The 3D printing of composite tooling

A new white paper from Stratasys reveals how manufacturers can make 3D-printed lay-up mould tools that are compatible with existing processes, including vacuum and envelope bagging with autoclave cure, shrink tubing and shrink tape. In addition to mould tooling, 3D printing offers advantages for ancillary tools used in secondary operations such as trimming, drilling, assembly, bonding and inspection. Benefits include reduced lead time and cost, design simplification and ‘easy-to-print’ geometric complexity. The white paper includes sections on tooling applications, design consideration and adding metal inserts to prints.

For further information https://is.gd/azator

The colour of success at Cutting Blue

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has recently supplied Birmingham-based Cutting Blue Ltd, the newly-created manufacturing arm of engineering consultancy and training specialist, Cutting Blue Solutions Ltd, with a new Doosan vertical machining centre.
The machine, a large-capacity DNM 6700, was delivered and installed at the company’s 2000 sq ft facility in Saltley in September 2020 where it is being used to machine (in mainly small batch sizes at this moment in time) high-precision and high-value components for a range of customers operating in the motorsport and general engineering sectors – to name but a few.

The creation of Cutting Blue Ltd is the brainchild of owner and managing director, Piotr Parobczy. Having started his working life, first as a machine tool setter and then as a CADCAM programmer, Parobczy used this knowledge and experience, gained from working in a number of different manufacturing environments, to develop and hone a range of specific engineering consultancy skills.

The acquisition of these skills ultimately enabled him to start, and secure, work as a contractor where over the years he was responsible for the design and implementation of innovative and high-value projects for a number of UK- and internationally-based customers.

Following on from this success, and having built up an impressive track record Parobczy, in 2017, set up Cutting Blue Ltd, an engineering service company providing specialist training and consultancy services to blue-chip and progressive manufacturing companies.

Says Parobczy: “Cutting Blue Ltd began its life as an engineering consultancy. However, even back then it was always my ambition and intention to create a manufacturing company – when the time was right.”

That time, as it transpired, was in spring 2020.
“The pandemic had a detrimental effect on the availability of contract work and this proved to be the catalyst I was waiting for,” he says. “As the creation of a manufacturing company was a long held ambition of mine, I wasn’t starting such an undertaking from scratch. To a large extent, much of the preparatory work and planning had already been done.”

These plans covered all aspects of the business, including the location of the new company, the services it would provide, typical customer profiles and so on.

Continues Parobczy: “I chose Birmingham due of its central location and because I knew the area well. From my background and experience the company would not be a ‘jack of all trades’ operation, but instead would offer specialist, high-precision milling services to customers typically operating in the high-end motorsport, automotive and aerospace sectors.”

To realise its ambitions and objectives, Cutting Blue needed access to advanced machine tool technologies and made the decision, from a reliability perspective and to provide a clear statement of intent, to invest in a new rather than a used machining centre. Cutting Blue subsequently approached a number of machine-tool manufacturers with its requirements.

“Several companies I approached sent in literature but didn’t follow things up,” says Parobczy. “I got a different reception and reaction from Mills CNC who, from the outset, adopted a more proactive and partner-led approach. They took time to understand the business and the type of work that would be undertaken, and worked collaboratively with me to identify the optimum machine-tool solution.”

Understanding the type and size of components, the typical materials to be machined (i.e. aluminium, steel, stainless, titanium and engineering plastics), the typical part accuracies and surface finishes that would be required, and the volumes/batch sizes to be machined – resulted in the identification, selection and ordering of a Doosan DNM 6700 – a large-capacity vertical machining centre.

The Fanuc-controlled DNM 6700 installed at Cutting Blue’s facility is a highly-rigid machine that delivers speed, high accuracy and unrivalled process reliability. Equipped with an 18.5 kW/12,000 rpm directly-coupled high-speed spindle, the machine also features a 1500 x 670 mm work table with a 1300 kg maximum table load, a 30-position ATC, roller LM guideways in all axes and thermal error compensation routines. In addition, the machine houses a Blum TC50 workpiece touch probe and Blum ZX Speed IR tool-setting probe.

Concludes Parobczy: “I was already familiar with Doosan machine tools and knew that they were reliable, represented great value and delivered excellent cutting performance. The DNM 6700, with its large work table, will provide much-needed capacity, capability and flexibility now and in the future, enabling us to machine large or multiple smaller parts in one set-up. Although still early days I’m delighted with the DNM 6700 and am already looking at investing in second Doosan machine.”

For further information
www.millscnc.co.uk

E-commerce platform

Protolabs, a manufacturer of custom prototypes and low-volume production parts, has created a new e-commerce platform for the UK. The digital manufacturing platform allows users to easily manage their prototyping and on-demand production requirements. Like the previous solution, it still provides quotes for parts with design for manufacturability (DFM) analysis, but now has a more intuitive, user-friendly and even faster interface. The e-commerce solution offers all three of the firm’s manufacturing services – 3D printing, CNC machining and injection moulding – in one place.

For further information www.protolabs.co.uk

Cutting solution for bioprinting

Although medicine has ancient origins, its main goal has always been clear: to help humans live longer and in better conditions. This year, like no other, has raised awareness about the potential of technology and the increasingly important role it plays in the field of health and medicine.

Technology applied to the medical sector is the main application field of a leading Italian group that sawing machine specialist MEP has helped by developing a system to cut titanium used in the production of orthopaedic solutions directly from 3D printing plate. This collaboration with the division involved in the study and manufacture of specific prostheses for patients made of innovative materials, comes from the need to cut off prints of special elements in titanium in a quick yet accurate manner.

This challenge for the engineering team at MEP led to the recommendation of a Shark 350 NC HS 5.0, a dual-column automatic band-sawing machine.
The cast-iron structure of the Shark 350 NC HS 5.0 absorbs vibration and provides the machine with stability while cutting. Moreover, automatic acquisition of the cutting start position reduces operation time, while control of the saw head – powered by a hydraulic cylinder on linear guides with preloaded ball-screw slides – guarantees the reduction of mechanical vibration.

Further advantages of the machine include an adaptive cutting-force control device that facilitates cuts with high surface finish even when using a worn-out tool. The Shark 350 NC HS 5.0 also features a frequency drive that manages the saw-head motor to maximise performance. MEP sawing solutions are available in the UK from ADS Precision.

For further information
www.mepsaws.it
www.adsprecision.com

Subcontractor upgrades billet production

Contract machining firm Microart, based in Bavaria, has invested in a UniTower storage system and two automatic KASTOwin A 4.6 bandsaws from Kasto. All three are adjacent to one another at one end of the factory.

The cutting range of the saws is 460 mm, large enough for most of the material machined by Microart. Stock processed on the saws is stored in the 15.6-m high tower, which has space for 100 cassettes that hold material up to 6.5 m long. Two types of cassette are used with heights of 160 and 300 mm. Up to 2.5 and 3 tonnes can be loaded into each cassette type respectively. A storage and retrieval machine (SRM) handles the load carriers to deliver stock to the operator at ground level.

Previously, Microart employees had to laboriously store and retrieve long goods manually, but now they only have to push a button. The SRM automatically finds the relevant storage location thanks to the KASTOlogic warehouse management system. After employees receive order data, they call up the required material via a touchscreen which delivers the cassette to the retrieval station.

“The tower storage system and two automatic bandsaws run very smoothly,” states Dr Alexander Artmann, managing partner of Microart. “These investments have enabled us to set important milestones with regard to our corporate goals of automation, productivity, flexibility and quality.”
Managing director Michael Kerscher adds: “If there is a slight malfunction of the equipment, it is usually fixed easily and quickly by remote maintenance. However, if it’s really necessary, a Kasto engineer arrives at our factory in next to no time.”

For further information
www.kasto.com