Crankcase machining ???

[Tony Griffiths]

I wish I could find the video that shows what appeared to be a V-twin crankcase being CNC machined in its entirety - but I can't. The case was picked up by an arm from a conveyer belt and automatically clamped down to a tilting and rotating plate. The "miller" (it must have cost a fortune) had 4 heads set front, back, left and right each holding, in a rotating ring, 12 tools of various kinds. The floor-to-floor time was 50 seconds - when previously, using a series of conventional machine tools, it had taken (from memory) over two hours.