PAB Coventry, which produces sheet metal components, pressings and fabrications in quantities from prototypes up to 10,000 per year, has since early 2016 invested £1.5m in new machine tools, which now include a Hurco vertical machining centre. The company also bought a second and third industrial unit in Canley, increasing floor area by two-thirds.

Underpinning this expansion is strong growth in sales to the automotive sector, which accounts for 90% of turnover. TS16949-accredited PAB specialises in fabricating sub-frame pressings, bracketry and grilles, as well as assemblies such as windscreen surrounds for Aston Martin, Lotus and Triumph Motorcycles.
The company, which operates 24/7 with close to 100 employees, is also moving strongly into the rail industry and has recently used its AS9100 quality accreditation, gained through earlier military work, to win contracts in the aerospace sector.
As a result of this growth, Mark Brazier, second-generation director at the family-owned pressings subcontractor, decided to bring some of the manufacture in-house.
“We already had a smaller Hurco machining centre and one of their CNC lathes, which we bought about six years ago to help fulfil a defence contract involving manufacturing blast seats for military vehicles,” he says. “We had no hesitation in returning to the same supplier for a bigger machining centre to address our toolmaking needs.”
The three-axis Hurco VMX60Ti now produces 35% of the subcontractor’s tools, while additional duties include the manufacture of inspection fixtures and composite try-out tools, milling and drilling of large parts such as door sills, and the production of smaller components such as bosses and machine pins if the other machining centre is occupied.
For further information www.hurco.co.uk

Sawing machine specialist Kaltenbach says it is taking three machines to next month’s EMO 2017 exhibition in Hanover, Germany (18-23 September). On Stand C58 in Hall 15, the company will offer visitors the opportunity to see the following machines performing live demonstrations: a fully automatic KKS 463 NA circular saw featuring a new KDV vertical drilling axis; a semi-automatic KKS 450 H circular saw combining automatic material infeed gripper and
L 41 P length stop; and a KBS 400 DG bandsaw with mitre-cutting capability for the processing of steel.

The KKS 463 NA circular saw features a 460 mm saw blade and can deliver ±60° automatic mitre cuts. Flat, angle and solid materials, as well as tubes and special profiles, can all be cut automatically. Further functionality includes the ability to provide multiple front and back cuts, while high quality cutting is aided by workpiece clamping on both sides of the saw blade and infinitely variable adjustment of the saw-blade feed, as well as contactless saw-blade return stroke. Electronic cutting-height adjustment and rapid reverse motion of the saw blade also feature.
Kaltenbach’s KKS 450 H is fitted with a 450 mm saw blade and can provide ±90° mitre cuts. Modern operation is facilitated via a control panel with plain-text display, offering clamping, sawing, reverse motion and opening at the touch of a button. The saw is suitable for single cuts and processing small batches, and there is good accessibility for saw-blade changes and maintenance work.
The KBS 400 DG has a capacity of 400 x 350 mm (w x h). Features include long blade life and high cutting quality due to an inclined saw band, while intelligent material measurement integrated into the clamping system boosts process reliability.
For further information
www.kaltenbach.com

ADS Precision, in partnership with German saw manufacturer MEBA Sawing Solutions, is releasing the MEBAe-cut CNC production bandsaw into the UK market. Powered entirely by electrical drives – making them cheaper to run that a small maintenance saw and devoid of leaking hydraulics – twin-column machines are available in three capacities of 400, 500 and 600 mm, prompting the model designations MEBAe-cut 400, MEBAe-cut 500 and MEBAe-cut 600. Said to be the quietest and cleanest machines on the market, the MEBAe-cut series is aimed at medical, test house, aerospace, automotive and high-precision workshops.

All the drives on MEBAe-cut models are powered by soft-start motors, eliminating voltage spikes. Electrical axles are moved with precision, resulting in efficient power consumption and increased blade life. Indeed, electric-drive systems have a significantly lower power demand when compared with a hydraulic-based system. For example, take material clamping: hydraulic clamping requires permanent pressure that consumes energy during a cutting cycle. In contrast, electric clamps only require energy for the vice movement (clamping and releasing), not during the cutting cycle.
MEBAe-cut machines are equipped with a newly developed electric material clamp. The material is clamped in the main and in-feed vice by a servo-controlled spindle drive. Here, the clamping pressure can be adjusted individually for each application and be preselected via the machine control. As a result, thin-walled tubes can be clamped safely.
The saw feed works via a servo-controlled lead ballscrew spindle with automatically controlled cutting pressure and feed control. A two-handed operating system for rapid vertical movement is included as part of the control.
Although standard models are semi-automatic, MEBAe-cut is also available as a 90° fully-automatic machine, designated by an ‘A’ suffix. Automatic machines feature an ergonomic panel based on Windows CE system software and a 50-program memory.
For further information
www.adsprecision.com

Until recently, all requirements for sawing at the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) in Rotherham were undertaken by subcontractors, but this route was eventually considered to be too time consuming and expensive. It was therefore decided that the most effective solution to all the possible requirements for sawing would be to acquire an in-house sawing facility.

Although usage would be almost exclusively focussed towards research, testing, maintenance or producing samples, often in small batches, it was recognised that any new sawing facility would need to be capable of processing what are termed “exotic” materials to a high degree of accuracy.
After assessing a variety of different sawing systems from five independent suppliers, Prosaw was identified as the company most capable of delivering a cost effective and optimum system suitable for all possible applications. A WH-6056HA twin-column bandsaw was selected as the most advantageous solution and was duly installed by Prosaw engineers.
Says maintenance manager Craig Hamp: “Most of the usage of the saw is intermittent as it is normally for either cutting small batches or one-offs, so whereas volumetric throughput is not normally a prerequisite, accuracy undoubtedly is. This machine certainly fulfils that requirement, regardless of whether it is used for sawing components for maintenance purposes, testing, research or producing samples.”
For further information
www.prosaw.co.uk