowher@centroidcnc.com
www.centroidperformanceracing.com