SUBCONTRACTING NEWS

Parklands Capital buys Laser Expertise

Laser Expertise, a laser-cutting fabrication specialist established for 40+ years, has been sold
to Parklands Capital, a private equity fund which invests in established UK SMEs with
ambitious management teams and strong growth prospects. Based in Nottingham and
operating nationally, Laser Expertise has around 2787 m² of workshop space and employs
more than 80 people. The deal was led by Matthew Sibley, associate director of company
sales specialist KBS Corporate.
The staff at Laser Expertise that customers currently deal with for all facets of the business
will remain the same, along with the company name and contact details. With the support
and infrastructure of Parklands Capital, Laser Expertise will be able to continue investing in
the latest technologies.
More information www.kbscorporate.com

ACE Completes £350,000 Investment Drive

Advanced Chemical Etching (ACE), which will celebrate its 25 th anniversary later this year,
has installed two additional single-chamber Chemcut etching machines and a UCE developer
for creating quicker and cleaner imaging. The £350,000 investment means the company can
produce 325,000 sheets every year at its Hortonwood facility, a 30% boost in throughput.
Importantly, ACE can also tap into greater product line flexibility and increased accuracy.
With the new investment, company bosses are already looking to boost market share in
electrification, aerospace, medical and filters.
More information www.ace-uk.net

Micro-Precision Tool Capability at Brandauer

A new micron-precision tooling capability is now in place at Brandauer. CEO of the 61-
employee business, Rowan Crozier MBE, says: “Our micron precision tooling offer has been
a real labour of love. However, we now have processes available that de-risk the modular
tooling route for customers, giving them the capability to produce their tools to the finest of
margins and at a cost price that works.”
He adds: “Days have also been taken out of production lead times and I’m delighted to say
that numerous customers – from several different sectors – have already signed up and are
using tools made in this way.”
Last year was a whirlwind period for Brandauer, with more than £4m invested in new high-
speed Bruderer UK and Yamada presses, an additional 1-micron capable wire EDM machine,
a state-of the-art laser micro-cutter and a new rapid prototyping area.
The technology utilised in the company’s wire EDM cell includes two AgieCharmilles GF CUT
3000 machines, an investment that is typical of the firm’s constant drive for precision. These
machines are 1 micron capable across their long-bed CNC table geometry, making high-
speed, high-precision, 1250 mm modular tools a reality.

Through its wire EDM technology, Brandauer meet the challenges of miniaturisation and
high precision, while maximising productivity. The company can machine with wires as small
as 0.05 mm in diameter and, thanks to the crossed table situated directly under the
workpiece that requires machining, high-precision guides and glass scales are situated as
close as possible to the machining zone. This configuration helps maximise precision and
positioning repeatability as the play in inversion is almost eliminated.
More information www.brandauer.co.uk

Anotronic Installs Sodick ALC600G Premium

Anotronic is a subcontract machining business and manufacturer of EDM fast-hole drilling
and EDM die-sinking machine tools. Founded in 1982, the business started in ECM, ECD and
EDM tooling and machining, evolving to the production and growth of its own ECM and ECD
technology brand. Along this journey, the company has worked with Sodi-Tech UK and the
Sodick brand of machines. The Bedfordshire-based manufacturer currently operates three
Sodick machines, with the latest ALC600G Premium wire EDM with linear motor drive
technology arriving recently.
 
Martin White, managing director of Anotronic, says: “We always buy premium machines
and, as the company has become more experienced, we constantly look to invest in better
technology. This always comes down to machine reliability and the ability to run
unmanned.”
He continues: “We bought this latest machine because we had a project that typically
consists of 40 parts which would maybe take us three months to complete. We suddenly
had an order placed on us last year for 300 components. We couldn’t have done this
without another machine, as we knew we would have to operate 24 hours a day to get the
parts done.”
 
Sodi-Tech UK sales manager Richard Bailey says: “Manufacturers can use the on-board
technology and IQ software system that brings the CAD model into the machine and
draws the profile on-board utilising the U- and V-axis cutting technology. The program is
generated, parts are machined and the job is complete.”

 
White adds: “We’re using a very complex four-axis program to cut a rotary part with 45°
slots in it. We used the on-board software within the CNC of the Sodick machine to create a
3D model and a tool path to cut the part.”
More information www.sodi-tech.co.uk

Bespoke Ceratizit fixture benefits subcontractor

Woodbrook Precision, located in Ashton-Under-Lyne, says that Ceratizit has been instrumental in enhancing the productivity of new machine tools.

A recent case in point involved a repeat order for 100-off stainless steel products for an aerospace industry customer. With the job running frequently, Woodbrook set up six vices in a line on the 3.5 m bed of a Mazak five-axis VTC800/30SR. Upon completing each surface and cycle, an operator would reset the job to process the next face. With a total of four operations, the process was laborious. The company engaged with Ceratizit, which made a bespoke work-holding solution at its technical centre and headquarters in Sheffield.

Visiting the Ceratizit stand at the MACH 2024 exhibition in Birmingham, Woodbrook managing director Stephen Hogg realised that the only cost for Ceratizit’s bespoke service was the price of the aluminium tombstone billet and the cost of the four ZSG4-125 Centric vices that connect to the zero-point single riser tombstone system.

Immediately impressed, Woodbrook Precision ordered a pyramid system to clamp smaller parts in its Mazak CV5-500. The ZSG4-125 Centric vices with serrated jaws enabled Woodbrook to clamp on as little as 3 mm of stock, permitting the subcontractor to hit all five sides of the stainless parts with confidence in the high-torque clamping forces of the vice. With five faces machined in a single operation, the following operation was to turn the parts over to complete the sixth surface. This reduced this 100-off repeat job from four operations to just two.

“The job took over one hour per part from start to finish,” explains Hogg. “The tombstone and Centric ZSG vices immediately took more than 10 minutes off each part, with peripheral benefits such as longer running times without operator intervention.”

More information www.ceratizit.com