Built in 1903, the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway served communities along the winding valley that joined the mainline at Welshpool. This narrow-gauge railway allowed livestock, coal and timber to be transported easily, as well as providing a passenger service until the early 1930s. The line operated until 1956 when British Rail deemed it uneconomic.

A regular steam-hauled public service once again returned to the line in 1963 when a group of enthusiasts took on the challenge of making it into a successful tourist attraction. Key to that success was the retention of two original locomotives and the acquisition of rolling stock from railways both in the UK and Europe. Now almost 120 years old, this historic collection requires regular maintenance and care, which is where the railway’s engineering workshop comes in to its own.
A little bit of catching up was required as the first maintenance workshop was not built until 1968 and the locomotives lived outside in the elements until 2000. An extension to the workshop in the 1980s saw the development of the machine shop, with machine tools being ‘begged, borrowed or stolen’ from supporters of the railway. Things improved in the 1990s when a Heritage Lottery grant allowed some additional machines to be purchased, but when mechanical engineering manager Richard Featherstone joined the railway in 2016 he recognised an adequate, but not ideal situation.
“We had a lot of manual machines and work on them was laborious, and given that we rely on some skilled volunteers, time is at a premium,” he explains. “What we needed was bigger and faster milling and turning capacity that also had to be user-friendly to cater for the skills and work we have.”
An appeal for funds went out and, as a result, the railway was able to order two machine tools from XYZ, an SMX 4000 bed mill and an SLX 425 ProTurn lathe. These machines have made an immediate impact on the way that Featherstone is able to support the maintenance of the engines. One example involves spark arrester plates for the smoke boxes, which are made up of a sandwich of stainless-steel plates and mesh held in place by 28 M6 screws.

“The M6 drilled and tapped holes would traditionally have been marked out, centre popped and manually drilled, then adjusted by the fitters for assembly,” says Featherstone. “We now machine them on the SMX 4000 and every hole is in the right place; the time savings are significant.”
Similarly, the SLX 425 ProTurn lathe is generating major benefits for Featherstone and his team of volunteers. Each of the couplings between the engines and rolling stock has an adjusting nut which features an 11/4 4TPI round thread form. A batch of 15-off has been manufactured by a semi-skilled volunteer in an afternoon on the SLX 425. Previously, using manual machines, this task was a week’s work. For traceability, these parts are then put on the SMX 4000 and etched with the relevant details. Again, this operation would previously have been done by hand with letter and number punches.
“Maintenance and refurbishment is a continuous process here as the engines and components are subject to an aggressive environment; we are either boiling things or burning things,” says Featherstone. “For example, after every 28 days of being under steam we have to replace/rework the two fusible plugs in each boiler. These are bronze plugs with a 99.9% purity lead core. Their job is to act as a failsafe if water levels drop in the boiler – the lead melts and the flame is doused. Making these plugs was a black art as they feature a taper thread, which must be accurate, and a specific length as four complete threads should be showing on the inside of the firebox, a situation complicated by the fact that the female thread is occasionally re-tapped and opened-up.”
Today, this operation is a straightforward procedure as the program can be called up on the ProtoTrak control of the SLX 425 and offsets adjusted to instill confidence that accurate parts will be produced first time. Again, with the focus on availability of labour and time, with Featherstone currently being the only full-time member of staff in the workshop, these fusible plugs used to take a skilled-man four hours to produce a pair. In contrast, a pair of plugs can today be machined in under 15 minutes.

At present, programming is done at the machine by Featherstone; he is then happy to hand over the operating of the machines to semi-skilled volunteers, although this situation should improve when he recruits an additional full-time machinist. One feature that Featherstone is particularly enthusiastic about on the SLX Lathe is the TRAKing facility, which allows him to use the handles to move through the program, while remaining in full control.

“I love the TRAKing feature as you know you can back off if you have any uncertainty about the tool path,” he says. “That said, using step-by-step instructions on the ProtoTrak control, it is so easy to get things right first time.”
The Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway is always
looking to recruit skilled engineers on a voluntary basis. Any expressions of interest can be made by calling the railway on 01938 810441.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

For more than 20 years, Königsee Implantate based in Königsee, deep in the Thuringian Forest in Germany, has been developing and producing implants and instruments for traumatology, orthopedics and spinal surgery with enormous success. In the course of continuous process improvements, two new Tornos EvoDeco 16 machines have been purchased.

Within the medical industry, Königsee is a significant manufacturer with a history that dates back to the end of World War I. In 1919, orthopedic technician Otto Bock founded the company in Berlin to provide disabled war veterans with prostheses and other orthopedic products. Shortly after, the company moved to Königsee. This was the origin for Königsee Implantate GmbH, which was established by Erich Orschler in 1993.
Königsee’s success story started with a small machine inventory and the strong determination of its employees. Initially, the company focused exclusively on the development and manufacturing of osteo-synthesis systems for traumatology and orthopedics. For more than 10 years now, the company has also been offering solutions for spinal surgery.
The products for almost all bone sections, from the collarbone to the toes, accelerate the healing process of fractures compared with conventional methods of treatment. New solutions constantly arise from close collaboration with physicians and surgical teams. The development projects comprise the complete path of the value chain, from the idea and development of a prototype, to the manufacture of the product. During this process, painstaking attention is paid to quality, since it is the basic requirement for the long service life and safe use of implants. This is why the company purchased two new EvoDeco 16 machines from Tornos.
In layman’s terms, an osteo-synthesis system consists of a plate that is matched with the anatomy and fastened to the bones with a variable number of screws of different lengths and diameters. Königsee offers the entire manufacturing process, from purchase and planning, through milling, turning, grinding and galvanizing, to the final inspection and warehousing.

Pricing pressure has reached the medical industry and this means that top-quality produce from Germany can only be competitive by applying a sophisticated manufacturing strategy. For this reason, Königsee has invested in Tornos.
All the screws are produced in the turning shop. Fractures require screws of different lengths and diameters, and with different properties. Depending on their use, the screw types produced are self-tapping, self-drilling or reverse-tapping. The threads are either full threads up to the head or partial threads. Threads are whirled with various pitches, while heeding the tightest shape tolerances. The head faces usually have a hexagon or hexalobular (Torx) socket. Most of the screws are cannulated, featuring a channel to drain the tissue fluid.
The material used is usually titanium or implant steel. Even if it is not difficult to machine titanium, it offers up two special challenges, low thermal conductivity and difficulty in breaking the chips, which requires special cooling strategies. Tool wear is very high due to the extreme toughness of the material.
Varying lot sizes are between 25 and 150 pieces. All screws must be as burr-free as possible in order to minimise rework. Although Königsee had already been well positioned with seven Tornos machines, the company decided to purchase two new EvoDeco 16 machines.
Thanks to their kinematics and tooling, Tornos EvoDeco machines are pre-destined for manufacturing complex workpieces with high quality. Christian Hedwig, manufacturing engineer for turning operations at Königsee, emphasises the decisive reason for purchasing these machines: “Up to then, we had been using Deco 13 and Deco 20 machines. On the two new machines, we can produce a larger diversity of parts, which makes us much more flexible.
“On the other hand, the large number of tools opens up new possibilities in terms of machining even more complex workpieces in one set-up,” he adds. “This purchase has enabled us to improve our processes.”
To do so, the EvoDeco 16 machines have been further optimised by Königsee. A high-pressure coolant system by Müller Hydraulik has been installed with a pressure of up to 150 bar to feed directly to the individual tool blocks through a manifold block. This configuration significantly improves chip breakage and evacuation. As a consequence, tool life and process stability are extended. Stability is said to be a major advantage of the Tornos machines.

EvoDeco 16 machines are designed to operate with high reliability and produce parts with dimensional accuracy over a long period of time. Another interesting point is that the new EvoDecos have reduced production times by up to 30%.
The employees of Königsee are full of praise after having started series production. They soon became familiar with the machine, since the TB-Deco control functions are user-friendly and were already known to the company. At present, the machines are running across three shifts.
For further information www.tornos.com

New cutting tools are continuously being introduced to the market, but what is the process to get a product from concept through to the spindle?
Tooling manufacturer Dormer Pramet tasks its product management and development department with creating new tools every year.

A member of the team is product and development engineer Jan Bittner. In January 2015, Bittner joined Dormer Pramet and became part of the company’s project to develop an assortment of high-feed milling tools. Almost three years later, a new range of SBN10 cutters and BNGX inserts was launched into the global market.
The time taken to introduce a cutting tool is an indication of the investment a manufacturer makes to create a new product which will add value to customers for many years.
At Dormer Pramet, the process of creating a new tool begins with its product management department, which identifies the market needs and gaps in the company’s current assortment. Karel Tiefenbach is the company’s product manager for indexable milling and he created a concept brief and clear objective for the development team.
Dormer Pramet’s aim was to create an assortment of tools for its double-negative cutters, which allow high feed rates for increased productivity. The design needed to be for double-sided inserts to maximise the economic value (four edges) and provide good chip control, allowing for a higher ramping angle. At the same time, the tools needed to offer process security and a versatile range for mould and die operations, covering roughing to finishing.
Bittner began the process with Jan Vlcek from the company’s product design and information department, which is responsible for all aspects of tool development. This includes creating high quality data on every tool produced, the design of products and supporting manufacture.
The department’s first task in designing a new high-feed milling tool – later known as SBN10 – was to research what products were already available in the market from competitors and how Dormer Pramet could be different, while still meeting the needs of customers.
“We started with a series of preliminary studies and initial prototype designs, putting a number of ideas forward before we could start to produce samples,” explains Bittner. “There are always difficulties and challenges to overcome, but some small changes at this stage can have a big impact.

“For example, with one of the first samples created, we realised there was a conflict with an existing patent from a competitor,” continues Bittner. “With many companies creating new inserts all the time, it is a very crowded market. However, we worked with the designer to modify our concept and make it unique, while still fulfilling the original brief. This led us to liaise closely with colleagues in Sweden and North America to make sure our designs did not conflict with any patents.”
Bittner discussed with colleagues in IP how the company could make its design unique. He needed to confirm the company was within patent pending at every point and not conflicting with others already submitted. Eventually he was given the all-clear to proceed.
“At the start of the process in 2015, we had a schedule to follow and aimed to launch the BNGX inserts by November 2017,” says Bittner. “We had pressure from our sales teams who wanted it earlier. Our aim was to keep the process going as fast as possible and we kept to schedule. By the second quarter of 2016, we were able to start the testing stage. This included several on-site tests with customers as this is the best way to check how good a product really is.
“We were confident it was a good product, but no amount of in-house testing can match trying it out in the real world,” he adds. “We learned so much from these tests, which allowed us to identify areas of further improvement.
Dormer Pramet conducted more than 20 tests with customers in France, Brazil, Poland, China, Italy, Czech Republic and Germany. Although 15 of the tests showed highly impressive results, five did not match expectations, which prompted the team to go back and look at what needed improving. This is an important process and can only help enhance product performance and reduce limitations.
“The crucial part is to react quickly during the testing process; speed is crucial,” says Bittner. “Any issues need to be eliminated and the design of the tool improved as soon as possible, before putting it back in for more tests.
“In July 2017, we returned to Germany, to a customer where one of the tests did not go as well as the others. Going back to the same location meant we could perform the exact same trial in the same conditions as before. This was important to verify if the improvements we made had worked. The application ran very successfully and it was great to show the customer the new and improved version.”
Bittner realised at this stage that the company was ready to launch the product into the market. He had further discussions with IP to make sure the patent was in place and everything was prepared.
“This led to meetings with production to ensure enough inserts were manufactured for the time of launch and liaising with marketing and communications department on creation of all the support material, such as brochures, images, videos, press releases and online content.”
Dormer Pramet launched its range of BNGX inserts and SBN10 cutters in November 2017, almost three years after the initial design brief was prepared.
During 2018, the company will manufacture more than 30,000 BNGX inserts, comprising of different sizes and chip breakers, alongside 450 cutters, in three different variants: end mills with threaded shank, end mills with parallel shank and shell mills.

“Product development is very much a team effort,” states Bittner. “There are many people from around the world involved in the creation of new cutting tools. From product management to design, to the technology team, production, testing, through to sales and marketing. Each department is not independent from the rest; we are all connected and one area cannot be successful without the support of the others. They all must work together to get a product to market.
“Also, any new product created will become the future work for our production department. Sometimes we can be focused on today and what is new now, but it is our job to look at the future and what will be important in five to 10 years’ time.”
For further information www.dormerpramet.com

“Edgecam means shorter machining cycle times. And shorter machining cycles increase our productivity.” Those are the words of Cyril Gloriant, technical director at a company producing complex components for a variety of industry sectors, including agriculture, medical, aerospace and gas.

As Société Toulousaine d’Etude et d’Usinage (STDU) manufactures parts with tolerances down to 0.01 mm, Gloriant says the company needs “a perfect working combination of operator, machine tool and software”.
Around 80% of components at STDU are machined using Edgecam CAM software to drive a number of CNC lathes and mill-turn machining centres, including those manufactured by Mori Seiki, Haas, Manurhin and Hardinge. “It’s important for Edgecam to be able to pilot all our machines; we can’t accept a two-tier production system,” says Gloriant. “As all the necessary machining information is contained within the post-processors, all our operators can use it, while only a few are now capable of manually programming the machines.”
He adds that Edgecam offers real flexibility to the company’s pool of CNC machinery. “If we suddenly need to move a job from one machine to another, production can be switched rapidly with the same kinematic characteristics and a different post-processor.”
Operating from 1000 sq m premises in Pinsaguel, France, with 10 employees, STDU purchased Edgecam in 2017, and progressed to using it daily in the workshop early this year, as part of a planned development. Gloriant, who will take over as CEO in September, says that the company currently uses both Edgecam’s milling and turning modules, incorporating all of the software’s machining strategies, including Waveform turning and milling.

STDU currently finds Edgecam’s feature recognition capability to be particularly valuable. “With a single click Edgecam analyses the part and determines the operations to be carried out, along with recognised function properties such as depth, minimum radius and angles. The feature prepares machining sequences which can easily be modified according to our specific requirements. Once Edgecam has defined the functions according to part topology, machining runs smoothly every time, and we no longer have to worry about aspects such as tool depth and drills. Edgecam automatically machines the features.”

He says reduced programming and cycle times, as well as acquiring new skills and knowledge from Edgecam, has opened up new markets for STDU in serial production and more complex parts. “As customers know we can now produce parts that previously we didn’t have the skills or capacity for, they’re designing more innovative and complex components, and we’ve risen to the challenge every time. We’re saving up to three hours by programming the machines offline, while they’re running with other jobs.
“When we receive the CAD model from our customer, we determine which production method we’re using – either turning or milling – along with the appropriate machine tool,” continues Gloriant. “We then open the 3D CAD model in Edgecam and run the feature recognition module, which analyses the part and prepares the machining sequence.” When parts are to be milled, with a long machining cycle time, the company also uses Edgecam to establish a quote, as it provides STDU with accurate timings.
Gloriant says the company has already seen turnover rise from €1.2m in 2016, to €1.35m last year – a rise of 12.5% – thanks to winning contracts that the business couldn’t have undertaken without Edgecam. “Between 20 and 30% of our machining is on new products, for customers.”
And plans are underway to take state-of-the-art CNC programming to the next step. Operatives are currently training on the software’s Strategy Manager feature-based automated machining system, which will reduce certain aspects of repeat programming to mere seconds.
“We’ll soon be able to rely on Strategy Manager’s predefined functions based on part topology to save us even more time on preparation, programming and machining cycle time,” says Gloriant. “We’re intending to define a strategy for each type of part that can be replicated, such as the number of tools, dressing operations, pre-drilling, drilling and cutting, which will be applied each time.”
While the company works mainly as a subcontractor, it also provides a reverse engineering service, offering advice concerning the feasibility of a part, and examining and evaluating the topology to ensure it functions correctly, at the lowest cost.

In conclusion, Gloriant says although the company originally invested in Edgecam so it could work directly on customer 3D files without the need to redraw plans, and easily configure it for STDU’s own requirements, as well as creating macros, the business quickly realised how it could save time and money throughout the whole manufacturing process. “For example, thanks to the Waveform turning strategy we’ve reduced machining time by up to 30% on some parts, and up to 40% on milling in association with rest-material machining.
“As quality and service are STDU’s priority, Edgecam’s dynamic roughing strategy allows us to concentrate all our attention on those targets.”
For further information www.edgecam.com

At the Barnoldswick factory of bicycle aftermarket component manufacturer Hope Technology, nearly all parts are machined from aluminium. Due to the relatively light metal cutting involved, it is not surprising that nimble, 30-taper machining centres are found on the shop floor alongside more powerful but relatively ponderous machines having a 40-taper tool interface.

Indeed, works and production manager Lindley Pate has started to replace some 40-taper machines with 30-taper technology, although there is no conscious policy to do so. Each machine is purchased on its merits for the intended applications.
A case in point occurred earlier this year when a Japanese-built Brother R650X1 30-taper, three-axis vertical machining centre (VMC) with 650 x 400 x 305 mm travels and twin-pallet changer was delivered by Whitehouse Machine Tools. The machine replaced an ageing, 40-taper twin-pallet VMC with a similar working envelope, and the benefits have been far-reaching.
First, the Brother machine is much more productive. For example, Op 2 on three twin-piston brake calipers fixtured side-by-side now takes 19 minutes, whereas it previously took 32 minutes, representing a 40% reduction. Time savings of this order are typical across the expanding range of parts being transferred to the more agile machine.
Secondly, the footprint occupied by the R650X1 is 20% smaller, which is helpful in a busy factory requiring more and more machine tools to service a business where recent annual percentage turnover growth is well into double digits.
A third advantage is that, as any 30-taper machining centre draws less power than a 40-taper machine with equivalent working envelope, there is an ongoing reduction in energy consumption that not only saves money but is also appropriate in a company that makes equipment for carbon-free transportation. The R650X1 additionally provides power regeneration from spindle deceleration, while the Brother CNC-C00 control minimises the power consumed by motors, pumps and lights by putting them into standby when not in use.
Works and production manager Lindley Pate says: “We use ten 30-taper machining centres on our production floor and 15 prismatic metal-cutting machines with 40-taper spindles, a mix of VMCs and horizontal-spindle machines. Half of the 40-taper machines are in multi-pallet cells and that will not change; in fact at MACH 2018 I ordered another five-axis model equipped with a 32-pallet pool.

“Where there is scope for swapping to 30-taper is in respect of our single-table and twin-pallet 40-taper machines,” he adds. “The benefits are compelling due to the higher output that is possible using the smaller tool interface, while accuracy and repeatability are just as good. In fact they are fantastic on the Brother machine. We hold down to 5 µm total tolerance on some components such as cassettes, which have to mate with another sprocket set produced on a different machine to provide the higher gear ratios.”
He points to the use of a Big Plus spindle on the latest R650X1, which provides face-and-taper contact with the tool’s back end, leading to extra rigidity. The spindle allows, for instance, a 32 mm diameter face mill to skim components and achieve a fine finish on some surfaces; cosmetic features which are much appreciated by customers in more than 40 countries that use Hope’s high-end bicycle parts.
The manufacturer’s first encounter with Brother agent Whitehouse Machine Tools was five years ago when two 30-taper TC-2RB three-axis machining centres were purchased to cope with increased workload. At the time Hope used, and still does, six 30-taper machining centres of a different make; some equipped with manual pallet change.
Brother TC-2RB machines were selected owing to their superior speed and productivity, and due to the compact design of the automatic pallet changer. Brother calls this a QT (quick turn) table, which is essentially one large pallet rotating around its centre, so no time is lost by having to temporarily disengage pallets for 180° indexing into and out of the machine’s working area.
Two years ago, the first R650X1 arrived on the shop floor at Barnoldswick, again to cope with steeply increasing demand for Hope’s bicycle accessories. The machine was considerably faster in-cut than the TC-R2Bs, as well as offering similarly short idle times. Brother’s R650X1 also provided a larger table, 800 x 600 mm, instead of 600 x 300 mm, and at a competitive price. The extra table area enables more parts to be fixtured for longer run times, which is especially useful for lights-out machining during 24-hour operation, currently from Monday through to Thursday. A single shift is operated on Friday, while weekend working is according to demand.
Further benefits of the R650X1 are the option of 22-tool storage capacity rather than 14 positions on the TC-R2B, 15-bar coolant delivery through the 16,000 rpm spindle and, notably, 30 m/min cutting feed rate in all axes instead of 10 m/min in X and Y, and 20 m/min in Z on the TC-R2B. The inherent speed
of all Brother machining centres derives from fast tool changes and APC time, as well as 50 m/min rapids, all of which happen at the same time so that the tool is in position to cut the next part instantaneously after pallet changeover.

Larger memory capacity in the Brother control is useful, as two dissimilar Hope parts can be fixtured and machined on the R650X1’s pallets. In contrast, on the old 40-taper machine, a relatively complex part had to be machined two at a time due to lack of control memory. The ability to produce different parts on one machine is appreciated by Pate, who sees part numbers for machining new component derivatives arriving all the time from the design office, but very few being deleted.
In conclusion, Pate says: “There is a greater variety of 30-taper milling centres around now, and more tooling is available to use on them. They are extremely compact, helped by the carousel style of tool magazine. We use two major makes of 30-taper machine here. Brother machines have the edge in terms of speed, compactness, value for money and reliability, and they provide good access for loading and unloading parts, so are popular with our operators. Whitehouse also provides excellent after-sales backup and service.”
For further information www.wmtcnc.com