Renewable electricity for Renishaw UK

To further help meet its ambition of achievingnet zero by 2050, Renishaw has signed a two-year contact with the world’s first green energy company, Ecotricity, which will now supply the company’s main UK sites with 100% renewable electricity.As part of its ambitious climate transition plan, Renishaw aims to reduce emissions relating to its business activities and purchased energy – Scopes 1 and 2 – to net zero by 2028.

Renishaw’s partnership with Ecotricity is the latest move towards exclusively using green energy across the world, with company sites in India, Japan, Mexico and the US among those already running on 100% renewable electricity. The global businessself-generates 11% of its electricity consumption and most of the electricity itacquires is certified renewable.By the end of 2024, 100% of what Renishaw purchases globally will meet its sustainability requirements.
For further information www.renishaw.com

Solid-carbide drills offer better performance

Dormer Pramet recently introduced a generation of multi-purpose solid-carbide drills with proprietary capabilities that it says elevates economical hole-making to new heights.The high performance of Dormer Pramet’s Force X and Force M products lies in its novel flute construction with continuously thinned web and rolled heel design, which enables better chip removal and easier re-sharpening.

The new drills feature a micro-grain carbide substrate and TiAlN coating. Thiscombinationprovides high wear resistance and prolongs tool life, making the drills suitable for a wide range of machines and materials, such as stainless steel, alloyed steel and cast iron.

Dormer R100/R120 bright-finish, solid-carbide, entry-level self-centring drills feature a 120° point angle. The most typical industry user of this range is general engineering, where the drills can satisfy multiple applications and materials.

Spotting drills R122, R123 and R125 provide an accurate hole location, helping to avoid drill deflection. Recommended prior to deep-hole drilling, spot drills typically have a tight tolerance point geometry with very short flute length.

David Risk, global product manager at Dormer Pramet,says: “The R100/R120 are entry-level general-purpose solid-carbide drills offering excellent tool life with consistently reliable performance. They’re ideal for both bench drilling and CNC machine applications, mainly for general engineering and maintenance, and are the logical choice for small batch production in all industry segments.

“The Force X and Force M series on the other hand, are high-performance coated solid-carbide drills, with or without internal coolant, which offer very low cycle times,” he continues. “They’re the perfect choice for large batch, high-volume production in CNC applications, mainly for the general engineering, airframe assembly and die and mould industries.”
For further information www.dormerpramet.com

Review published on STEM clubs

EngineeringUK has released a new report which brings together the available evidence on STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) clubs and their ability to increase students’ aspirations for engineering and technology careers.Through summarising the existing evidence, the report aims to draw out learnings on STEM clubs that is usable by STEM outreach providers to raise aspirations around engineering and technology careers. EngineeringUK hopes the learnings in its report will support efforts to increase the number of young people entering the engineering and technology workforce.
For further information www.bit.ly/46UYGnF

£370m loan for Seaway7

The UK’s export credit agency has issued a loan guarantee that allowsoffshore wind specialist Seaway7 to secure a £370m loan to scale up its UK operations.UK Export Finance (UKEF) issued the guarantee under its Export Development Guarantee (EDG) scheme, which covers 80% of the total loan.UKEF’s backing is expected to help the firm win and service EPCI (engineering, procurement construction and installation) contracts for fixed offshore wind projects which will generate UK export revenue. Seaway7 has completed successful offshore wind projects in a range of markets, including Taiwan, the US and mainland Europe.
For further information www.gov.uk

Seco R&D delivers success for Scania

A challenging project with Swedish truck manufacturer Scania brought out the best in Seco’s R&D team, which found a way to extend the life of one tool by a factor of 20 when using it to cut a new type of cast iron for engines.

“The background was this new form of cast iron, which offers many advantages: it’s more environmentally friendly and stronger, which means Scania can make the engine walls thinner and lighter,” explains Stefan Frejd, R&D specialist – drilling at Seco says. “The problem that Scania wanted to explore was the fact that this material increased wear on the production tools, shortening their life.”

A project group took shape, the work of which paid off almost immediately.

“We got together with Scania’s engineers and discussed some of the problems and applications, and came back with new tools ready for testing,” saysFrejd. “The first drilling tool we tested turned out to have a tool life of more than 20 times the existing one, so that was a huge improvement.”

Other test tools managed to outlast their predecessors by a factor of seven, which represented a huge breakthrough.

For Frejdand his team, the learnings and discoveries came about due to the close working relationship with the customer and a strong desire to understand and find a solution to issues.

“The most important thing for us in R&D is the ability to co-operate with production engineers in different companies.As with Scania there are always problems that require solving, but when we come together, we often find we can do so quite quickly.”
For further information www.secotools.com