INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Unison offers Mackma tube benders

Unison Ltd, the inventor of all-electric tube manipulation, is now offering mandrel-free (empty bending) rotary draw tube and pipe bending machines from Mackma of Italy, alongside its own product range. “We recognise that not every company requires the absolute ‘minimal ovality’ or speed of production that mandrel bending provides,” explains joint managing director Alan Pickering. “For that reason, earlier this year we set about choosing a manufacturer of high-quality mandrel-free tube benders that we would be happy to represent through our UK and USA divisions, and our global agent network.”

More information www.unisonltd.com

Autonomous process control white paper

Flexxbotics, a company delivering digital solutions for robot-driven manufacturing, is publishing a new white paper titled ‘Autonomous Process Control (APC) using Robots and Automated Inspection in Manufacturing’. The paper identifies the methodology and related technologies required for APC in the context of smart factory production robotics, a pivotal technology for achieving autonomous manufacturing. The paper also explains how improved non-conformance capture can reduce defects by over 30%, increase production yields between 25 and 45%, and reduce the cost of quality by 20% or more.

More information https://flexxboticsinc.com/1apcpr

Toolmaker invests in high-speed machining

Located on the Ballymote Business Park in County Sligo, Ireland, Mito Precision Engineering provides a toolroom service to manufacturers in the medical device and automotive industries, as well as jigs and fixtures to the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. Since the company’s establishment by Malachy Towey and Michael Taheny in 2010, manufacturing capacity has steadily expanded and now encompasses surface grinding and EDM, in addition to turning and milling. Mito Precision mainly sources the latter machines from preferred supplier Hurco.

In total, the company operates 11 Hurco CNC machining centres and two Hurco CNC lathes. They range from early models of the compact VM10 milling centre to a TM8i turning centre purchased last year and the latest investment, a VMX42HSi vertical machining centre with 20,000 rpm HSK63A spindle. The combination of straightforward programming, robustness and high power make Hurco machine tools suitable for manufacturing one-off, often complex parts in tool steel or stainless steel.

Mito now has three different model variations of the Hurco VMX42. This 1-m X-axis machine offers 610 mm of Y-axis travel and the same in Z plus a table load capacity of 1750 kg, allowing the company to produce large mould tools. Recent design enhancements mean that direct drives are provided in X, Y and Z, and roller guideways support all axes for precise, rigid dynamics. The machine cabinet has full washdown in addition to the spindle coolant ring, while chip evacuation is via a swarf conveyor.

Attention to detail in the tools it supplies and ongoing investment in new machinery and technology underpin success at Mito Precision.

More information www.hurco.co.uk

Maximum precision for future of manufacturing

The world premiere of the DMG Mori DMU 85 monoBLOCK 2 Generation at the recent AMB exhibition in Stuttgart combines the proven machine concept of the previous series with numerous optimisations incorporated directly from the practical experience of users.

The latest generation of the versatile five-axis simultaneous machining centre sees the introduction of improved cooling measures and direct-driven ball screws that ensure a positioning accuracy of 5 µm. Importantly, the 5 kW cooling unit is integrated in such a way that the footprint of the DMU 85 monoBLOCK 2 Generation is kept to a minimum. Further advances include the integration of additional machining processes, such as the optional mill-turn table and grinding functionality.

A wide range of automation options and CELOS X as the basis for digitised production make the new series suitable for companies in the mould and die, aerospace, semiconductor and other demanding industries.

In order to cover the wide range of requirements in the numerous target sectors, DMG Mori says that the DMU 85 monoBLOCK 2 Generation modular system includes the widest range of spindles on the market: speedMASTER spindles with speeds of 30,000 rpm for high surface finish or powerMASTER spindles offering up to 430 Nm torque for heavy-duty titanium machining. MASTER series spindles come with a 36-month warranty. The tool magazine of the DMU 85 monoBLOCK 2 Generation offers 30 pockets as standard, expandable to 180 pockets.

With more than 6000 monoBLOCK machines on the market, DMG Mori attached great importance to the unrestricted compatibility of the series.

More information www.dmgmori.com

Heller shows pure passion at AMB 2024

Under the motto ‘Passion for Production’, Heller presented its latest 360° solutions for
tomorrow’s production at the recent AMB 2024 exhibition in Stuttgart. Among the exhibits
was the latest generation of the F 5000 five-axis machining centre, equipped with a newly
developed rack-type tool magazine offering a particularly compact footprint.
The F 5000 is available with a work envelope of 800 x 850 x 1100 mm (X/Y/Z), a pallet size of
630 x 630 mm and a maximum clamping load of 2000 kg. Due to its modular design, it is
possible to configure the machine for a wide range of applications, ensuring maximum
precision and performance in the production of small to medium batch sizes.
Highlights include the completely redesigned swivel heads and integrated motor spindles,
developed and manufactured by Heller, with an HSK-A 100 tool interface as standard and an
HSK-A 63 interface available as an option. The dynamic swivel head with fifth axis ensures
maximum machining performance. Its drive is based on a backlash-free drive concept.
Tilt kinematics are now available as an alternative to swivel kinematics. Compared with
swivel heads, tilt heads offer a significant increase in flexibility for five-axis machining. Tilt
kinematics can also support the machining of recesses and undercuts, for example.
Heller’s head of development Dr Manuel Gerst explains: “Especially for the production of
integral components, which are often required in the aerospace industry, it’s very important
that the machines used can also operate at a negative angle. Mechanically, this is not

possible with swivel heads. We’ve designed the new tilt heads specifically with these
applications in mind. With an HSK-A 63 tool interface and a high-speed spindle, they are
predestined for these applications.”
More information www.heller.biz