Roll tooling firm opts for VTL from Mills

Mills CNC has supplied Bowers & Jones, a specialist in high-precision roll tooling and equipment for steel and copper mill customers across the world, with a new DN Solutions VTR 1216F: a large-capacity, wide-column, ram-type vertical turning lathe (VTL). The new machine operates at the company’s 1394m² manufacturing facility in Bilston, near Wolverhampton. It sits alongside three other machines supplied by Mills CNC over the past four years, including a Doosan Puma 5100B lathe and a DN Solutions GT 3100L box-guideway lathe.

Says Jane Sommerville, managing director at Bowers & Jones: “We needed a new large-capacity vertical lathe specifically to machine large-diameter straightening rings for the customer. It would also take pressure off an older Berry & Binns horizontal lathe that we acquired some years earlier. We approached Mills and two other suppliers to discuss our requirements and, looking at the proposed investment package as a whole – including cost, availability, machine design and configuration, operator familiarity, and aftersales support – decided to place the order with Mills.”

The FANUC-controlled 50-inch chuck VTR 1216F offers a maximum turning diameter of 1600 mm and a maximum turning height of 950 mm. Equipped with a thermally-stable 45 kW/400 rpm/20,557 Nm spindle, a servo-driven 12-tool ATC and an quad tool holder with fast indexing that enables the use of four tools directly via the ram, Mills CNC says the VTR 1216F delivers fast processing speeds, improved machining flexibility and high accuracy.

Bowers & Jones machines straightening rings on its VTR 1216F from D2, a high-carbon, high-chromium molybdenum-vanadium alloy tool steel that is highly abrasive. Machining takes place from solid round bar (cut to size) in relatively small batches.

More information www.millscnc.co.uk

Robust lathe enables stainless steel broaching

Architectural ironmongery manufacturer Instinct Hardware has spent more than £500,000 in the past two years on a manufacturing execution system, a powder coating plant, a waterjet cutter and an Italian-built Biglia bar-fed, twin-spindle lathe with a ±45 mm Yaxis and 15 driven tools.It is the sixth CNC lathe and by far the most capable to arrive at the 68,000 sq ft factory in Stirchley, Birmingham.

The latest turning centre was sourced from Biglia’s sole UK agent Whitehouse Machine Tools. Whitehouse supplied the machine as a turnkey package with Hydrafeed short bar magazine for feeding 1.5-m long stock up to 80 mm in diameter, and a gantry-type system for unloading components onto a conveyor.

“We bought the turning centre specifically because it’s able to broach a square hole into our stainless steel handles, which Whitehouse demonstrated to us before we committed to the machine,” says director Nil Chohan.“We can now perform all operations in one hit, rather than in five or six operations using our previous production route.”

A case in point is the machining of a component assembled into a stainless steel, oval-profile, mitred lever handle. It previously required six machining operations, consuming a total of 15 minutes machining time plus 10 minutes or more handling and setup for each of the five additional operations – amounting to more than one hour overall. On the Biglia, the part comes off complete in 8.5 minutes, representing an eight-fold time saving, with the added benefit of eliminating work-in-progress and the potential for component damage.

More information www.wmtcnc.com

WFL M80 Boosts Valve Part Machining

Thanks to its investment in a WLF M80 MillTurn multi-tasking machine with 3 m bed, HORA Holter Regelarmaturen says it is setting new standards in the machining of valve parts weighing up to six tonnes. WFL was chosen following an intensive selection process. Several machine manufacturers were in the running, but WFL’s service and availability proved the crucial factors.

HORA is a medium-sized family company employing around 300 people in Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock, North Rhine-Westphalia, where it focuses oncore business areas such aspower generation, gas applications, and process and building technology.Annual turnover is around €50m.

“We wanted to deliver our vision of full digital networking by implementing and digitally connecting what we currently regard as the best machine for our requirements,” says board member Eduard Schmidt. “We needed a supplierthat could support us technologically and serve as a partner in setting a new standard in the digital process. From our perspective, WFL was absolutely the right decision.”

There were several considerations that tipped the balance in favour of the M80 MillTurn, including the turning-boring-milling unit itself, which is the heart of the machine. That WFL manufactures the unit entirely in-house was a decisive factor.

“Machining at this scale is not new for us, but the cutting capacity is truly impressive,” says Michael Beiwinkel, head of production and building technology at HORA.“The cutting capacity was outstanding even during final acceptance of the machine, as the 160 indexable insert drill effortlessly cut heat-resistant stainless steel [1.7335] with two tonnes of feed force and no vibration on the machine cover. In such moments, I like to grab the door but there were no vibrations to be felt.”

More information www.wfl.at/en

Double acquisition for Helix Tool Company

Helix Tool Company, which was recently backed by NVM, has completed a double
acquisition as it seeks to consolidate the industrial cutting tool distribution market. In
undisclosed transactions, the Leeds-based business has acquired Floyd Automatic Tooling
and Nsert. These purchases are complementary and have been completed in line with
Helix’s organic and M&A led strategy. Following these transactions, Helix remains acquisitive
with adequate funding available to enable further consolidation across the market focussing
on technical-led tooling distributors in the UK.
More information www.helixtools.co.uk

Entry-level robot automates machine tending

Dutch firm Halter CNC Automation has introduced an entry-level machine tending cell for
loading and unloading. Availability in Great Britain is through sole agent 1st Machine Tool
Accessories.
Comprising a six-axis industrial robot, the Basic Pro offers a price-competitive automation
solution. With the manufacturer’s user-friendly touchscreen SmartControl, the changeover
time to start a new production process is only a few minutes. Furthermore, the operator
needs no prior experience of robot programming, which takes place while machining of the
previous parts is in progress.
The plug-and-play Halter Basic Pro can be supplied with new machines or retrofitted to
existing plant regardless of machine age and control type. Use of a floor-level, 270° laser
scanner provides a safety zone. The robot slows if the operator approaches and stops
immediately upon breaching the light curtain.
An adjustable air pressure supply is provided for the double gripper, which can have either
two or three fingers for holding raw material and finish-machined workpieces internally or
externally. It is possible to handle workpieces from 10 to 135 mm diameter or square up to
a maximum weight of 12 kg, including the gripper head. The grid plate holding the raw
material and finished parts is adjustable in height to suit the installation and can hold up to
188 workpieces if the locations are sized up to 20 mm, the number dropping to 14 parts as
the size reaches 135 mm.
Halter has more than 1000 installations worldwide feeding CNC lathes, machining centres,
deep-hole drilling machines, grinders and other machine tools, as well as CMMs. Nearly 95%
of customers across 25 countries, including two dozen or so in the UK, report a return on
investment within 5 to 18 months.
More information www.1mta.com