Ayrshire-based NPI Solutions has recently invested in two new Doosan vertical machining centres and a Doosan M1013 cobot – all supplied by Mills CNC.

The machines – a Doosan DNM 4000 and a DNM 6700 – were installed at the company’s 46,000 sq ft facility in the first week of July 2020 and replace two older machining centres that had served the company well but which had seen better days.

NPI’s decision to invest in new machine tool and automation technologies was made during the height of the pandemic in April. At a time when many manufacturers may have understandably been ‘battening down the hatches’, NPI selected a different route; one entirely in keeping with the company’s business ethos and approach.

Says Kevin Priestley, NPI’s managing director: “We’d become aware earlier in the year that two of our older machining centres were creating a ‘pinch point’ in our operations and were affecting productivity and efficiency. We decided that we wanted to replace the two older machines and approached Mills CNC to discuss a way forward.”
NPI is no stranger to Mills CNC. The company, since 2011, has made a number of strategic investments in Doosan machine tools and, prior to the addition of the two latest machines, had acquired three Doosan lathes and three Doosan machining centres.

“Doosan machines are reliable and represent good value,” says Priestly. “We like Mills. They know our business and we believe the company’s aftersales service and support is hard to beat.”

Prior to deciding on the Doosan M1013 cobot, NPI approached other cobot suppliers.

“The Doosan cobot was selected for its build quality, as well as its safety, payload and reach radius characteristics,” he concludes.
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Like a number of socially responsible and conscious manufacturers, Yorkshire Precision Engineering Ltd (YPEL) was among those that offered to support the Government and its Ventilator Challenge UK consortium.

When the call came from Rolls-Royce plc, YPEL turned the first batch of parts around in just one week.

Founded in 2001 by Michael and Lynda Laybourne, the Keighley company received the call for 8000 turned brass parts at the end of March. Within a week of getting the go-ahead, YPEL had programmed the parts, sourced the materials, identified the tooling, and had the parts machined, inspected, certified and out the door.

The rapid turnaround of high-quality turned components led to a second enquiry from the Ventilator Challenge consortium, a requirement for prismatic parts; and this is where a Bridgeport Hardinge V1000H from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG) stepped up to the mark.

Primarily functioning as a turned-parts business, YPEL has operated a solitary machining centre, an ageing Hardinge VMC600II workhorse, alongside its fleet of turning centres for several years. When the company required additional milling capacity, YPEL once again turned to ETG and its Bridgeport Hardinge range of VMCs, investing in a four-axis Bridgeport Hardinge V1000H machine that proved integral throughout the Ventilator Challenge.

With 4000 complex prismatic components to machine, YPEL created a workflow whereby the plastic housing parts were initially machined on the Bridgeport Hardinge V1000H prior to a second operation on a turning centre and a final operation on a Hardinge VMC600II.

Sales and financial director Lynda Laybourne says: “The capabilities, precision and flexibility of the Bridgeport Hardinge V1000H via its integrated 4th axis meant that that it did the bulk of the work. Our new V1000H conducted face and side milling, pocketing, grooving, drilling and threading in a 20-minute cycle.”

For further information www.engtechgroup.com

Part of the British Engines Group based in the north of England, BEL Engineering operates two factories at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Cramlington to provide project-managed manufacturing solutions, some of which involve the heavy-duty subcontract machining of large workpieces weighing up to 40 tonnes.

Much of the metal-cutting activity involves turning on horizontal- and vertical-spindle lathes, but parts often have to be transferred to a prismatic machining platform for milled and drilled features. Around 30 three-axis CNC mills are available at BEL for this purpose. However, for such parts to be produced more economically in one clamping, the subcontractor recently invested in a Hermle C62 UMT five-axis, vertical-spindle machining centre supplied by Kingsbury.

Having a nominal 1 cubic metre working envelope, the machine was duly installed at the Newcastle factory. It was BEL Engineering’s second venture into this technology; an Italian-built, five-axis mill-turn centre with travels in excess of 2 m in X, Y and Z having been installed a few years earlier. There is also a pair of Japanese-built five-axis CNC milling centres on site, one with a 10-pallet storage system.

The Hermle fits neatly between these larger and smaller five-axis models, extending the subcontractor’s capacity. In particular, following the company’s accreditation in October 2019 to AS9100, the machine is proving to be of ideal size to produce aero-engine parts for a nearby customer.

Bel Engineering’s chief production engineer Phil Westgarth says: “We mainly process tough materials, from high-strength steels through titanium, to nickel superalloys like Hastelloy, Waspaloy and Inconel. So we need powerful, rigid machine tools. A pair of similar Hermle mill-turn centres is being used successfully at another of our group companies, Michell Bearings, so this influenced our choice of the German machine.”

For further information www.kingsburyuk.com

A new gantry-type, five-axis CNC machine for laser texturing the 3D freeform surfaces of moulds and tools weighing up to 20 tonnes – and with maximum dimensions of 3350 x 1350 x 1000 mm – has been introduced by DMG Mori.

The Lasertec 400 Shape is the largest model in a range of four laser ablation machines, the others being designated 45, 75 and 125. A further machine version is planned with a 2000 mm X axis, the Lasertec 200 Shape.
It is becoming increasingly important in many industries, especially the automotive and aerospace sectors, to impart geometrically defined surface structures to plastic injection moulds and press tools to improve the aesthetics and functional properties (such as scratch resistance and water repellence) of components.
The machining of textures is more environmentally-friendly than conventional etching and offers considerable freedom of design, while at the same time ensuring a high level of repeatability. This process is also capable of creating filigree cavities without the need to manufacture electrodes.
DMG Mori’s Lasertec 400 Shape is equipped with a newly developed additive manufacturing laser head that is both narrow and compact. Excellent accessibility is available to a component, even if it has deep and slender features, eliminating the need for long focal lengths that would slow the ablation process.
Central to machine operation are a 100 W fibre laser with switchable pulse length and frequency up to 1 kHz, and 3D processing optics with F-Theta scanning lens. The two degrees of movement of the head are ±200° of rotation and a swivel range of -100° to +135°, enabling undercuts to be processed.
For further information www.dmgmori.com

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, has introduced two Doosan five-axis machining centres.

The two machines – the DVF 6500 (650 mm diameter table) and the larger capacity DVF 8000 (800 mm diameter table) – are from the same stable as the Doosan DVF 5000 machine that was launched 18 months ago.
Both machines are compact and have a rigid structure for increased accuracy, improved surface finish and greater process reliability. The new models boast 45 m/min rapid traverse rates and are equipped with oil-cooled, directly-driven BT40 spindles (up to 22 kW/18,000 rpm) to suit 3+2, 4+1 or full five-axis simultaneous machining.
Also featured are servo-driven automatic tool changers (up to 120 tools) with a 1.3 second changeover time, roller LM guideways and direct-drive rotary tilting tables (A axis = +120/-120°; C axis = 360°).
The DVF 6500 and DVF 8000 machines are available with a choice of control (Fanuc 31iB5, Heidenhain TNC640 or Siemens 840D with ShopMill software), and are supplied with thermal compensation systems and a long-life, grease lubrication system. A collision protection system can also be offered
as an option.
There are some differences, however. The DVF 6500 and DVF 8000 have different-sized travels (DVF 6500 = 750 x 785 x 600 mm; DVF 8000 = 1000 x 900 x 685 mm) and different table loads (up to 1000 and 1400 kg respectively).
Within the DVF 8000 range a specific ‘Turning’ model can also be specified. The DVF 8000T, with its integrated function, has the same technical specification as the DVF 8000 in most respects, except for a lighter maximum table load (700 kg) and a faster C-axis feed rate (600 rpm).
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk