FEATURE ON CNC LATHES AND TURNING CENTRES

Turn-cut technology at Fort Vale

Burnley-based Fort Vale Engineering is a specialist in the design and manufacture of valves and fittings for ISO, gas and offshore tank containers. The company’s owner, Ted Fort OBE, started buying Okuma machining centres and lathes more than 40 years ago. An ex Rolls-Royce engineer and chairman of his company, he recently stated: “Machine tools are our artillery and we always buy the best, without exception.”

Andrew Bryce, the company’s innovation director, who joined as a machinist in the late 1980s, continues to buy Japanese-built Okuma machines from UK agent, NCMT. One-fifth of the 40 CNC machine tools in the factory are currently from that source. Most recently, he purchased an MA600 horizontal machining centre with the ability to ‘turn-cut’, Okuma’s terminology for interpolation turning. Circular movement of the machine’s X and Y axes, coupled with synchronous rotation of a turning tool in the spindle and forward feed in Z, can execute either internal boring or external turning, even on parts with highly complex features.
Process improvement engineer Stephen Maher says: “Interpolation turning is an extremely useful addition. Previously, when producing a newly designed component with a stepped cross bore containing radii, counterbores and chamfers, to generate that single profile we had to specify and purchase up to six special form cutters, and they could take typically up to six weeks to arrive.
“Now, with turn-cut, we can produce the part immediately,” he continues. “One roughing and one finishing boring bar with indexable inserts does the same work, saving on expensive cutters as well as shortening programming and cycle times. It also significantly compresses lead-time from concept to finished component.”
For further information www.ncmt.co.uk

Roscomac takes more machines from Citizen

Roscomac invested some £750,000 with Citizen Machinery UK in the first six months of 2017 for the installation of a Miyano BNE-51MSY multi-axis turn-mill centre and two Cincom sliding head turn-mill centres – a top-of-the range M16-V and a L20-VIIILFV. However, such was the immediate productivity uplift and problem-solving from using low frequency vibration (LFV) technology on the L20, that managing director Joe Martello ordered two further Cincom machines, a duplicate specification L20 and a smaller capacity L12-VII, both with LFV.

Says cell leader of the Worthing-based subcontractor, Sean Keet: “We had been experiencing constant problems with swarf when machining certain difficult components made from high-grade alloy and some stainless steels, plus copper, plastics and even difficult specification aluminium. Despite constant monitoring, we often faced significant levels of scrap or reworking, in particular due to swarf marks on critical features.”
Now, however, he maintains that production of these parts has been totally transformed following the installation of the Citizen Cincom L20-VIIILFV turn-mill centre in July, and such was the level of realisation that within weeks Martello insisted we bring forward 2018 investment plans and immediately ordered two further machines with LFV. He adds: “Our production people are now insisting that any further sliding- or fixed-head machine installations must involve LFV as it is such a game changer.”
The technology is based on initiating selectable sequences programmed at the machine control through G-codes to impart the size of chip to be produced. LFV can be switched in or out of the programmed cycle as required.
For further information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

XYZ makes life easy for MCC

With an increasing volume of work, MCC Industries Ltd, along with its sister company Automotive Accessories Ltd, recognised the need for additional turning and milling capacity. As a consequence of limited space at their Southampton premises, managing director Mark Cox decided a mill-turn machine would be the obvious answer. In selecting the right machine, he laid out some key requirements: it had to be operator friendly, easy to set up and robust enough to maximise the capabilities of the latest cutting-tool technologies on a range of materials that included stainless steel.

After meeting all of Cox’s criteria, the machine chosen to see MCC Industries enter the mill-turn arena, was the XYZ Compact Turn 65 LTY. The machine’s ease of use and its Siemens 828D ShopTurn control overcame one of the company’s main issues: the availability of skilled people.
“Skilled people can command too high a salary and often have some poorly conceived ideas on the best way to do things,” says Cox. “This isn’t always the best route for companies like ours, so we invest heavily in training people. To bridge any skills shortage, we need machines that are easy to set-up, without compromising the capability to do exactly what we need.”
The XYZ Compact Turn 65 LTY came out on top for a number of reasons; it has 65 mm through-spindle capacity coupled with live tooling, and 70 mm Y-axis travel. These features will enable production cycles to be maximised, allowing complex components to be manufactured on one machine in a single operation.
“Previously we would have to turn and then mill the parts on separate machines, whereas now they are coming off complete in a single operation, releasing milling capacities on other machines,” says Cox.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Quality machines for quality parts

Reginson Engineering’s unequivocal need to use “quality machines to produce quality components” has seen a batch of six Hyundai Wia CNC lathes installed by Ward CNC to help the company meet the demands of an ever-increasing order book for aero-engine components.

Steve Hatch, director of the Nuneaton-based subcontract machinist, also says that the extra capacity of the new machines was urgently needed, as was a very quick (three-week) delivery time.
The six turning machines (four two-axis L210A models and two E200s with C axis) were available from stock from Ward CNC, which also supplied four Hyundai Wia vertical machining centres at the same time. These new machines have joined a large portfolio of machines on Reginson’s 25,000 sq ft shop floor, which includes other Hyundai Wia turn-mill models (three SKT 100s and two SKT 200s) and Takisawa turning centres (four EX106 models, two EX108, one EX110 with live tooling, one EX310 and four EX308s with live tools).
Hatch says the new machines are being used to perform what he describes as “fairly straightforward” milling, drilling, boring and turning operations on a variety of workpieces, including elbows and T-pieces in materials such as stainless steel and Inconel.
“Workpiece complexity aside, we have to ensure that every component we produce is machined to the highest levels,” he says. “So, to ensure we have quality output, we must use quality machines.”
Supplying customers in the military, nuclear, motorsport, oil and gas, and rail industries, privately-owned Reginson Engineering quickly gained a strong reputation for machining after its establishment in 1995. Today it employs more than 80 staff.
For further information www.wardcnc.com

Sliding-head, multi-spindle automatics

DMG Mori has combined the speed of multi-spindle automatic turn-milling with the versatility of sliding-head (Swiss-type) technology to launch two new machines with up to 41 CNC axes. The multis are manufactured at the group’s recently re-modernised Gildemeister Italiana factory in Brembate di Sopra.

In a compact footprint of 21.9 sq m, which includes proprietary bar magazine and high-pressure coolant system, the MultiSprint 25 and MultiSprint 36 are capable of manufacturing components from bar up to 25 and 36 mm diameter respectively. The larger machine can also turn chuck parts up to 50 mm diameter, a process that can be automated by one or two robots in the working area.
Driven tools and a 100 mm Y axis on the cross slides at each of the six spindle positions allow complex workpieces to be machined complete with up to 28 standard tools, 24 of which may be driven. X-axis travel is 50 mm, while Z-axis travel is 100 mm, or 180 mm in combination with DMG Mori’s SwissType kit. Converting the lathes for long-part turning takes less than two hours. The maximum rotational speed of the spindles is 7500 rpm, while driven tools are rated at 13,800 rpm/14.2 Nm.
For rear machining, MultiSprint machines can be optionally equipped with a pick-up spindle or one or two counter spindles, allowing cycle-time reductions of up to 35% through one-hit production, says the company.
For further information www.dmgmori.com