Close Brothers cements apprenticeship commitment

The partnership between Close Brothers and the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre has further cemented a commitment to supporting apprentices and SMEs. Over the past eight years, the Close Brothers SME Apprentice Programme has supported the training of 55 apprentices at the AMRC Training Centre. The next stage will see a further 20 apprenticeships funded over the coming year, with the intake beginning in September 2023. Under the scheme, Close Brothers contributes up to 50% of the wages of the apprentices in the first year and 25% in the second year, and covers all training costs.
For further information www.amrctraining.co.uk

Vollmer doubles gains with new Loroch Twin

Following the success of two new circular saw blade grinding machines launched by Vollmer last year, the saw blade sharpening expert is now presenting the new Loroch Twin 860. This space-saving concept features a compact 2000 x 1250 x 1980mm footprint that introduces two different grinding processes in a single machine tool. The end user therefore gains from a machine that can process both TCT saw blades for the wood, sawmill and metal-cutting industries, as well as HSS saw blades primarily used in metal cutting.

With the introduction of a fifth axis, it is possible to process a vast selection of TCT blades in addition to common metal-cutting circular saw blades. As with all Loroch machines, the new Twin 860 grinds with the saw blade rotating. In each case, the grinding process consists of a precise, controlled movement of the grinding head and rotation of the saw blade with both axes controlled simultaneously in complete synchronicity.

Users can sharpen and re-cut HSS circular saw blades from 60 to 860mm on the Twin 860, while automated chamfering is possible from diameters of 75mm and above. With HSS saws, the rake and clearance angles are freely selectable and the grinding process also permits the processing of solid-carbide saw blades, friction saws, and TK or TA saw blades.

For the sharpening of TCT saw blades from 145 to 700mm diameter, the Twin 860 has a secondary grinding process whereby the tooth that requires grinding will remain in a stationary position with the process performed exclusively by the grinding head. The ultra-precise centre drive, which intuitively identifies any pitch differences in the saw blade and automatically processes any irregular pitch patterns in the saw blades, undertakesthe feeding of each tooth.
For further information www.vollmer-group.com/en-uk

Kasto technology cuts lead timesat stockholder

Bieber + Marburg, a steel and non-ferrous metals stockholder in Germany, is using a new sawing centre from Kasto for close-tolerance cutting to length of its various bar, tube, profile and other products. As a result, the company is seeing reduced lead times from order to delivery and can respond more flexibly to customer requests.

At Bieber + Marburg, the demand for sawing in particular is increasing enormously, so the company needed to examine how best to expand this side of its business and determine what technology to target. The conclusion was to purchase a new sawing centre from Kasto.

During a demonstration, the impressive speed of an automatic production circular saw from the KASTOvariospeed range impressed the stockholder’s management and it quickly became apparent that it would be the optimum solution to the shortfall in cutting capacity.
Adjacent to the circular saw, a KASTOsort robot is responsible for cut piece container management. The robot recognises the containers, which already contain the relevant delivery label, and loads the required parts into them automatically, even unattended over the weekend.

The new KASTOcenter varioplus 4 warehouse is 50 m long by 7 m wide and 9m high. It contains about 1500 shelves with space for material up to 7 m long and 330 mm in diameter. A gantry crane stores and retrieves stock at up to 60 m/min.

Marcel Finkernagel, director of administration and organisation at Bieber + Marburg, says: “The KASTOcenter varioplus 4 has enabled us to reduce set-up time from 15 to 20 minutes on the bandsaws, to less than two minutes on the circular saw. Operation is then automatic, with consistent quality of cut on material up to the saw’s maximum capacity of 330 mm diameter.”
For further information www.kasto.com

Behringer concludes ‘Steeldays’ in-house show

At the ninth edition of Behringer’s three-day ‘Steeldays’ in-house exhibition, the company welcomed more than 700 guests from 25 nations.Among the highlights was a new machine control, BehrCtrl10. In co-operation with Siemens, Behringer now has a uniform control concept for band and circular saw machines. The development phase focused on ease of use. Here, the newauto-feed control with its extensive material and tool database, means sawing machine automatically sets the appropriate technology parameters.

In the area of aluminium, Behringer presented a fully automated sawing and processing solution for handling continuous cast aluminium with an initial length of 7 m. At Steeldays, the ingots were cut to lengths of 1 m, with the first cuts disposed of and transported to an automatic lathe via a transfer line. A gripper then transported the peeled bars into an ultrasonic tank and then set them down on pallets.

Automatic aluminium circular saws from Behringer Eisele enable saw cuts every second. The VA-L 560 NC3 XL, for instance, can cut diameters of up to 240 mm at high speed while still conserving resourcesas the remnant length is just 50 mm. Connected to the automatic aluminium circular saw, technology partner JTA Connection demonstrated a driverless transport system with a robot cell. The AGV picked up the box with cut aluminium pieces from the automatic circular saw and transported them to the cell, where the robot removed the sections individually from the AGV.

Also creating a good impression on visitors was a large band saw in gantry design with two saw heads. The enormous dimensions of 4.4 m in height, a width of 8 m and the 24 m long material table was a sight to behold.
For further information www.behringer.net

Prosaw celebrates 60 years of business

The debut Beatles album, the first TV appearance of Doctor Who, and the commencement of operations at the Dartford Tunnel. Those were just a few of the headlines back in 1963. However, in the small Northamptonshire boot and shoe town of Kettering, a different headline was taking shape, that of a new company starting up business in the town. The German manufacturer Trennjaeger had decided to set up a UK office and chose Kettering because of its central location.

Employing just a handful of staff, Trennjaeger began to create a reputation as a supplier of high-quality sawing machines. At first, its range consisted of friction saws, and then came along the LKH and PMC large circular saws for the construction industry.

As time moved on, by the late 60s Trennjaeger handed over operations, and ultimately the business to its then management, who in due course changed the trading name to Prosaw Ltd. As the business grew, so did the need for new premises and in the early 70s the company moved to a new purpose-built factory on the then new Industrial Estate of Telford Way, from where the company continues to operate to this day.

By the mid-80s Prosaw was once again growing with the addition of further manufacturing space and a dedicated 5000 sqft showroom.Over time, the increased number of machines being supplied meant the number of engineers to install and carry out servicing also needed to increase from just a couple to a team of more than 10, based across the UK, today.

Many of the machines supplied by Prosaw in 2023 are from long-established relationships with both manufacturers and customers in the UK and around the world. Indeed, today’s range includes manufacturers in more than 10 countries.
For further information www.prosaw.co.uk