Hoytom takes testing to its highest limits

Hoytom, a company that specialises in quality control equipment and electromechanical and electrohydraulic machines for material tests, is using HBK HBM load cells within its machines.

Founded in 1961, Hoytom is a Spanish company located in the Basque town of Leioa, near Bilbao, with a staff comprising experts in the field of static destructive testing, where they stretch or compress devices under test until breakage. Hoytom is a family-owned company going back three generations. Ever since the early days back in the 60s, Hoytom has acknowledged and understood that quality, drive and the best equipment are key factors to being competitive in the complex world of testing at national and international levels.

The testing machines also include hardness testers and pendulums used to determine the hardness and toughness of materials. For its universal and hardness testing machines, which carry out Rockwell and Brinell hardness tests, Hoytom always relies on HBK’s HBM brand products, namely load cells, integrating them in all of its machines. This is mainly due to the accuracy and reliability of HBM U10M force transducer, ensuring the minimum values of linearity deviation, hysteresis and reversibility error, together with a high degree of reproducibility.

Hoytom’s commitment increased in 2015, when the current management team took over. Managers were convinced that, in order to improve the machines, one of the key factors was that the load cell and HBM had to be first choice. Their previous experience backed up this decision, since HBM had a long history of supplying the company with calibration standards and calibration measurement equipment.
For further information www.hbm.com

Halter and Mitutoyo join forces

Robotic machine tool tending cells manufactured by Halter CNC Automation, which are sold in the UK by 1st Machine Tool Accessories, are now available with the integration of a co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) from Mitutoyo. It follows the automation company’s philosophy of extending its robot cells with additional functionalities.

Mitutoyo CMMs are well suited to incorporation into Halter cells, although it is possible to supply almost any make of measuring machine to suit a customer’s preference. Alternatively, 1st MTA can network an existing CMM on the shop floor. All installations are configurable for 100% or sample inspection.

On the Halter stand at the recent AMB 2022 machine tool show in Stuttgart, a Halter Universal Premium 25 LoadAssistant was seen automatically loading billets into a CNC lathe and unloading turned components. Using the same FANUC M-20iD robot with double gripper, the parts were transported to a Mitutoyo MiStar 555 CMM for inspection. Measurement data was continuously fed back to the lathe control so that offsets could be applied if component dimensions started to drift out of tolerance.

Catherine Kelly, general manager at 1st MTA, says: “Halter’s compact robot cells can tend any make of lathe or machining centre, regardless of age or type of control. They are ideal for subcontractors producing a mix of small to medium-size batches, as a system can be changed over in less than five minutes. Most users worldwide, including a couple of dozen in the UK, report ROI of between five and 18 months. With the addition of integrated metrology, payback should be even quicker and we’re very pleased to be able to offer the new CMM option.”
For further information www.1mta.com

New reciprocating saw blade technology

Lenox, a Stanley Black & Decker brand and specialist in power tool accessories, is introducing its new Wave Edge reciprocating saw blade technology, a new tooth form design delivering up to 50% longer blade life in select models.

“We are committed to developing innovative products and designs such as Wave Edge for customers who expect superior-performing tools and accessories,” says Matt Savarino, director of product management at Lenox. “After connecting with our customers, we created a product design that helps deliver a longer blade life for peak on-the-job performance.”

In addition to launching the new Wave Edge design, Lenox also introduced four new application-based reciprocating saw blade sub-brands: MetalWolf for making quick cuts through a range of metal types and gauges; MultiWolf for making quick, clean cuts in metal, wood and plastic; DemoWolf for rigorous demolition applications; and LumberWolf for cutting through dense wood with nails.

Lenox Wave Edge technology features across all models of MultiWolf and select MetalWolf and DemoWolf models. Additionally, Lenox Rapid Pling technology is being extended to select LumberWolf and DemoWolf reciprocating saw blades. Rapid Plunge allows users to plunge cut with ease and speed due to the unique design of the blade tips.

Lenox Wave Edge and Rapid Plunge products are now available in stores and online where Lenox products are sold.
For further information www.lenoxtools.com

Material handling solutions from Prosaw

When it comes to sawing, often the slowest part is actually loading and unloading the machine with stock lengths and cut pieces of material. With this thought in mind, Prosaw offers the following as a guide to selecting the optimal material handling solution, focusing on stillage arms, cross transfers and powered conveyors.

The addition of fabrication side stillage arms to an infeed conveyor will hold additional stock lengths to allow easy loading of a machine by its operator. From small sections through to large, heavy solid bars, introducing stillage arms means the machine can run for longer periods, avoiding the waiting time for a crane or forklift truck to load the machine.

A more powerful and automated solution is the cross transfer. This can be either of lift and carry configuration (lift the piece of material and carry it forward to the infeed conveyor) or the lower cost option of a drag system, which drags or pulls the material across nylon slide-ways and on to the conveyor.

The use of powered conveyors will take the hard work out of moving heavy material around the workshop. Conveyors designed and built by Prosaw use either tubular or, for heavier applications, solid rollers with bearing blocks. Heavy-duty chain and sprockets with variable speed motors provide easy positioning of material at the saw.

After sawing any material, often the bottleneck is the output side of the machine. One solution is again cross transfers, working in reverse as described previously. Another solution for round materials is a full-length pusher, which acts as a sweeper arm to roll the workpiece clear of the output conveyor. For rectangular and square material, an output table that tips or inclines by means of a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder works well.
For further information www.prosaw.co.uk

Turnkey solutions: the power of customisation

MEP Saws, which is represented in the UK by ADS Precision, has recently supplied a circular sawing machine to a Finland-based manufacturer of sterilisers and water purification equipment for the pharmaceutical industry. Among the challenging main raw materials used in condensers for steam generators are 14×1 AISI 316L tubes, with about 60 km of tubes used per year. These tubes must be straight, round, and scratch- and burr-free.

The customer already had a circular sawing machine to execute bundle cutting on this material. However, it was not precise and operators had to change the blades continuously to ensure cut quality.

To remedy the situation, the company opted for an MEP Tiger 352 Sx Evo semi-automatic circular sawing machine, which is suitable for steel cutting from -45° to +60° with blade rotation at four speeds. Taking into consideration the requirements of the customer’s sector, together with MEP’s local dealer, it was decided to offer the Tiger 372 Sx Evo, a higher performing version of the Tiger 352, and carry out cutting trials on the customer’s material to show the advantages.

Following tests carried out on a bundle of nine AISI 316L tubes with a diameter of 14 mm, the customer was impressed by the quality of the cutting surfaces and by one of the main machine features: the infinite variable saw blade speed through inverter (instead of the four fixed speeds of the Tiger 352 Sx Evo).

Regarding final customisation, the material loading roller conveyor was equipped with V-rollers covered in Teflon. Teflon clamping jaws were also supplied instead of traditional steel ones. Further customisation included a larger diameter steel circular blade flange and a change of material feeding direction from right to left.
For further information www.adsprecision.com