Being a specialist in the manufacture of highly complex moulds means working with the best suppliers on the market. At Alcapur – Soperfect, there is an awareness of this fact, which is why ONA has become the benchmark supplier when it comes to EDM. For Portuguese firms, the high precision and efficiency of ONA machines are crucial for producing moulds with very stringent requirements.

Based in Loureiro, Portugal, Soperfect has been designing, manufacturing and marketing plastic injection moulds for sectors such as the automotive, food, household appliance, toys and garden furniture industries since 2008. Since that time, it has been sharing installations with Alcapur, a company specialising in the machining of plastic injection moulds for the automotive and furniture industries.

Being involved in the whole process, from product engineering to production and marketing, innovation is a fundamental asset in their business strategy. The two companies are constantly on the lookout for the most advanced technological solutions on the market, and it was precisely this search that led them to ONA.

“ONA encompasses all the requirements that we needed,” the companies emphasise. “We produce highly complex solutions requiring very precise machining. The high performance and efficiency of ONA machines, as well as their after-sales support, were decisive factors in our purchase decision. We produce parts that often require minute, high-precision drilling. These machines can also handle large workpieces weighing up to 20 tonnes. All this makes our work much easier.”

Access to ONA’s EDM technology undoubtedly gives Alcapur – Soperfect a cutting edge over their competitors, which explains why they already have four ONA machines at their facilities, the last two acquired in 2021.
For further information www.onaedm.com

Established over 30 years ago, mould maker BM Injection operates from a 10,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Whitchurch, Hampshire. Out of every 10 moulds produced, eight are used for on-site production of injection moulded plastic products for numerous sectors.

Before it is complete and ready for use, every mould has to visit both a die-sink and a wire-cut EDM machine, as well as a machining centre for hard milling. In the production of BM Injection’s mould tools, unless any are hard-milled on an Okuma three-axis machining centre on-site, all three production platforms used for manufacturing the moulds were built by Makino in Japan and supplied through sole UK agent NCMT.

The latest to be installed in May 2022 was a U32j wire EDM machine fitted with the same Hyper-i control system as a Makino EDAF3 H.E.A.T. EDM die-sink model that arrived in 2019.

Okuma’s Hyper-i Windows-based, twin-touchscreen CNC, with an intuitive interface similar to that found on tablets and smartphones, includes advanced functions to support operators of all skill levels at every step of the machining process. The control contains an extensive library of cutting conditions that automatically optimises the erosion process, even for sealed and poor flush applications. It also enables easy access to and selection of power settings to produce accurate results in the fastest possible cycle times.

The control employs HyperCut technology, a process developed by Makino to produce surface finishes as fine as 3 µm Rz in standard tool steels in a three- or four-pass process. Notably, the machine ordered by Mark Combes, director of BM Injection, was a high-accuracy package with 0.05 µm scale feedback capable of producing extremely smooth surfaces down to 0.7 µm Ra if using a seven-pass process.
For further information www.ncmt.co.uk