Founded in 1955, Skelmersdale-based Kirkham Engineering has established a reputation as a specialist in the production of repetition turned parts on CNC fixed-head and sliding-head machines. With decades of experience and a machine inventory supplied by a host of manufacturers down the generations, the latest machine to be installed is a Nakamura Tome AS-200L turning centre from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).

The Nakamura AS-200-LMYSF follows a previous AS-200L acquisition from ETG that arrived in 2017.

Financial director Barry Lynam says: “The AS-200-LMYSF can be set-up extremely quickly and this gives us flexibility for small batch runs of fast turnaround parts. It can respond far quicker than our more complex machines. The machine has a large work envelope in a small footprint and is extremely robust, which is perfect for heavy-duty cutting.”

Supplied as a complete package by ETG, the AS-200-LMYSF arrived with tooling, a Hydrafeed MSV-65 bar feed (plus BSU bar support unit to give 1.5 m) and a swarf conveyor, making the machine ready-to-run on the day it arrived. The machine has a maximum turning diameter of 280 mm with a maximum through-spindle bar diameter of 65 mm.

“We already have highly capable twin-spindle and twin-turret machines, but we wanted something that had a smaller footprint and was faster to program and get up and running – the AS-200L fitted the bill,” says Lynam. “Unlike the larger machines, the AS-200-LMYSF is the latest-generation machine with the new FANUC CNC and NT Machine Simulation and NT Collision Guard from Nakamura Tome. This allows us to rapidly program and simulate our components, and run the first part with confidence and speed.”

For further information
www.engtechgroup.com

The first sliding-head turn-milling centre to be installed at the Ferndown, Dorset factory of Air Bearings Ltd (ABL) is a Citizen Cincom L20-VIIILFV. Notably, the machine has brought in-house the production of nearly all shaft-type components, saving around £8000 per month previously spent on subcontract Swiss-type turning. As a consequence, the machine paid for itself within 18 months.

ABL only purchases top-end machine tools to meet the levels of precision required and ensure the rotational motion of its air bearing spindles to within a couple of microns. The shaft assembly, with its six key parts, is especially critical.

ABL’s senior production controller Dave Stacey says: “Take the collet, for example, which is produced from 13 mm diameter tool steel bar. The concentricity of the front bore to the taper is tied up to 30 µm TIR. Dimensional tolerances on diameter and length need to be within 50 µm, or sometimes 25 µm to allow post machining to sub-micron accuracy, while there is a 6 µm limit in the bore.

“Originally, before our decision to use subcontract services, these collets were machined in-house in two operations – turning and boring on a fixed-head lathe and then drilling of eight radial holes on a machining centre,” he continues. “This time-consuming process led to our pre-finishing department only producing the quantity needed, which could be as low as 15-off, yet external heat treatment and stress relieving before final finishing still cost £250 a time, irrespective of component quantity.

“Now, with single-hit turn-milling of the collets on the Cincom L20, we run off typically 500, representing three months’ supply, at a fraction of the cost of subcontracting them out, added to which we can take full advantage of the fixed-cost heat-treatment service.”

For further information
www.citizenmachinery.co.uk