New dealer for Kaltenbach in Benelux

The continuity of circular sawing machines is of great importance to Kaltenbach. From now on, maintenance, repair and refurbishment of machines is guaranteed thanks to co-operation with new dealer TM-ToolsBV, headquartered in Wateringen, Netherlands.

TM-Tools is nowthe official sales and service partner for Kaltenbach’s USM products (circular saws) inthe Benelux region (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg). The company has many years of experience in the maintenance of saws and has established a familiar and reputable name within the market. It was founded in 2018 from a passion for technology, maintenance and the repair of machines. With more than 18 years of experience, TM-Tools says it always knows how to find a suitable solution.

The company reports that its specialists have the right training and qualifications, and work very professionally when performing machine maintenance. TM-Tools will discuss and resolve any problems that become visible during maintenance, but which customers had not yet identified. The company works with high-quality tools and provides up-to-date knowledge in the field of technology and innovation.

The Kaltenbach USM programme comprises a wide range of universal mitre saws. Ranging from fully-automatic systems to semi-automatic all-rounders, includingspecially designed saws for aluminium and aluminium alloys.

According to Kaltenbach, with the company’s circular saws, customers can reduce cutting times in steel or aluminium processing while ensuring high quality. Thanks to optimal material clamping, infinitely variable feed rates and heavy machine construction, users will achieve a high-quality cutting surface. Furthermore, automatic cycle control for clamping/sawing/opening the vice significantly reduces non-productive times.

TM-Tools and Kaltenbach are very happy with the new collaboration. Together, the companies are able to ensure that Kaltenbach machines function in an optimal way.
For further information www.kaltenbach.com

SIC Marking takes over Nill+Ritz CNC

The SIC Marking Group has taken over German company Nill+Ritz CNC-Technik GmbH and is expanding its range of marking systems for all industrial applications. Nill+Ritz, based in Markgröningen near Stuttgart, was founded in 1993 and employsaround 25 people. The plan is that Nill+Ritz will retain both the name and its headquarters in Markgröningen near Stuttgart. Michael Endemann, managing director of SIC Marking, says: “Together we are now the largest supplier of marking systems in our product area in Germany with an order intake of €15m.”
For further informationwww.sic-marking.com

Latest Vericut enhancements

On stand C215, the CGTech team is demonstrating the latest release of its simulation software, Vericut 9.3. Vericut simulates CNC machining to detect errors, potential collisions and areas for improvement. The software operates independently, but also integrates with all leading CAM systems. Throughout the event, the CGTech team is giving demonstrations of the latest features available, such as the Tool Performance Database and Machining Optimisation Data in Tool Manager, as well as other improvements to Vericut’s core functionality.
For further information www.cgtech.co.uk

High-level turning raises productivity

Prismatic machining on BT30 and BT40 machining centres accounts for the majority of throughput at the Mildenhall factory of subcontractor CTPE, which produces complex, high-precision components for the medical, marine, scientific, defence and electronics sectors. However, productivity on the turning side of the businessreceived a significant boost recently when an ageing, two-axis, fixed-head bar auto was replaced by a Miyano twin-spindle turning centre with twin Y-axis turrets and live tooling, fed by an LNS Alpha SL65 S short-bar magazine.

Supplied by Citizen Machinery UK, the 10-axis ANX-42SYY lathe is fitted with the latest FANUC 31i 15-inch touchscreen control incorporating a new HMI. The machine also features the company’s superimposed machining, whereby three tools can be in cut at the same time thanks to X-axis movement of the sub spindle. Three-axis simultaneous interpolation and double Y-axis cutting are also enabled.

The sub-spindle offset has the additional advantage of allowing reverse-end machining of long parts with extended tools, while simultaneous machining of the front end of the next component is in progress at the main spindle. Otherwise that would have to wait due to interference caused by back-end operations, lowering production output.

Advantage is taken of the machine’s other stand-out feature, LFV (low-frequency vibration) chip-breaking software in the control’s operating system. In practice, at Mildenhall LFV is on for 10 to 15% of a typical cycle.

CTPE’s operations director Alex Taylor says: “We saw LFV demonstrated on the Citizen stand at MACH 2022. This function is extremely useful when machining aluminium, which constitutes most of our work, and is even more effective on plastics, which accounts for about 25% of our throughput.”
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

Quest for productivity leads to Nakamura

Based just outside Dundee, Quest Precision Engineering has been on a trajectory of continuous growth. The Scottish manufacturer acquired two Nakamura-Tome turning centres through the pandemic and has recently added two more to the plant list.

Now with four Nakamura-Tome WT150II turning centres from Engineering Technology Group’s (ETG) Scottish distribution partner RAM Engineering & Tooling, the facility is filling fast. Quest Precision is well versed in machining everything from simple to the most complex of components. It is this requirement for one-hit machining of complex parts from challenging materials that led to the installation of the first Nakamura-Tome turning centre in December 2019, a twin-spindle, twin-turret WT150II. The impact of the Nakamura-Tome WT150II resulted in the installation of a second machine four months later, followed by two more in 2022.

Before Quest installed its first Nakamura-Tome WT150II, it was machining valves for the oil and gas industry in five operations on four machine tools. The production of the complex 2-inch diameter Inconel 718 valves that control the flow of oil from wells was time-consuming and not cost-effective enough to compete with an existing Chinese supplier. To increase productivity and reduce costs, Quest invested in its first Nakamura-Tome WT150II.

Managing director Gordon Deuchars says: “There are 25-30 different valves in the family of parts and, for us to win more business, we had to increase throughput and reduce costs to be cost-competitive with China. RAM Engineering discussed the merits of a Nakamura turnkey solution for the valves and our decision was made. It has been such a success; the first two machines made a huge impact and brought us significantly more business. To support subsequent growth and undertake more R&D work, we bought the next two machines.”
For further information www.engtechgroup.com