Composite chassis for electric car

Formaplex has developed an ultra-light chassis for a solar powered electric car project managed by a team of undergraduate students from Cambridge University.

The car, which can travel from London to the Scottish Highlands at a speed of 50 mph on the same power it takes to boil a kettle, recently returned from an 1864 mile race across Australia. Formaplex, which counts major Formula One teams among its clients, tooled the carbon fibre chassis and body panels, significantly reducing the car’s weight. The team created a mould tool and helped the students to laminate layers of carbon fibre.
For further information www.formaplex.com

Suspension jet cutting on show

Under the banner ‘Suspension jet cutting – the most efficient way of waterjet cutting’, a specialist in mobile waterjet cutting, ANT Applied New Technologies AG, presented a trade fair highlight at the recent EMO 2019 exhibition in Hanover. ANT’s ConSus system is said to represent the next generation of portable waterjet cutting.

The novel waterjet cutting system claims to achieve double to triple the cutting speeds of conventional systems by eliminating air, and all this at a pressure of only 1500 bar. Where traditional injection processes reach their efficiency limits, systems by ANT have been designed to convince with high process accuracy and speed, as well as savings of 50% in running costs.
ANT also scores when it comes to material thicknesses of up to 1000 mm with good surface structure. The company invited EMO visitors to convince themselves of the quality of the machines by calling on the company’s stand to inspect its cutting exhibits, such as the combustion chamber of the Ariane 5 rocket and a cut piece from the dismantling of an offshore structure. The ConSus machine was awarded the Best of Industry Award 2018 in the category ‘Forming Technology’.
ANT Applied New Technologies AG, a specialist for water abrasive suspension (WAS) and special-purpose machinery, used EMO 2019 to present live demonstrations on its stand.
For further information https://ant-ag.com/en

Cobot cell

Mills CNC, through its recently-created Automation Division, has supplied precision engineering specialist Cambridge Precision Ltd (CPL) with a Doosan collaborative robot (cobot).

The Doosan M0617 cobot, equipped with ONRobot electrically-driven two-finger parallel grippers and Schunk vices, has been installed at the company’s facility in St Neots, where it has been integrated with a Doosan DNM 6700 vertical machining centre to create an automated manufacturing cell. Since commissioning, the cell has been programmed to handle more than 20 different projects, and the company estimates that, from a standing start two months ago, over 5000 prismatic parts have been manufactured.
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Automation futureproofs business at Unitrunk

A UK specialist in the design and manufacture of cable management solutions has invested in shop-floor automation as it looks to capture further market share and spur even more growth. Unitrunk, which is based in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, says recent investments in automated Amada technology are saving time and introducing greater levels of flexibility at this progressive and ambitious engineering business.

“Our growth over the past decade has been driven through production efficiency on the shop floor, as well as manufacturing automation, without any increase in additional labour,” states process engineer Mark Cartmill.
A recent case in point is the installation of the Amada CS stockyard automation system, linked to two Amada EM series punch presses (one existing and one new) that are fed by LIII loaders and unloaded by TK-3015R part picker/removal units.
“Previously we had stand-alone punch presses with Amada MP load/unload systems, but with the CS stockyard we now have no waiting for material to arrive or leave,” says Cartmill. “In addition, we can process a much wider range of material without any manual intervention whatsoever.”
The system offers full unmanned production, easy stock management, part picking/stacking and, with the addition of the new Amada EM-3612ZR T punch press, full automated tool selection in approximately 10 seconds (in hidden time while the sheet is running), providing high levels of flexibility.
Unitrunk completed a thorough review process, assessing a number of stockyard automation systems before opting for the Amada CS from a final shortlist of two. The company is currently in the process of writing upwards of 15,000 programs for the new system, but is hopeful this task will be complete within 12 months.
For further information www.amada.co.uk

High-pressure waterjet deburring

Ecoclean has introduced EcoCvelox, which offers high-pressure waterjet deburring combined with low-pressure cleaning processes, in a one-piece flow system.

Process-reliably and repeatable quality when it comes to deburred and cleaned parts are crucial for the success of subsequent processes such as bonding, sealing and assembly, as well as for perfect product function. With the completely new system concept EcoCvelox, Ecoclean introduces a flexible, modular solution for cost-efficient, high-pressure waterjet deburring and cleaning in a single procedure.
The process-dependent, configurable and expandable machine with integrated linear transport system enables the processing of parts with dimensions up to 200 x 200 x 200 mm in cycle times of only 15 seconds per palette. An integrated CADCAM interface allows for quick and easy programming of the high-pressure deburring process, either with a single spindle or a high-pressure turret featuring up to five tools.
In combination with a system for parts handling, process operations for new workpieces can be implemented in short timeframes, says the company. Component cleaning and drying can be carried out by means of injection flood washing, spraying, controlled rinsing and ultrasound, as well as high-speed blowing and vacuum drying. Furthermore, the system can be loaded automatically with a robot or portal system, as well as manually.
For further information https://ecoclean-group.net/