Royal visitor at sheet metal specialist

The Harlow Group, a specialist in precision sheet metalwork, last month received His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent to its 100,000 sq ft Essex facility.

As the first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Edward the Duke of Kent carries out engagements on behalf of Her Majesty. He received a tour of the facility from Alan Pearce, managing director; Michelle Madell, financial controller; and
HM Lord-Lieutenant of Essex, Jennifer Tolhurst.
At the end of the tour, Prince Edward was invited to unveil a plaque commemorating his visit to Harlow before being presented with a model aircraft to
mark the occasion.
For further information www.harlowgroup.co.uk

XYZ clearance events generate sales

The three recent clearance events held at XYZ Machine Tools’ Blackburn, Sheffield and Nuneaton showrooms have generated significant business, with order values across the three days reaching £1.8m. In addition to deals being made on existing showroom stock, visitors to the events took the opportunity to place orders for a variety of machines from XYZ’s range.

“The early bird really does catch the worm at one of our clearance events,” says managing director Nigel Atherton. “However, those arriving throughout the day also had the opportunity to receive some incredible deals on anything from a manual lathe through to a UMC-5X five-axis machining centre.” The level of orders and additional enquiries taken at the events confirms the positive 2018 already reported by XYZ Machine Tools, which has seen growth in excess of 25% compared with 2017.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

SteelFab marks 15 years as major showcase

SteelFab 2019, which takes place on 14-17 January at the Expo Centre in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, will mark 15 years as a major technology showcase in the Middle East.

Today, SteelFab has emerged as the region’s premier trade show for metalworking, metal manufacturing and steel fabrication. This time around, strong macro-economic tailwinds are set to propel the growth of Middle East industry. Prominent among them is the rise in oil prices, which coupled with easier fiscal consolidation and tax reforms, will help the UAE, the most diversified economy in the GCC, to register growth of 3.8% in 2018.
At the event, first time machine tool exhibitors will include Haas and BLM, while a new UK pavilion will showcase companies such as Chester Machine Tools (pictured at the 2018 event), Kingsbury, Kitchen & Walker and Brierley. Dedicated pavilions will also be present for Germany and Taiwan. In total, around 300 exhibitors from 23 different countries will take part. Spanning six halls, over 7000 visitors are expected.
For further information www.steelfabme.com

Mapal invests in another Helitronic

Cutting tool specialist Mapal has expanded its worldwide portfolio of Walter multi-axis tool grinders with the installation of a Helitronic Power Diamond two-in-one (grinding and erosion) machine at its UK site in Rugby. Supplied by Walter Ewag UK, the newest machine brings to seven the number of Walter machines that Mapal operates in the UK.

The latest investment joins another Power Diamond and a Helitronic Power at the company’s Rugby site, plus four Walter Helitronics at Rainey, Mapal’s daughter operation in Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
Wayne Whitehouse, managing director of Mapal UK, says the latest Power Diamond was installed to meet a continually rising order book for both new tools and regrinds, especially PCD-tipped carbide tooling up to 350 mm long for which the machine is well suited with its ‘two-in-one’ tool erosion and grinding capability in a single set-up.
“Our continued investment in Helitronic tool grinding/re-grinding technology is not only based on a corporate worldwide relationship of utilising the quality and performance of Walter machines, but also, especially in terms of our UK operations, the fact that the machines have superb ‘local’ back-up and support through Walter Ewag UK,” says Whitehouse. “Service and support are critically important if we are to consistently meet customer demands.”
Established in 1993, Mapal UK specialises in technical solutions, offering a range of both standard and bespoke tooling, ranging from solid-carbide tools to customer-specific solutions.
For further information www.walter-machines.com

Strong showing from AGS principals

Seven of Advanced Grinding Solutions principals exhibited at the recent AMB show in Stuttgart: Bahmuller, Tschudin, Rollomatic, Magnetfinish, Gerber, Platit and HandlingTech; all of which displayed their latest technology.

For example, Bahmuller gave a worldwide debut to its Feed Loader automation system. Feed Loaders will be available from around £80,000 and come with Kawasaki robots, Siemens controls and pallet-based component magazines.
Tschudin chose the AMB show for the worldwide premier of its 350 Cube and proline 600 centerless grinding machines. The Tschudin Cube is thought to be the world’s smallest centerless grinding machine with a footprint of just 150 x 150 x 150 cm, and is designed to grind small components from 1 to 20 mm in diameter for the automotive and medical industries. In contrast, the ProLine 600 is the
new giant within Tschudin’s range of machines, weighing some 24 tonnes. The machine has a 30 kW grinding spindle as standard for grinding at 63 m/sec with the spindle producing 300 Nm of torque.
Rollomatic’s new NP3 Plus is aimed at cutting tool makers needing to cylindrically grind multiple stepped diameters on blanks prior to flute and end tooth grinding. The NP3 is based on the method of peel grinding, with the simultaneous grinding of both roughing and finishing wheels.
Magnetfinish used AMB to demonstrate a low-cost automated loader solution for its MF 63CR machine, using a Stäubli robot to handle cutting tools from Rollomatic and similar pallets.
For further information www.advancedgrindingsolutions.co.uk