£1m press investment at BPL Engineering

A UK sheet metalwork specialist has extended its long-term partnership with Worcester Presses with a new £1m investment. BPL Engineering Group, which employs 40 people at its state-of-the-art facility in Kings Norton, has installed a 500 tonne straight-sided, twin-crank Ching Fong to support its move into medium and high-volume work. The press comes with a large bed, works high up the stroke, and features a 1 m, 3-in-1 Tomac coil line, giving it the capacity to take on large parts destined for cars, trucks and aircraft.

“This latest Chin Fong is our biggest mechanical press to date and gives us additional capacity to take on complex progression tools in medium to high volumes,” explains Matt Adams, operations director at BPL Engineering Group. “There’s a lot of opportunity to service contracts with automotive clients and this machine will hopefully help us engage in new sectors requiring complex metal stamping where we can offer bespoke tooling solutions.”

Installation, including a new isolated pit to cut vibrations, is now complete and BPL is looking to start running products off in the next few weeks. The company is training four operators, including apprentices.

“We know what we’re getting with the Chin Fong: great reliability, superb accuracy and strong performance,” says Adams. “However, the relationship we have with Worcester

Presses is the real reason we keep turning to this press manufacturer. Russell Hartill and his team understand our business and the market opportunity and then put together tailored turnkey packages that not only meet, but surpass our performance expectations. The service and maintenance offers are also top class.”

For further information www.worcesterpresses.co.uk

Hot stamping of high-strength aluminium

Parts made from high-strength aluminium sheets are increasingly found in modern vehicles to save weight. Schuler now offers on its hydraulic presses a new process for hot stamping that heats this light metal very quickly by means of contact heating, with subsequent forming taking place in a water-cooled die. All process steps take place in the die so, in contrast to the hot stamping of steel sheets, no separate furnace is necessary.

“This not only reduces the space requirements for the system, but also significantly lowers investment and operating costs,” explains Christian Palm, who is responsible for the hydraulic presses division at Schuler. “Users of this technology can produce light and high-strength parts with a considerably higher degree of forming compared to cold forming, offering much greater design scope.”

It is possible to achieve highly complex geometries and a tensile strength of 300 to 400 N/mm². In the process, heating plates integrated into the first forming stage heat the 6000 or 7000 series aluminium sheet to over 300 to 450°C in a matter of seconds. In the second stage, forming takes places in a water-cooled die while the next blank heats up at the same time. In a third and fourth stage, the part, which is still at about 60°C, can be cut.

On a 1200-tonne capacity hydraulic press from Schuler operating in conjunction with a dynamic three-axis transfer system, users can achieve cycle times of just 10 seconds per part. Components are ready for further processing immediately and do not require several hours of heat treatment for hardening. The first system is already in manufacture for an automotive supplier in Asia as part of electric vehicle production.

For further information www.schulergroup.com

Group Rhodes showcases metal-forming machinery

Group Rhodes, a manufacturer of metal and composite forming machinery, demonstrated
one of its metal-forming presses within the MMMA Metal Working Village at MACH 2024 in
Birmingham last week. The Rhodes Interform product on display was designed and
manufactured in-house at the company’s Wakefield factory as part of a full turnkey solution
to produce a bespoke twin-press facility for forging forklift truck components. The entire
project, which consists of two Rhodes Interform multi-axis presses, a complete robotic
handling line and an integrated conveying system, is capable of processing the largest forks
at a rate of one every 70 seconds.
At the exhibition, Group Rhodes also discussed the global patents it has registered for its
superplastic forming and diffusion bonding technology (SPF/DB), including the territories of
China, India, USA and Europe. The solution applies extensively to the lightweighting of
components within the aerospace and automotive industries.
Operations director James Gascoigne says: “MACH 2024 gave us the opportunity to
demonstrate our latest innovations in metal-forming technology. It was our first exhibition

since we secured international patents for SPF/DB and it was a great opportunity for our
team to discuss how this technology works and its potential applications globally.”
He adds: “Given that our 19 th century patents were for improvements to the steam hammer,
it’s amazing to think that our most recent innovations are helping to form components for
spacecraft. We were very proud to showcase these innovations, especially in our 200 th
anniversary year.”
Alongside its SPF/DB technology, Group Rhodes’ knowledgeable personnel were also in
attendance to discuss the company’s extensive portfolio of machinery for the hot and cold
forming of metals and composites.
For further information www.grouprhodes.co.uk

Trumpf co-operates with Exploration Co

Trumpf and European space-travel start-up The Exploration Company are co-operating on
the construction of core components for spacecraft used in missions to the earth’s orbit and
the moon. As early as this month, the Exploration Company will use 3D printers from the
laser specialist to print core components of the Huracán and Mistral engines for the Nyx
Earth and Nyx Moon spacecraft.
“Our spacecraft can benefit from Trumpf’s manufacturing and application expertise,” says
Hélène Huby, CEO of The Exploration Company. “Trumpf has decades of experience in the
production of high-precision components.” The start-up plans to send a space capsule to
orbit the earth for several months in an initial mission in 2026. Starting in 2028, further
missions are planned to go to the moon. Initially, the spacecraft will carry freight but in the
long term people will also fly on board.
For further information www.trumpf.com

Rainford presents latest tooling at MACH 2024

At the MACH 2024 exhibition in Birmingham this week (15-19 April), Rainford Precision is
presenting its latest cutting tool solutions from brands such as Union Tool, Louis Bélet,
Delmeco, Gloor, HOBE, Osawa, DTS, Iwata, 6C Tools, Swissceramill and ATOM. These
respective partners specialise in the manufacture of drills, end mills, reamers, boring bars,
thread mills, slitting saws and more.
Within this diverse portfolio are tools for specialist applications and material types, such as
the Hufschmied brand of milling tools. The Graftor range of end mills from Hufschmied are
specifically for machining graphite, and Rainford says the range can double productivity
rates and tool life in comparison with rival tools.

Offering such a varied platform of specialist cutting tools and micro-tool solutions, Rainford
has recently invested in a Keyence digital microscope to provide a complete tool
investigation and consultancy service for customers in the UK and Ireland. With a niche in
the micro-tooling sphere, Rainford has acquired the new Keyence VHX-970FN digital
microscope to assist customers in diagnosing issues and maximising the performance of
micro and precision cutting tools.
Providing dozens of tooling lines below 1 mm diameter, Rainford says it operates beyond
the remit and scale of other cutting tool vendors. It is here that the new service will
optimise and enhance tool service life and performance for clients.
Commenting on the new investment, Rainford Precision managing director Miles Evans
says: “When you’re servicing customers with tools below 0.5 mm in diameter, diagnosing
and optimising tool life and performance is a challenge. The Keyence system will enable us
to provide a unique service to our customers within the cutting tool marketplace.”
For further information www.rainfordprecision.com