Dies and moulds in one set up

A prominent cornerstone of the Okuma trade fair booth at the recent EMO 2019 exhibition was taken up by the company’s large MCR-S double-column machining centre. The machine is predestined for the die and mould industry as it combines high productivity, dimensional accuracy and high surface quality, reports Okuma.

With these properties, the MCR-S can rough, finish and fine-finish a workpiece in a single set up. The machine’s accuracy relies on a number of hardware and software technologies. One of these technologies is a swivel image sensor that measures the tool’s cutting edge. As a result, tool change related cutting edge offsets can be reduced to less than 10 µm.
According to Okuma, surface quality is achieved with the company’s intelligent ‘Hyper-Surface’ technology. By automatically detecting and correcting errors in the machining data, the application creates extremely smooth surfaces that are said to rarely need manual post-processing.
The high manufacturing quality has a positive impact on the machine’s productivity. Pablo Liechti, product manager, provides an example: “We have a customer who saved 38 hours in total when machining a large die mould with the MCR-S. They benefit from a shorter finishing cycle, fewer hours spent on polishing and little need for matching the press dies to their counterparts.”
For further information www.okuma.eu

Cycle times slashed at Classic Components

As a specialist in producing one-off or low-volume development work, East Grinstead-based Classic Components is often called upon to turn work around at short notice, usually without any drawings.

As a long-term user of XYZ’s ProtoTRAK-controlled machine tools, their ease-of-use was familiar to managing director Malcolm Duffield, but the arrival of the latest RMX 3500 bed mill with new ProtoTRAK RMX control has been a revelation.
The advantages of the latest control on the RMX 3500 have helped Duffield achieve significant savings both in programming and cycle times.
“Moving from the old DPM control to the new RMX ProtoTRAK has been a step-change for me,” he says. “The time savings I’ve seen so far are thanks to innovations such as the adaptive material removal strategy and the ability to import DXF files.”
An example of the benefits of the DXF converter is in the production of sprockets for vintage aircraft. On his older machine, Duffield had to input every co-ordinate, which was time consuming both in terms of inputting and cross-checking the data. Now, it is simply a case of importing the DXF file and pressing cycle start.
“I’ve gone from what could have taken a couple of hours, down to a matter of minutes to start machining,” says Duffield.
One of the key new features of the RMX ProtoTRAK control for XYZ’s bed mills is adaptive material removal, which calculates the optimum tool path for the machining of pockets or ‘area clearance’. The savings can cut hours from cycle times, improve surface quality and improve tool life. For Classic Components, this feature has cut the cycle time on one particular part, a development of a toilet flush unit for an upmarket bathroom manufacturer, by 50%.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Crowds get set for SteelFab

SteelFab 2020 is set to run on 13-16 January in Sharjah, where nearly 300 exhibitors from over 20 countries are expected to fill 11,000 sq m of exhibition space.

Over the course of the three days, the organiser is expecting close to 7000 visitors from around 70 different countries to attend the show. Special focus areas will include welding and cutting, machine tools, tube and pipe, and wear resistance. SteelFab will also host seminars, technical presentations and live displays.
It has been 16 years since the Gulf region’s steel fabrication and metalworking industry changed the way it did business – when SteelFab made its debut. A lot has changed in the intervening years, and the event continues to steer the industry through the ups and downs of the economy, and the market. Over the past 16 years SteelFab has grown with the industry and, along the way, expanded its geographical footprint far and wide.
For further information https://steelfabme.com/