Finance package supports green ambitions

A family-owned West Midlands automotive manufacturer is transforming unused parts into sculptures, thanks to a six-figure funding package from Lloyds Bank. Birchills Automotive has been trading in Walsall for 130 years, manufacturing exhaust systems for the car and motorcycle industry. To further its commitment to a more sustainable industry, the business has launched a project called Birchills Sculptures & Metal Restorations.

By repurposing unused metal from its manufacturing process, the firm makes and sells handcrafted designs using recycled 304 aircraft-grade stainless steel that otherwise would have gone to waste. From garden products such as planters, pots and furniture, to bespoke sculptures and decorative items for the home, all items are weather-proof and created by the business’ in-house custom design team.Lloyds Bank is supporting Birchills Sculptures & Metal Restorations with an overdraft and credit card package that will allow it to exhibit overseas.
For further information www.lloydsbank.com/business

New Nuclear AMRC member

Work-holding specialist Brown & Holmes has joined the Nuclear AMRC to collaborate on technology development and expand its presence in the nuclear sector.Brown & Holmes was founded in 1939, and today provides advanced work-holding solutions, prototyping and precision machining to customers in sectors such as aerospace, automotive and power generation. The company operates two sites in Tamworth, and is developing a new dedicated facility for clean assembly in Derby.Brown & Holmes previously worked with the Nuclear AMRC through the Fit For Nuclear (F4N) supplier development programme.
For further information www.namrc.co.uk

Hydrogen testing contracts worth over £4m to C-ALPS

The Centre for Advanced Low-Carbon Propulsion Systems (C-ALPS) at Coventry University has won more than £4m of new hydrogen testing contracts.Simon Shepherd, director of C-ALPS, says: “The latest contracts take the total value of joint projects active and completed at C-ALPS to more than £20m. This, along with the level of interest we are seeing from collaborators, is a sure sign that we’ve created the environment and expertise required to support UK companies in meeting future propulsion technology demands.”
For further information www.coventry.ac.uk/c-alps

Robo-Trex boosts Oberon’s performance

Established at the dawn of the millennium, Oberon Performance has gained a global reputation for the premium quality of its range of motorcycle accessories, which include adjustable levers, billet headlights, brake and clutch lever protectors, clutch slave cylinders, mirror extenders, foot-peg kits, and handlebar risers.

To ensure that the company’s busy Haas multi-axis CNC milling machine was able to reach its full productive potential and keep pace with demand, Oberon Performance director Steve Evans recently investigated machine tool automation aids. Having compared the products of several leading providers, the company purchased a Robo-Trex automation system from Lang Technik UK.

“When compared with the new machine tool we contemplated, our recently installed Lang system occupies a much smaller footprint,” says Evans. “Furthermore, it cost a fraction of the price and it has helped us to achieve the same increase in production as the new machine would have.”

He adds: “Operating unattended and fed by the Lang Robo-Trex system, our Haas machine now runs unattended through each shift. Then, when required, at the end of a working day, we’re able to restock our Robo-Trex trollies with batches of workpiece blanks, allowing the machine to maintain unmanned production in lights-out mode through the night.

The Lang Robo-Trex robot system uses two high-capacity trollies that act as mobile storage mediums for multiple Lang vices which hold workpiece blanks. Notably, the system’s operation is logical and trouble-free: a robot picks a vice from the trolley, loads it into the machine tool and,once machining is complete, returns the vice holding the completed component to the trolley. When filled with fully machined parts, the trolley is removed and a replacement loaded with ready-to-machine workpiece blanks is added.
For further information www.lang-technik.co.uk

Floyd Automaticgets a grip on small components

Now available in the UK from Floyd Automatic Tooling is the expanded range of MASA Microconic over-grip spindle collets. The precise and stable clamping of small workpieces in the sub-spindle of sliding-head machines has long been an issue for turned part manufacturers; MASA says it has revolutionised this ‘pain-point’ for manufacturers to deliver precision work-holding operations.

Until now, this solution has been available primarily on 20 and 32mm capacity sliding-head machines. However, MASA is now expanding the series to cater for manufacturers working on 10 and 12mm diameter capacity models.

To truly understand Microconic, manufacturers must first consider that only three things are in physical contact with the workpiece, the cutting tool, coolant/cutting fluid and workholding. MASA’s Microconic over-grip collet system ultimately allows manufacturers to rethink what is possible. This work-holding system consists of a cartridge and precision collet. The over-grip collet fits inside a cartridge and allows accurate adjustment before fitting directly into the existing collet sleeve with no machine adaptations required.

The patented over-grip collets can open up to 4mm larger than the clamping diameter and can also incorporate an ejection guide sleeve blank, which helps the end user to solve the difficulty of ejecting parts from the collets after machining. This allows manufacturers to reach behind flanges, parts with heads or any other enlarged feature.

Suitable for processing components with stepped features such as connectors, screws or other common parts, the over-clamp system can clamp over the protruding features and securely clamp on the main body of components. The collets are available with clamping diameters from 0.2 to 10mm, offering concentricity of 3-5µm.
For further information www.floydautomatic.co.uk