SUBCONTRACTING NEWS

G-Tech invests in new Nakamura-Tome

When the turning department at Merseyside-based G-Tech Engineering was having difficulty keeping pace with demand, the company recognised it needed to reduce cycle times and lead times, and add one-hit machining that could take place lights-out. The answer to these dilemmas arrived in the shape of a Nakamura-Tome AS200LMSY turn-mill centre from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).

As a high-precision subcontract machine shop, G-Tech Engineering has a host of machine tools from a variety of vendors, but two stand-out machinesinclude a 30+ year-old Nakamura TW10 and an ageing Nakamura WT150. Both purchased second-hand, these machines justify their place on the shop floor as they still retain their precision, productivity levels and reliability. So, when it came to buying a new machine, it was an obvious choice for the Wirral company.

Andy Kirkwood,senior production engineer at G-Tech Engineering, says: “We needed to replace a reliable but ageing two-axis chucking turning centre with something more up-to-date. We selected a Nakamura-Tome AS200LMSY to join our already mission-critical Nakamura TW10 and WT150 multi-axis turning centres.”

Undertaking a lot more one-hit machining of parts, the new Nakamura-Tome AS200LMSY saves both time and labour. 

“It also allows us to maintain demanding geometric tolerances consistently and repeatably, such as flatness concentricity of less than 0.03mm between spindle transfers over a diameter of 150mm,” says Kirkwood. “Another new feature proving invaluable is the Y-axis travel of 80mm (±40mm). This is excellent for the footprint of the workstation and saves us time by enabling us to complete a lot more milling operations in the same set-up, reducing the need for secondary milling operations.”

More information www.engtechgroup.com

IML cracks the code with HyperMill software

From one-off components to high-volume production, IML UK Ltd is a subcontract machining company that specialises in giving its customers exactly what they want, when they want it. With more than 25 CNC machine tools running 24/7, 365 days a year, the Weymouth-based company has invested in the latest five-axis machine tools, pallet automation technology and HyperMill CADCAM software from Open Mind Technologies.

IML director David Zollo says: “The work on the machining side of our business is predominantly aluminium, with our turning department being mainly stainless steel. We entered the CADCAM system market back in the early days and we’ve had our original system for probably around 25 years. However, things have evolved and jobs are getting more complex. The software systems have changed too.”

The company recently introduced HyperMill to run alongside its original system and is witnessing a number of notable differences.

“HyperMill is better on our complex parts, but we’re also applying it to simple components,” says Zollo.“For parts where there are endless lines of code, it’s all about the re-generation. Previously, regenerating a complex component that is millions of lines long would take forever, but with HyperMill it regenerates just the bit we need. This saves us a lot of time.”

He adds: “As a company that has two software systems, we know what we’re talking about. We can give an honest opinion of where we are with the two systems. We’re now leaning increasingly towards HyperMill when it comes to our complex parts.”

More information www.openmind-tech.com

Lantek software proves indispensable at A13

Worcester-based A13 Engineering moved from plasma cutting to laser cutting in October 2023 with the installation of a Bodor 12kW laser profiling machine and Lantek Expert CADCAM nesting software.

Harry Hodgetts, managing director at A13 Engineering, says: “We found that high-definition plasma wasn’t suitable for about 10% of our production, driving us to invest in a laser cutter that would give higher accuracy and automatic part etching for easy component identification.”

He continues: “We were already aware of Lantek and chose it without hesitation because it met all our needs. Laser cutting allows us to handle a variety of materials and, with Lantek Expertsoftware, we can seamlessly import customer CAD files. The majority of our work is cutting mild steel between 2 and 30mm thick, and stainless steel between 1 and 10mm. The machine has a shuttle table so we can unload parts while cutting the next sheet. With Lantek’s nesting we can tag parts in the sheet and nest parts in larger holes [which would otherwise be scrap], add the odd part in a spare area, and have the flexibility to use up material remnants.”

The subcontract side of the business requires A13 Engineering to generate a large volume of quotations. Using spreadsheets previously took over 20 minutes for each quotation. In contrast, the company can generate quotes in just 5 minutes with Lantek iQuoting. The software holds material prices and allocations of material, and simulatesnesting and machining times.

“In our fast-paced industry, Lantek Expert and iQuoting have become indispensable to our business,” concludes Hodgetts.

More information www.lantek.com

Vericut provides boost for major machining company

EMGE AŞ, a major machining company in Türkiye with more than 40 CNC machines on site, is now benefiting from the introduction of Vericut verification, simulation and optimisation software. This astute investment is helping the company to drive higher levels of efficiency and reliability in its extensive machining operations, which see the manufacture of around 1.5 million parts per annum from materials that include aluminium, steel, titanium and composites.

“After introducing 5S, Kaizen and lean production strategies, we decided to invest in Vericut as a means of reducing set-up times in our production processes,” explains Emre Uluhan, a mechanical engineer with responsibility for EMGE’s NC Programming Department. “This decision enables us to detect potential machining errors beforehand, simulate multiple operations in a single file, and execute them swiftly and reliably. Additionally, we can create specific simulation templates for new machines added to our inventory.”

Before Vericut, the process of simulating and verifying operations at EMGE was vastly different.

“We previously had to create separate simulation files for each operation, which led to inefficiencies due to the time required,” he says. “In contrast, using Vericut means we need just a single session to simulate programs of parts produced using multiple set-ups. Vericut operates so quickly and reliably that we observed an increase in our production efficiency from the very first moment of using it.”

EMGE reports a reduction in processing times for first article inspection (FAI) parts of 50% thanks to the confidence provided by Vericut simulations.

“I would recommend Vericut to any manufacturer that wants to prioritise machine efficiency, reduce part processing costs and avoid material wastage due to high material costs,” concludes Uluhan.

More information www.vericut.com

E-Brake 35T Mini Cell at GS-Metaal

By choosing the SafanDarley E-Brake Mini Cell, metalworking specialist GS Metaal is able, to automate the bending of a wide variety of products up to 900 mm in length in a relatively small area.

Nowadays, skilled people are difficult to find. GS Metaal, based in Vriezenveen, Netherlands, wants to keep these people available for specific products which are complex to manufacture. With the SafanDarley E-Brake 35T Mini Cell, the company is able to manufacture repetitive items in batches.

To keep the Mini Cell running even at night, GS Metal has expanded the cell to include, among other things, a positioning conveyor to ensure that items are placed properly on pallets and can be removed automatically.

“It’s nice to see that when I am the last to leave there is still ‘someone’ working,” says a GS Metal representative. “The entire purchase process with SafanDarley went very smoothly and we were well informed at every stage. Recently, two employees successfully completed an offline course in robot simulation software RoboBend and are enjoying working on this machine.”

The E-Brake 35T Mini Cell is a compact automatic flexible bending cell equipped with a 25 kg FANUC robot serving a SafanDarley E-Brake 35T-1250 press brake. The E-Brake 35T Mini Cell is suitable for fully automatic production of small complex products. It also allows successive bending of different products without intermediate programming. By adding various options, such as an automatic gripper, tool changer, reversing stations, and infeed and outfeed systems, this machine is fully configurable to customer specifications.

As standard, the table stations in the E-Brake 35T Premium Mini Cell feature precision adapters that guarantee a fixed position, making it possible to have several different tables that are easy to change in accordance with requirements.

More information www.safandarley.com