New director at EngineeringUK

EngineeringUK says Maddie Dinwoodie will join as director of engagement programmes this summer. Dinwoodie joins the organisation from UK Youth, where she is currently chief programme officer. With a background in the not-for-profit sector, she has 20 years’ experience in developing programmes for young people, growing partnerships and improving impact. Says Dinwoodie: “It will be a privilege to work with the team and partners to create the systemic shift that we need to see: inspiring more young people from all backgrounds into engineering and technology, and tackling employment inequalities.”
For further information www.engineeringuk.com

Microscopes offer more functionality and usability

The new Nikon MM-series of industrial measuring microscopes has been periodically upgraded since the early 1950s, but not to such an extent as during the latest, sixth makeover. The new generation was unveiled at the Control 2023 exhibition in Stuttgart earlier this month.

Nikon’s new MM-400N and MM-800N series measuring microscopes have aperture diaphragm control on the diascopic illuminator, which allows an operator to adjust the aperture to optimise both contrast and resolution. It is also possible to set the lighting conditions for measuring cylindrical products.

Notably, the newly-developed diascopic LED illuminator has both white and green light sources, allowing the operator to change easily from one colour to the other by pressing a switch on the front of the microscope, without having to insert or remove a filter. Furthermore, by integrating the diascopic illuminator into the main body of the measuring microscope, the depth of the instrument is 30 mm shorter, reducing the installation footprint.

As part of the makeover, Nikon has modernised the appearance of the measuring microscopes, which sport the company’s new, clean-white and black livery. Furthermore, power consumption is 10% lower than the former MM-400/MM-800 series models. Nikon says it provides environmentally friendly products and complies with the RoHS Directive and other laws and regulations.

Many components are common to the new and previous series models, including the measurement stage, objective lenses and optical accessories, which a user can continue to use for simple, accurate and highly reproducible measurement applications.
For further information www.nikonmetrology.com

Visual inspection gets AI-powered boost

A UK digital transformation specialist has added an important feature to its augmented reality solution, Vuforia, which will support and simplify visual inspection on shop floors across the country.PTC’s Step Check will provide employees with a step-by-step guide through inspection tasks using context-sensitive work instructions. These instructions superimpose on the physical product during inspection, while artificial intelligence (AI) helps to detect improper assembly, missing or misaligned parts, and other errors.

Thanks to colour-coded graphics displayed in real time on the part or product in question, operatives can see at a glance whether it has passed the inspection step. In addition, Step Check automatically documents inspection results and creates dashboards to analyse the inspections performed.

“Step Check uses advanced computer vision to recognise parts or products requiring inspection using their 3D CAD models; it then utilises an AI model based on examples of passed and failed inspections,” explains JJ Lechleiter, general manager of Vuforia at PTC.“The AI models learn from the decisions made by the employees and, as a result, continuously improve the results. Vuforia’s computer vision capabilities also recognise things not included in 3D CAD models, such as stickers or labels.”

Step Check is part of PTC’s Vuforia Expert Capture SaaS augmented reality (AR) solution, a product for the quick and easy creation of step-by-step AR work instructions. The new feature focuses on one of the most important phases of the manufacturing process: visual inspection in quality control. Traditionally, these inspections are performed by the naked eye and paper-based documentation, putting pressure on employees to make decisions quickly and increasing the risk of errors and rework.
For further informationwww.ptc.com

Blum shines spotlight on laser measuring systems

Blum-Novotestpresented its new LC53-Digilog laser measuring system for tool measurement and monitoring in CNC machining centres, at the recent Control 2023 show in Germany. With this system, Blum has expanded its product spectrum to include an optical system with a separate transmitter and receiver unit alongside forward-looking Digilog technology.

Devices with separate transmitter and receiver units – namely the predecessor systems Mini NT and Micro Single NT – have been in the company’s portfolio for many years and are valued for their high degree of precision and process reliability. Thanks to the Digilog technology employed in the LC53-Digilog, it has been possible to enhance these attributes even further.

While the tried-and-test digital/switching laser measuring systems based on NT technology generated only a small number of signals by shading the tool, the new Digilog laser measuring systems generate many thousands of measurement values per second while dynamically adjusting the measuring speed according to the tool’s nominal speed. The LC53-Digilog also measures each cutting edge individually, rather than just determining the value for the longest cutting edge, and thereby makes a comparison possible from the shortest to the longest cutting edges. Run-out errors, caused by contamination of the taper of the tool holder, for example, are automatically detected. Furthermore, due to the large number of measurements per cutting edge, the LC53-Digilog is able to detect contaminants and cooling lubricant adhering to the tool. By deducting them from the calculations, it makes measurement results even more reliable.

The LC53-Digilog is particularly easy to install with the newly developed mounting set, which comfortably aligns the transmitter and receiver unit. It is possible to attach systems to a machine wall using only a single threaded hole.
For further information www.blum-novotest.com

NAKAMURA CUTS SECONDARY OPERATIONS FOR OAKLEY

Despite only opening its doors for business in 2002, Oakley CNC Machining has undergone a major transitional shift in its machine tool technology in recent years to support its relentless growth trajectory. Initially starting with Herbert capstan lathes and a selection of two-axis CNC turning centres, the company has rapidly evolved its investment strategy, with the latest acquisition being a Nakamura-Tome WT150IIF twin-spindle twin-turret turning centre from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).

Already progressing through a transition period, it was the company acquisition by Ian Oakley in 2015 that led to an acceleration in capital equipment investment. Unfortunately, the performance, capabilities and service support from some machine tool vendors fell short. With an order book continually filling and capacity at a premium for the Burton-upon-Trent subcontractor, the company searched the market for a twin-spindle turning centre – and it was the Nakamura-Tome WT150IIF that caught its attention.

Oakley CNC Machining’smanaging director Ian Oakley says: “We’ve taken full advantage of the 130% super-deduction tax allowance and invested in several high-end CNC turning and milling centres. However, not all acquisitions have performed as we would have liked. As we have several new projects that require production volumes of 10,000+, we needed a high-performance turning centre to absorb the volume.The Nakamura was the perfect choice.”

Oakley CNC Machining searched for a twin-spindle, twin-turret turning centre with an intuitive CNC interface that could offer both conversational and G-code programming.

“We wanted a user-friendly machine capable of machining the range of parts we produce, but we got so much more,” reveals Oakley.“One factor that drew us to the Nakamura is the oscillating servo [oscillation cutting] that prevents long strings of swarf and enables us to extend our unmanned running. This was particularly important as we have a family of nylon parts required in production runs up to 10,000-off. Required for the rail industry, the project involves a family of 40mm diameter parts up to 100mm long that we can set up on the Nakamura and leave to run for days without manual intervention. In fact, it was the swarf-breaking technology and the ability to run long unmanned periods that won this contract for our business.”

Before the arrival of this project, the initial prompt to invest in the robust turning centre was in fact a brass electronic component for the construction and earthmoving equipment sector. The company regularly machines the brass electronic part in batches of up to 15,000.

Discussing this component and why the Nakamura WT150IIF was needed, Oakleysays: “This part was being machined on an existing twin-spindle turning centre, lights out, but we were having issues keeping the component in pristine condition with no marks. The existing machine has a traditional parts catcher with swarf deposited in the parts catcher area from machining. The parts, when ejected, land on top of the swarf, which is far from ideal. In contrast, the Nakamura has a robotic arm that unloads the parts very gently and ‘places’ them into a separate unloading conveyor belt. This capability in itself is a big bonus, but coupled with the benefit of having an extra turret, we’ve reduced cycle times from 3.5 minutes to 1.5 minutes. Considering the batch sizes, we’re now saving just over 500 hours per batch.”

He continues: ‘’We previously machined another aluminium part for the food processing industry on our existing twin-spindle machine that is just over 200mm long. This part needed four different operations due to the sub-spindle bar capacity being very limited, incurring significant set-up time and taking a lot of capacity from our machine shop.The overall cycle time was 6.5 minutes. We’re now able to produce these on the Nakamura with a cycle time of 3.5 minutes in one-hit.’’

As a long-running project that has been ongoing for more than three years, the Staffordshire manufacturer was struggling to keep up with demand prior to the arrival of the WT150IIF. The major saving on this project for the ISO9001-accredited company is not just the cycle time but the reduction in set-ups, the ability to free capacity from other machines and the reduction in manual intervention.

“It was a labour- and machine-intensive process,” states Oakley.“Now, we can set the job on the WT150IIF and it will run unmanned 24 hours a day for up to two weeks with the swarf-breaking technology. All we have to do is feed the bar into the machine and collect the finished parts from the other end. The stability of the machine also means that we don’t even have to change the tools in a two-week long production run.”

As the company gains familiarity with the machine following its arrival at the end of 2022, it is moving more parts to the Nakamura.

“The brass and nylon parts are long series runs and we’re benefitting from the combination of the swarf-breaking technology and the one-hit capabilities of the WT150IIF,” says Oakley.“We are continually moving more jobs to the Nakamura and will likely need another machine in the near future.”

Discussing the service from ETG, Oakley concludes: “We have machine tools here from a range of vendors and the service, and the quality of the machines has been indifferent. It’s only been a matter of months since we installed the Nakamura, but we’re delighted with the machine and the service from ETG has been exceptional. If we have ever had any issues, the service team have jumped on the issues immediately. We are currently planning to double the size of our facility to nearly 700sqm, a move that will help facilitate our growth. When we have our new building, we’ll definitely be looking to purchase more Nakamura machines from ETG.”
For further information www.engtechgroup.com