Unison recruits ex-Addison employees

Unison Ltd, a UK manufacturer of tube bending machines and the inventor of all-electric tube manipulation, has recruited several former employees of now-defunct Preston-based Addison Forming Technologies Ltd (formerly known as Addison McKee). Already working at Unison are former Addison Forming Technologies international sales manager Andy Worthington, proposals engineer Luke Gibson, software engineer Bill Watson and machine tool designer Dan Gallagher. Unison expects further new starters in the coming weeks.

“With new Unison tube bending technologies and software solutions in the pipeline, new markets to break into, and exciting long-term strategic plans, we took the decision to recruit as many former Addison team members as we could justify and, in doing so, keep their considerable skills in the UK,” says Unison’s joint managing director Alan Pickering. “We simply couldn’t sit back, do nothing and allow such talent to be wasted or enticed overseas.”
For further information www.unisonltd.com

Precision is no ‘pipe dream’ for Pipetronics

As a manufacturer of high-performance electric and hydraulic sewer pipe rehabilitation robot systems, Pipetronics GmbH utilises two in-house CNC machining centres fitted with a wide range of Big Kaiser tools and tool holders that are available in the UK from Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC). With headquarters in the South German town of Stutensee, Pipetronics uses the Big Kaiser range of products for the production of its robots’ turned and milled components.

To ensure complete coverage of all production processes, Pipetronics purchased a Grob G350 five-axis machining centre and a Mazak i400 ST turn-mill centre. Both feature robot automation.

“To mill very close to the clamping device along the spindle, a slim, stable and precise tool holder is required, which is where tool-holder specialist Big Kaiser comes into the picture,” says Rolf Dettinger, head of CNC manufacturing at Pipetronics. “From my previous job, I have significant experience with Big Kaiser spindle tools and Big Daishowa tool holders. After being repeatedly disappointed by the quality of the default chucks used on the Grob, I finally contacted Big Daishowa and they kindly provided us with the Mega Double Power Chuck for testing.”

Seeing the impressive results during the test phase, Dettinger was so impressed that he ordered several Micro collet chucks from the Mega Chuck series for the Mazak machine in addition to the tested power chuck.

“For our application, the Big Micro Chuck collet chucks offer optimal performance characteristics for machining hard-to-reach workpiece areas, where conventional collet systems fail to deliver,” he says. “Thanks to its groove-free collet nut, vibration at high speeds are prevented. The key is that this Big Kaiser micro-collet system is slim enough to implement in all our machining operations.”
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk

Subcontract manufacturing holds steady

In the face of rising energy prices, coupled with political and economic uncertainty, the latest Contract Manufacturing Index (CMI) reveals that the UK subcontract manufacturing market held steady in the third quarter of the year. The CMI for Q3 2022 was 102, compared with 101 in Q2 2022, an increase of 1%. Overall the market was marginally up on the average level of activity during 2021.

In Q3 2022, machining accounted for 39% of the total market with fabrication making up 54%. Other processes, such as moulding and assembly accounted for the remainder. Commenting on the figures, Karl Wigart, owner of CMI producer Qimtek, says: “Although the overall figures suggest that the market has steadied, there is still a lot of turbulence and uncertainty out there. September was slow across all categories and, while October is much better, we still have many buyers who are waiting for clarification.”
For further information www.qimtek.co.uk

Hainbuch expands quick change-over portfolio

To strengthen its position even further in the area of stationary systems, Hainbuch, a manufacturer of high-precision clamping devices, has acquired the Docklock zero-point clamping system from Vischer & Bolli AG in Switzerland.

The Docklock system has been on the market for more than 20 years, while its features and user benefits match perfectly with Hainbuch’s product philosophy. Hainbuch has been offering quick change-over systems or zero-point clamping systems for lathes for many years, and now it is expanding its capabilities in the area of stationary systems. The four variants of the Docklock system now have Hainbuch branding. Both pneumatic and hydraulic variants are available for either manual or automated change-over.

According to Hainbuch, the Docklock zero-point clamping system has two decisive advantages over other systems. The first is form-fit clamping with a collet or clamping segments, ensuring stiff clamping and higher repeatability. This also means that there are no pressure marks on the clamping bolt compared with systems featuring balls or slides, which lead to inaccuracies and consequently the need to replace the clamping bolts. Secondly, it is impervious to dirt and swarf, which means less wear and less maintenance. The base plate, which screws on to the machine table, provides the base for a quick change-over.

Notably, it is possible to change the clamping device combined with Docklock in just two minutes. The zero-point clamping system thus produces savings in terms of production time and cost. Using the interface, users can perform set-up outside the machine, thus avoiding lost production. The collet chuck lock ensures the trouble-free insertion and removal of workpiece pallets, while direct installation on machine tables, pallets or fixtures can be implemented cost-effectively by means of flanged cylinders.
For further information www.hainbuch.com

Halter system extends unattended production

Compact robotic systems from Halter CNC Automation are suited to loading and unloading CNC machine tools, as family business Armbruster GmbH in Steinach, southwest Germany reports. The same machine tending technology is available in the UK market through 1st Machine Tool Accessories.

Armbruster employs about 130 staff and specialises in manufacturing complex, high-quality products such as surgical instruments and implants for the medical sector. It also provides subcontract machining services to a broad range of industries in batch sizes from 1 to 1000.

Florian Schätzle, team leader for machining support at Armbruster, says: “We’ve been committed to automation for a long time. The milling section is fully automated, although the eroding area is only partially autonomous. As regards turning and turn-milling, most production is automated by bar magazines but traditionally we load and unload billets manually for chuck-type work. We therefore decided to invest in a billet loading and unloading robot from Halter, a Universal Premium 35, which tends an existing Mazak Integrex i200 chucking lathe on the shop floor.”

The new solution made it possible to increase the number of workpieces of more than 200 mm diameter in the buffer of the robot cell from six parts previously to an additional 16 parts, i.e. a total of 22. Longer shafts from which several individual parts are machined may be similarly accommodated, enabling even longer periods of unattended production.

Says Schätzle comments: “Our staff realise that the robot cell enables them to organise their working hours better, for example for quality control of finished parts, without having to be present at the Mazak every minute to avoid machine downtime.”
For further information www.1mta.com