VIPERS CUT IT AT MINUTEMEN

By: Tom Walsh

While it has often been said that the aerospace market is tough, no one cannot really appreciate just how tough it is unless they have three decades of 'cutting the mustard' in aerospace. Minutemen Precision Machine and Tool Corp., Ronkonkoma, NY has been performing outstanding service to this market since 1969 and they demand that their machinery 'cut the mustard' as well. And according to Michael A. Castoro, Sr., President and founder, Mighty does just that.

Minutemen has a Viper VMC-2100 and a Viper bridge model B-3000XT. According to Peter Castoro, Vice President and General Manager, 'The Vipers are mighty awesome. They are high quality machines at affordable prices. When we compared them to comparable machines, Vipers are considerably less. And because we are approved to Mil-I-45208A and are ISO 9002 compliant, we had to have machines that could meet the precision required in this industry. That, the Vipers do.'

Mike Castoro first learned machining while in the Air Force. He started Minutemen in 1969 with four employees. Today, the company operates out of a 15,000 sq.ft facility, and employes more than 35 personnel. Mike has replaced conventional out-dated equipment with CNC equipment and is completely computerized. It uses AutoCAD, SmartCAM, JobBOSS and has CMM in its Quality Control depertment.

Minutemen's first Viper was acquired over a year ago. It was a VMC-2100, a heavy duty VMC with an 81" x 42" table. Peter Castoro commented that, 'The Viper is really heavy duty with its Meehanite casting. Additionally, it has large ballscrew assemblies for maximum rigidity and precision. The ballscrews are located in the exact center of each axis, which effectively eliminates heat and lost motion. High-torque AC servo-units are directly coupled to the ballscrews, moving the axes faster and with more precision. Precision...it's even in our name. At Minutemen every project is important to us, therefore every project is addressed with precision quality in mind.'

Another recent investment in machining excellence was the VIPER VMC-3000XT extended travel bridge machining center. With a working surface of 72" x 121", this machine is used for the bigger machining jobs at Minutemen. With plenty of power and accuracy both Vipers are used for the tough jobs, which include titanium, alloy steel, Inconel, and stainless.

Peter summed it up by saying,'These machines are tough. For example, a 501b. finished part may be cut from a 550 raw slab. That's tough work!'