National success for MTC Training apprentice

An MTC Training apprentice has become SME Apprentice of the Year and winner of the top accolade, Best of British, in the 2023 Enginuity Skills Awards.The two honours, presented to Anisha Roberts at the Park Plaza in London, recognise the 31 year-old apprentice’s inspirational journey into engineering, as well as her dedication to the profession.

Inspired by an older colleague, Roberts left her teaching assistant role to pursue an engineering career at the age of 29. She felt that university was not a viable option with two small children, so she started an apprenticeship. Judges for the SME Apprentice of the Year category were impressed by Roberts’ support in helping her now employer Williams Jet Tenders (WJT), in Wallingford, become more sustainable, saving the company money in the process.
For further information www.mtc-training.co.uk

SUBCONTRACTOR RACES TO SUCCESS WITH HYPERMILL

Founded only five years ago, PBE CNC has carved a name for itself as a specialist subcontractor in the five-axis machining of motorsport components. Evolving at pace, the Havant-based company relies upon hyperMILL CAM technology from Open Mind Technologies to deliver components of impeccable quality.

Even before company founder and managing director Jonathan Plumridge started the business, the entrepreneur had purchased a seat of hyperMILL to offer programming services to the subcontract manufacturing sector. Using hyperMILL as a freelance engineer provided Plumridgewith the means to start PBE CNC and buy his first machine, a Mazak i500 Variaxis. The company has since purchased a second i500, a Mazak VCN 430A machining centre with 4th axis and, most recently, a Mazak QT Compact 200L turn-mill centre.

“The work that we do here is primarily for the motorsport and food processing industries, machining components made of aluminium and titanium in anything from 1-offs to runs of 500+,” says Plumridge.“I chose hyperMILLhaving used it at a previous company and it has proven very reliable. The software is very good at importing models, thetool paths are generated very quickly on large parts and the five-axis parts are rock solid. Additionally, the simulation tools are excellent and you can always be sure that the tool path will run safely.”

Discussing ease-of-use, Plumridge adds: “After initial training, the system is very intuitive to use and all of the menus, whether it be for 2D, 3D or five-axis toolpaths, all run along the same theme, so once you know how to do one – they all follow on. The parts are very easy to set up when you follow the model.You can use the project assistant to set your datum and stock, which you can adjust if necessary. Then youcan choose the machine to which you wish to output before adding toolpaths quickly and easily.

“Since I started using hyperMILL, I’ve noticed that the toolpaths are high quality and very consistent, and you can customise them if needed to make them do exactly what you want,” he continues.“In the type of industry we work this is critical because the parts have to look aesthetically pleasing – and hyperMILL gives you all of the tools to do that.”

From time to time, Plumridge will also use hyperMILL to quote parts. Users can quickly import the model and put a few toolpaths on the job if unsure whether the part needs a lot of scanning. hyperMILL will provide an accurate estimation of how long the part will take to produce.

“We’ve recently taken delivery of a turn-millcentre and have a post-processor from Open Mind for that machine,” explains Plumridge.“It enables us to program around the C axis and this is not really any different to programming a normal machining centre. Users can just tell the system what post processor they are going to use, load the program and it runs. I would recommend that manufacturers talk to Open Mind if they are in the market for offline programming software as it’s easy to use and the support is excellent.”

Commenting upon the relationship between Open Mind and PBE CNC, Open Mindsales director Ken Baldwin says: “I’ve known Jonathan since he was at his previous company where he was using a different CAM system due to various reasons. Jonathan brought Open Mind in because they had an expensive machine crash. So, the first reason was safety and hyperMILL offers a lot more security in terms of collision checking and ensuring that the toolpaths created would be the right ones to give the best quality, but also be safe to run.”

He adds: “We’re finding more and more start-ups choose hyperMILL. It may cost more than alternative systems that are cheaper in the short term. However, when businesses have a vision of growing, they invest in hyperMILL from the start because they know that the software can grow with them, whether they move from simple three-axis machining to five-axis, mill-turn and even additive. hyperMILL will cater for everything a business needs within the machine shop, now and in the future.

“Using a CAM system like hyperMILL, there are several benefits you can achieve, although there may be different priorities depending on the nature of the machine shop. So, it could be that a company wants faster programming times or it may be in production where companies are producing thousands of components and they want to optimise the process. With a CAM system, you can visualise the stock condition at every stage and have an optimised tool path that can save those small percentages. When on a longer batch run, it can save a considerable amount of time.”

Manufacturers can also verify everything that is going on within the machine tool, so the tool, the holder and any kind of workpiece and workholding can be visualised in the machine so users can be sure that everything is 100% right before they start to run the machine, avoiding any costly prove-outs.

As a company that utilises a cobot for 24/7 lights-out production and Lang multi-point workholding for setting up multiple parts in a single set-up, this is certainly a casing point for PBE CNC.

Discussing automation, Baldwin says: “There is an automation package within hyperMILL that not many people are currently using. Some people do not understand thatautomation isn’t always a start-to-finish process, especially when factories undertake such a wide variety of work. Automation in hyperMILL is all about picking out sections. There may be a lot of components where you do the same process on a particular type of part and that may only be 15-=20% of the programming, if you can automate that and identify trends – it’s a 15 to 20% reduction in work which doesn’t have to be done every time. That is once again a huge saving on the programming time.”

He adds: “There’s already automation within hyperMILL that leverages the user’s knowledge, as customers know what works on certain types of components. We can integrate and customise these features to end user requirements. There’s also a lot more intelligence in tooling data and we’re working with various tooling companies to get more information on realcutting data and what works, and how we can get that information to applyautomatically. In the next few years, manufacturers will see a lot more progress in this area as the doors to automation open in quite a big way.”
For further information www.openmind-tech.com

Portable measuring arms for rigorous inspection

A new range of portable six-axis and seven-axis measuring arms is now available from LK Metrology, replacing the 34 original versions it introduced in 2021. Unlike their predecessors, six-axis Freedom Arm v2 products offer full IP54 protection from water splashes and the ingress of dust and particles, delivering reliable, repeatable, 3D tactile inspection and measurement in harsh industrial environments.

Available also is a new range of 21 stainless steel-tipped probes with a stainless steel or carbon fibre body, as well as updated RDS software v6.2 running on Windows for communicating with the arm via Wi-Fi or USB. For full IP54 protection of an arm, the probes have a rubber seal around the mounting interface while protective caps cover the arm ODU connectors. Additionally, a CP-W control pack features Wi-Fi connectivity and uses batteriesrather than mains power. An operator alert is among additions to the RDS software, warning the user if an arm does not have full IP54 protection.

The new seven-axis Freedom Arm v2 is not IP54 rated but is able to deploy a laser scanner and a tactile probe, thus makingit capable of multi-sensor data capture. A new OLED touchscreen display provides the operator with convenient fingertip control, enabling users to change settings, view messages and check results. It raises inspection productivity by avoiding the need to go back and forth between the arm and computer. Also new is a CP-B battery pack with Ethernet connection for probe and laser scanner use in environments where Wi-Fi is not permissible. The CP-B comes with two rechargeable batteries featuring hot-swap capability for unlimited continuous use on battery power.
For further information www.lkmetrology.com

Creaform launches latest VXintegrity version

Creaform, a business unit of Ametek Inc and a specialist in portable 3D measurement, is releasing a new version of VXintegrity, its solution for surface damage assessments that is accessible to all non-destructive testing (NDT) service companies across multiple sectors.

VXintegrity is a powerful NDT software platform, launched by Creaform last year, which integrates all analytical functions and tools into an intuitive, user-friendly interface for inspection teams and service companies. Composed of four software modules, VXintegrity solves the challenges of asset owners in a wide range of industries, including aerospace, oil and gas, power generation, and mining.

According to Creaform, the most significant change is VXintegrity’s game-changing algorithm, which eliminates the need for human interaction to analyse any surface and ensures highly repeatable results. It also removes all the limitations of simpler algorithms, paving the way to inspection applications on complex components, such as very aggressive double-curvature geometries, elbow pipes, T-joints, valves, advanced nozzles and boiler tubes. Creaform says that the algorithm is revolutionary for 3D surface assessments as it does not require a CAD model reference or any manual interventions with the data to identify the area of interest.

‘’By developing a dedicated NDT software platform, Creaform is showing the world its commitment to the NDT market and willingness to invest in developing the most innovative 3D scanning solution for surface damage assessment,” says François Lachance, product manager at Creaform.“Version 1.1 is in alignment with this commitment. Our newly reconstructed algorithm beats all other approaches on the market.”
For further information www.creaform3d.com

Seco Tools names new VP global sales

Andrew Hunter is now VP global sales at Seco Tools. He will report to Stefan Steenstrup, president Seco, and become a member of the Seco Management Group. Hunter has 23 years of experience from various customer-facing roles at Dormer Pramet, most recently as VP of sales & marketing where he headed an organisation consisting of 450 full-time employees in 26 countries. He will be responsible for securing growth at Seco, along with developing and implementing sales strategies to gain market share. Hunter will also be responsible for global sales activities and set the scene for the sales organisation.
For further information www.secotools.com