Extra productivity with Kerf

To help Dungannon-based BSK Engineering serve a growing number of customers in the quarrying sector, the company has been busy investing in cutting technology.

Commenting upon the 2012 arrival of its first Kerf plasma cutting machine, a 3 x 1.5 m RUR2000P, managing director Barry Kerr says: “When buying our first machine, we looked at three suppliers. We also considered what other local companies were buying, and they were all investing in Kerf, and the feedback we had from them was extremely positive.”
From 2012 to 2016, BSK Engineering was repeatedly turning away larger scale quarry work, so the company opted to invest in its second Kerf machine in August 2017, an RUR3000P plasma cutting machine with a Lincoln Electric Spirit II 275 amp UltraSharp plasma-cutting system. The 8 x 2.5 m bed machine provided the much needed capacity for cutting quarry parts, such as 7 x 2 m screen slides.
BSK almost doubled its turnover from £600,000 in 2015 to £1.1m in 2017. With two machines running 24 hours a day and operating at weekends, the company needed a third machine – and Kerf duly obliged. In August 2018 the third Kerf machine arrived, another 8 x 2.5 m RUR3000P with a Lincoln Electric Spirit II 275 amp UltraSharp plasma-cutting system.
“We bought the third Kerf machine to alleviate the capacity issue and move from 24-hour production to single-shift manufacture,” says Kerr. “We have grown our staff from 3 to 15, and our turnover has almost quadrupled to £2m in just three years. It is the reliability and service of Kerf that has given us the confidence to grow, while ensuring we can still meet the short lead-times required by our customers.”
For further information www.kerfdevelopments.com

TWI orders 3D laser system

TWI Ltd has ordered a Trumpf TruLaser Cell 7040 five-axis machine with a disk laser and laser metal deposition (LMD) functionality.

The LMD process uses a focussed laser beam and metal powders to add weld material onto a substrate. Through multiple layering techniques, a coating or 3D geometry can be deposited to replace damaged features or manufacture entirely new geometries.
As one of the world’s foremost independent research and technology organisations, TWI will locate the machine at its Rotherham facility on the Advanced Manufacturing Park, where it will be put to work on the Open Architecture Additive Manufacturing (OAAM) project, for which TWI is the lead partner. The OAAM programme plans to develop directed energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing (AM) technologies that can be scaled up to accept multi-metre component sizes for the benefit of UK aerospace. These new platforms will enable aerospace manufacturers and their supply chains to develop advanced AM concepts.
“Being part of the OAAM project allowed us to consider our options and specify a new high precision system to meet the growing needs of the aerospace industry and of TWI member companies,” says Carl Hauser, section manager, laser additive manufacturing at TWI. “After an assessment, the decision was made to invest in a new large scale five-axis gantry facility for laser additive manufacturing.”
Following a public tender, an order was duly placed for a Trumpf TruLaser Cell 7040 with LMD capability. The machine, which features several important modifications that make it unique in the marketplace, is due to arrive at TWI’s Sheffield facility in the summer.
For further information www.trumpf.com

DP sets up UK subsidiary

DP Technology Corp, a developer and supplier of CAM software such as its flagship product Esprit, is enhancing its presence in the UK with the launch of its first wholly owned subsidiary in the country, Esprit CAM Ltd.

The new office will offer direct support to existing DP Technology resellers, technology partners and customers in the UK and Ireland. Chris Edwards and Fraser Lovatt, both seasoned professionals in the CADCAM industry, comprise the team. They have been recently joined by Paul Richards, an experienced applications and training engineer.
For further information www.espritcam.eu

Gantry turning centres boost MJB

“Achieving superlative levels of component quality, price and delivery, and working with consignment stock and just-in-time supply, are almost taken for granted nowadays,” says Mark Bevan, managing director at MJB Precision Engineering.

“So, any subcontract operation which wants to stand out and continually win new business must bring other USPs to the table.
“Above all, we invest in the appropriate, high-class machinery and supporting equipment to suit specific components and contracts,” he adds. “That said, each machine must also be versatile enough to meet any future new work from perhaps different industry sectors.”
It is a philosophy that today sees the MJB shop floor adorned with a range of quality machinery for both shaft-type and prismatic workpieces, and much of the turning/turn-mill capacity is accompanied by bar feeds or gantry loaders, including a pair of Takisawa Japan turning centres, both with gantry loaders.
“We’ve had experience of Takisawa Japan machines stretching back for 15 years or more, and our team are well-versed in their Fanuc CNC systems,” says Bevan. “So, when we needed to expand our turning centre capacity in response to new contract demands, we had no hesitation in investing in the brand by contacting Ward CNC. From experience, we know that the machines are well-built and very reliable.
“The machines were initially purchased to satisfy specific machining tasks including, in one case, the manufacture of an aircraft power component that is produced in batches of 50 to 100-off. But such is their flexibility in terms of spindle operation and capacity – the newer machine, the TCC1100GA with 6” chuck, can accommodate workpiece diameters and lengths of 220 and 171 mm – they are ideal for additional new work.”
For further information www.wardcnc.com

Bar feeder enhances large-part turning

Italy-based Iemca has introduced a bar feeder designed to maximise productivity during the unattended turning and mill-turning of larger diameter components in single-spindle, fixed-head lathes.

Called Maestro 80, the long bar feeder is available in the UK and Ireland through sole agent 1st Machine Tool Accessories.
Among the innovative design features incorporated in the new magazine, three have been granted patents. One such patent protects ABACOS (Adaptive BAr COntrol System), a self-adjusting bar clamping arrangement. ABACOS is designed to perform different operations, namely guiding the material, damping vibrations and tightening on the pusher, all without changing the guide channel, over a material range of 10 to 80 mm diameter.
The ABACOS system can also handle non-round material – 10 to 65 mm hexagonal or 10 to 50 mm square – with a quick change of the bushes. Material length options are from 1000 mm to 3200, 3700 or 4,200 mm, subject to a maximum single bar weight of 180 kg. The widest spread of bar diameters that could previously be guided in one channel was 20 to 80 mm, an attribute of the Iemca Master 80 HF magazine. A limitation of that model is that when feeding smaller diameter bar, especially when it is not straight or of poor quality, it is necessary to reduce the rotational speed. Otherwise vibration can occur, compromising surface finish and/or dimensional accuracy of the component being produced.
On the Maestro 80, this is avoided by another patented feature, the Vibra-Damp Collet with interchangeable inserts. Vibra-Damp Collet damps bar vibration by reducing its oscillation amplitude, and lowers bending and torsional stresses on the bar.
A third patient has been granted to Iemca for its HandyLoq quick-change collet system, which allows manual exchange within three seconds without the need to use tools.
For further information www.1mta.com