Ceratizit UK & Ireland has reported its most successful MACH exhibition to date. The company’s stand attracted strong interest throughout the week, with manufacturers visiting to explore the company’s latest cutting tool, tooling management and work-holding technologies.

The exhibition showcased Ceratizit’s machining portfolio across milling, turning, drilling, threading, grooving and parting applications, supported by demonstrations from the company’s UK Technical Centre. Among the standout attractions was the CTC5240 titanium indexable milling system display, developed in collaboration with the University of Sheffield AMRC, Heller Machine Tools and Siemens NX.

Designed specifically for difficult-to-machine materials including titanium, Inconel, Hastelloy and Waspaloy, the CTC5240 grade generated significant attention from engineers attending the exhibition. Ceratizit demonstrated how its proprietary coating technology improves heat resistance, chip formation and tool life in demanding titanium machining operations.

A key highlight was a live machining demonstration using the new RADX porcupine cutter paired with SXHU 120408ER-F41 CTC5240 inserts during a full-slot milling operation in TiAl6V4 titanium alloy. The application achieved a material removal rate of 318.78 cm³/min while benefiting from eight usable cutting edges per insert, creating a highly competitive solution for heavy-duty titanium roughing applications.

The Ceratizit UK & Ireland engineering team is currently working with manufacturers to implement productivity and cost-saving improvements identified during MACH.

The company also continued its long-running MACH charity initiative, with visitors entered into a prize draw to win a Hope HB160 mountain bike in exchange for donations to the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK. Over the past 16 years, the initiative has raised more than £100,000 for the two charities.

More information www.ceratizit.com

“Every MACH exhibition keeps improving on its predecessor,” said Miles Evans, managing director of Rainford Precision, following a successful week at the show.

As a specialist in micro machining, Rainford Precision attended the exhibition to showcase its portfolio of tooling solutions for small-part machining, hard material applications and composite machining. Representing globally recognised brands including Union Tool, Louis Bélet, IWATA, Hufschmied, Delmeco, HOBE and Osawa, the company attracted strong interest.

According to Rainford, many visitors arrived at the stand after struggling to find tooling elsewhere at the exhibition capable of meeting the precision, dimensional accuracy and material demands required by their applications. The company’s range of micro-machining solutions demonstrated capabilities for producing extremely small features and drilling difficult materials beyond the scope of conventional tooling systems.

Particular interest was shown in Union Tool’s HGLB, HWLB, HWLB-S and CWLB series of two-flute ball-nose end mills for machining materials up to 60 HRc. With radii from 0.05 to 3 mm, diameter tolerances of 0/-0.006 mm and ball radius accuracy of ±0.002 mm, the tooling highlighted the level of precision increasingly demanded across industry.

Rainford also introduced the Louis Bélet Excalibur series at MACH for the first time. Featuring inserts brazed to carbide bodies with laser-machined helical geometries, the tooling offers significantly extended tool life compared with solid carbide alternatives, while supporting diameters as small as 0.1 mm.

For manufacturers in aerospace, motorsport, mould and die, and defence, IWATA Tool’s deep-hole drilling technology also attracted strong attention, particularly the ALT-coated three-flute drills capable of achieving H7 tolerances in materials up to 72 HRc.

Evans concluded: “MACH consistently generates a high volume of high-quality leads from manufacturers new to Rainford Precision, and we’re already converting enquiries from the exhibition into new business.”

More information www.rainfordprecision.com