Investment helps future-proof JAW

For over 30 years, Huddersfield-based JAW Engineering has provided local industry with low-volume subcontract machining capacity and emergency breakdown support. Up until now, all its machining had been carried out on manual machines, reliant on highly skilled operators, including company founder John White. Now, with John’s son Stuart taking on management of the family business, the time was right to look to the future and move to CNC.

With Stuart White’s lack of experience in CNC he turned to a long-standing customer for advice, and was invited in to see first-hand, and talk with operators about their XYZ ProtoTrak-controlled machines. “The opportunity to chat with guys on the shop floor was fascinating as not one of them had a bad word to say about XYZ. Furthermore, seeing the ProtoTrak control in action convinced me that it was the best solution to take us from manual to CNC machining.”
Encouraged by what he saw and heard, White paid a visit to XYZ Machine Tools showroom in Sheffield for a demonstration and made the decision to purchase an SLX 425 ProTurn lathe.
By introducing CNC in the form of the ProtoTrak control, White is looking to future-proof the business, as finding skilled manual machine operators is not easy. Here, the ProtoTrak’s conversational interface makes the job of programming complex parts straightforward.
“The addition of CNC is allowing us to do more complex work than we could previously,” says White. “Moreover, we are more efficient as the control speeds up operations that manually would take much longer, such as screw cutting. Repeatability is taken for granted, and by storing the programs we can quickly repeat parts as and when they are required.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

20 years’ service and still going strong

In 1997, Rosario di Gerlando and José Freire had their very first Deco sliding-head lathe delivered by Tornos.

Still in use today at Lauener’s facility in Boudry, Switzerland, a factory that specialises in products for the watchmaking and medical sectors, the meter currently displays 76,301 hours of operational use. Today, the company has almost 150 machine tools. Indeed, within the workshop dedicated to medical products, only Tornos Deco and EvoDeco machines are in place.“The Deco/EvoDeco product is really accomplished and we are fully familiar with it,” says Freire.
Both the kinematic system and the programming of the first Deco machines from 1996 are similar to those of the more recent EvoDeco series. During that time, numerous attachments and tool holders have been provided with an interchangeable design.
“We decided to purchase the machines due to their flexibility, productivity and precision, and they did not disappoint,” says Freire. “The machines fully meet current requirements and will certainly meet the future needs of the business. Tornos machines are extremely versatile and we can produce virtually any part on them. For us, the kinematic system and PELD language are the really strong points of the Deco and EvoDeco models. When producing complex parts, the machines remain the best on the market; they can produce workpieces that no other machine can realise.”
Thanks to its optimum control characteristics, a new EvoDeco machine installed at Lauener will be fully operational in less than one week.
For further information www.tornos.com

Making light work of heavy applications

Soon after taking delivery of a Harrison Alpha 1550XS CNC lathe from 600 UK, Blackburn-based subcontractor Fairbrother and Grimshaw witnessed an upturn in orders, utilising the versatility of the Alpha lathes for taking on larger capacity turn-mill jobs.

Neil Grimshaw, company director, says: “We are firm believers of pushing what we do with current technology and standing still is not an option. The Alpha manual/CNC lathe is ideal in that sense as it’s an easy switch from turning manually to using the Alpha with the minimum of training.
“We already have some Colchester manual turning machines and a range of VMCs and CNC turning centres from many suppliers, but large-capacity turning applications were difficult for us to manage,” he continues. “The Alpha XS has helped us raise the bar and added a different dimension to our turning capability. This, in turn, has already helped spread our reputation and we are taking on more work because of it.”
The 2 m between-centres Alpha 1550XS has a swing-over-bed of 554 mm and a 104 mm spindle bore. A large 15 kW motor means that spindle speeds can reach up to 2000 rpm.
“When we purchased the Alpha, we also made use of its range of accessories, including steadies, morse tapers and four-jaw chucks, to give us the maximum flexibility,” says Grimshaw. “We did consider other lathes, but once we saw the Alpha, there was never any doubt in our minds as no other competing product could match the combination of flexibility, accuracy and value for money.”
For further information www.600uk.com

SiFab gains control with machining capability

The decision to invest in machining capacity by Rugby-based SiFab Engineering Solutions was driven by a desire to be able to control deliveries to customers, as well as manufacturing costs. However, with no formal machining training, and limited floor space, company director Simon Hall had to choose his machine tools wisely.

Hall turned to friend and business acquaintance Phil Boffin of BMS Engineering, who had gone down the same route in starting his own business, for advice. “I had used Phil for some tube work for roll cages, so knew he had invested in XYZ machines. On his advice I went along to an XYZ open day at Nuneaton with the intention of looking at a lathe. After having a ‘play’ on a couple of machines, I placed an order there and then for an XYZ SLX 1630 ProTurn lathe and an XYZ 2-OP machining centre.”
The two machines were delivered to SiFab at the end of November 2017 and, once installed, Hall went for his free training on a Friday. Come Monday morning he was producing and shipping his first parts. The conversational aspect of the ProtoTrak control on both machines made generating the first parts easy.
“I produce lots of one-off and prototype parts, and while I am confident that the first-off will be right using the Traking facility on the SLX lathe, it is also straightforward to make amendments when the customer changes things,” says Hall. “The further advantage is that I haven’t waited two weeks for a subcontractor to make these parts and been charged the earth for them.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Low-volume parts delivered fast

Optimas Solutions is offering its customers a new way of receiving low-volume parts with greater expediency than normally possible.

The service has been enabled by the installation of a Takamaz XY120 Plus CNC lathe, which can quickly produce a range of parts in quantities up to 5000 pieces. This rapid component delivery service will be offered by Optimas’ UK manufacturing arm, Barton, as part of a new worldwide express service, which provides low-volume components on greatly reduced lead times to alleviate existing supply pressure on manufacturers.
The service is aimed primarily at the automotive, petrochemical and other pressurised industrial sectors.
Components manufactured from all types of materials are available, including exotic materials, titanium and high-temperature alloys, plus all base-plating options. Male components offered by the express service include hex, flange and banjo bolts; and double ended studs and solid rivets ranging from M5 to M22 diameter at a maximum length of 330 mm. Female variants include nuts, spacers, special forgings and fittings up to a maximum of 42 mm diameter.
The Takamaz XY120 Plus operating at Barton is a multi-axis CNC machine offering a highly automated compound machining capability. Its ability to turn-mill and tap at both ends ensures an integrated and expedient process, which is further aided by a turret that is capable of housing 12 driven tools. The machine is coupled with a Hydrafeed barfeed cassette inherent to the machine.
For further information www.optimas.com