SUBCONTRACTING NEWS

Mouldmaker adopts automated five-axis machining

Established in the west of Ireland in 1984, Lawrence Engineering specialises in the manufacture of injection mould tools, extrusion tooling, jigs and fixtures for global suppliers in the medical device industry. At its factory in Loughill, County Sligo, the business also builds special-purpose equipment and provides contract manufacturing services, while at another facility in nearby Collooney, medical component manufacturing takes place in a Class 8 cleanroom.

Precision, quality and rapid turnaround times are hallmarks of the family-owned company’s success. Commitment to constant investment in cutting-edge machinery keeps it ahead of the competition. This philosophy is immediately evident when visiting the Loughill site. Purpose-built in 1995, the facility houses an impressive range of machine tools, including machining centres from Hurco and Roeders. Hurco Europe supplies both brands in the UK and Ireland.

In the Hurco cell are a three-axis VM10i vertical machining centre and a larger VM20i, with capacity for machining components up to 1 m long by 500 mm. Lawrence Engineering selected the machines as much for their reliability and ease of programming, as for their metal-cutting capabilities in tool steels.

Managing director James Lawrence says: “We try to keep everything in-house. When we consider the next investment, we’re looking to increase our capabilities, filling any gaps in capacity and aiming to achieve constant improvement.”

A prime example of this is one of two five-axis Roeders RXP500DS high-speed machining centres with linear motors driving all axes. The bridge-type design includes features necessary for ensuring component accuracy and high-speed dynamic motion. The 42,000 rpm spindle enables Lawrence Engineering to machine mould tools directly in hardened metals, often with cutters less than 1 mm in diameter. Moreover, it removes the need for time-consuming electrode manufacture, EDM and subsequent hardening.
For further information www.hurco.co.uk

30-taper machine is clear choice for SPE

These days, 30-taper machining centres are more robust and fast than formerly, and can also cut tough materials. One company discovering the merits of this type of prismatic machining equipment is Staffordshire Precision Engineering (SPE) of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The subcontractor recently purchased a Brother R650X2 30-taper four-axis machining centre with a table-mounted indexing trunnion from the Japanese manufacturer’s sole sales agent in the UK and Ireland, Whitehouse Machine Tools. Programming support and unlimited training formedpart of the deal.

The machine is the subcontractor’s first 30-taper machine and is today producing aluminium parts for the aerospace, Formula 1, high-end automotive, scientific, medical and other industries. The material currently accounts for about 60% of prismatic component production in the factory. However, it so happened that the first job put on the Brother involved the production of a batch of 304 stainless steel pivot blocks for an aerospace customer.

It was at this point that Phil Smith, joint managing director of SPE (alongside brother Gary), realised that he had been harbouring an incorrect view that 30-taper machines are unable to cut tough metals productively. He is now convinced that modern Brother machines, with their high-torque spindles, are far more robust than he thought.

There are numerous 40-taper VMCs on site that are between 10 and 15 years old.The company will gradually replace these machines with more capable and productive plant. Smith predicts that the four-axis Brother will do the work of two of these older models. For instance, the R650X2 produced the aerospace pivot block in just two operations in a cycle time of 15 minutes, whereas one of the older machines took 38 minutes to produce the part in four operations. Moreover, there is now far less workpiece handling and work-in-progress.
For further information www.wmtcnc.com

Future skills

Sheffield Forgemasters is welcoming 24 new apprentices as the company progresses development atits advanced manufacturing facility. The forging and casting specialist is investing heavily over the next 10 years to support its defence-critical assets, including a new 13,000 tonne forge line and building, and 17 major machine tool replacements within a new machining facility.Apprentices have secured roles in the following disciplines:machining, electrical and control engineering, NDT, methods engineering (degree), design engineering (degree), production planning, and estimating.
For further information www.sheffieldforgemasters.com

SUBCONTRACTOR TURNS ON PRODUCTIVITY TAP

When it comes to machining turned parts, there are very few companies with the experience, prestige and capabilities of HPC Services. As an industry leader, when Ilkeston-based HPC specifies new fixed-head CNC turning centres, it turns to the Engineering Technology Group (ETG) and its Nakamura-Tome brand.

Established in 1997 with a single sliding-head lathe, the BTMA member now has 10 sliding heads and eight fixed-head machines.Along with sister company Hemlock Engineering, the two companies have more than 80 staff and 45 CNC machine tools. This is why HPC Services and Hemlock Engineering claim to be one of the largest subcontract organisations in the East Midlands.

Typically producing batches from 200 to 2000-off on its fixed-head machines and larger runs on its sliders, HPC Services holds upwards of £1m of stock components for its multitude of long-term customers to ‘call off’ at any point. With the majority of its machine tools operating at a 92% spindle uptime, when stock depletes below a certain level, the company recognises the need to invest in new machines to meet customer demand. So, with stock levels diminishing in line with increased customer demand and the company witnessing a period of significant growth, HPC required more capacity.The answer was a Nakamura-Tome WT150II-F turning centre that arrived in May 2023.

Discussing why the company specified a twin-spindle twin-turret Nakamura-Tome WT150II-F, HPC Services managing director Paul Cobb says: “The Nakamura is the ultimate subcontractor’s machine. It is fast, powerful and productive, but above all else, it’s an extremely flexible machine. That’s what you need when you don’t know what job is coming through the door next.”

The ISO9001 manufacturer now has six Nakamura machines, alluding to which, Cobb continues: “We’ve had Nakamura machines for over 20 years; they never let us down. We had three Nakamura machines and, when the brand underwent a significant upgrade over 10 years ago, we bought a new WT150 machine.Its enhanced capabilities and speed enabled it to replace two of the previous Nakamura models. The major upgrades at that time were a move from worm to tang drives, which increased the rigidity of the axes and milling capabilities. Nakamura also introduced a new control and software system. From that point, we bought another three WT150II-F machines, a WT100 and a smaller single-spindle, single-turret Nakamura AS200.

Nestled between Derby and Nottingham, the subcontractor manufactures everything from high-end kitchen and bathroom taps and ancillaries, through fire suppression systems, camera and scientific devices, to hydraulic components for the rail industry. Primary materials machined include brass, stainless steel and aluminium.

Discussing the variation of parts manufactured, Cobb says: “Our sliders produce small components, while the Nakamura machines are dedicated to larger parts. However, when it comes to machining small stainless parts, we move these to the Nakamuras. The Nakamuras are more powerful and robust, which results in higher cutting speeds and feeds, better surface finishes and extended tool life. Although sliders will be inherently faster than fixed-head machines, the ability to use larger more rigid tools on the Nakamuras, along with the flexibility to machine any part with multiple tools cutting simultaneously, is fantastic. Furthermore, this stability and versatility means we can get jobs off the machines in one hit and, by using the Hydrafeed Rota-Rack system on the WT150II-F machines, we can run the machines unmanned over the weekends.”

Regarding the seamless installation of the most recent Nakamura WT150II-F, Paul adds: “We have our Nakamura machines set-up with the programs and tools ready to run. All our tools are stored on shelves with the pre-sets, so they are ready to go. This means that any time a repeat job arrives, we have the program and tools set. It may be more costly from a tooling perspective, but it drastically reduces set-ups and changeovers. We can have some pretty complex jobs set up and running in less than an hour, and this system of operating also works when new machines arrive. For example, the latest Nakamura WT150II-F was up and running within hours of it being commissioned.”

The bank of Nakamura machines now runs for 18 hours a day during manned shifts and the remaining six hours of the day unmanned. The new Nakamura WT150II-F that arrived in May has run 18 hours a day, five days a week since it landed on the shop floor.

“The Nakamura’s are fantastic,” states Cobb.“We had space under a staircase for a smaller machine and bought a Nakamura AS200 single-spindle machine. Even that has been running around the clock since it came. In fact, we keep our WT150 and WT100 machines for bar-fed work and the smaller AS200 is used for 3-4 inch billet jobs.”

Looking to the future, Cobb concludes: “We’re about to launch a new milling company called Skyblade for high-volume automated milling and we also want a dedicated facility for our Nakamura machines. We are confident that, with our growth trajectory, we’ll have 10 and maybe more Nakamura machines soon.”
For further information www.engtechgroup.com

Toolmaker gets right tool for the job

As a small subcontract toolmaking and machining business, Precision Engineering Services (Buxton) Ltd has carved a niche in the production of press and mould tools for the construction and DIY sectors. As part of these activities, the business undertakes a significant amount of wire EDM work, which is why it has just invested in a Mitsubishi MV1200S wire EDM machine from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).

The Buxton-based manufacturer has a selection of manual and CNC machine tools as well as a die-sink EDM machine and a wire EDM. However, with the company’s 12-year-old Mitsubishi BA8 wire EDM being the busiest machine, its precision levels were sadly diminishing after more than a decade of non-stop operation.

“After more than 10 years of non-stop running, the ball screws on our existing Mitsubishi BA8 wire EDM were deteriorating and maintaining precision was becoming more of a challenge,” explains managing director Chris Barlow.“We knew that a new machine would be the best route forward. With linear drive technology and tubular shaft motors instead of ball screws, the new MV1200S has a 12-year accuracy warranty and an optical drive system that provides circular accuracy within 1μm, so we won’t have this concern in the future.”

With regard to overall cutting time, Barlowsays: “The speed of cutting is always restricted by the wire. However, features that would take four passes to finish on the BA8 are now possible in three or sometimes two passes with our new MV1200S. This improves our productivity by 25% and even 50% in some cases.”

This impressive productivity improvement is credit to the new V350 generator, which has a significantly higher effective clock rate.
For further information www.engtechgroup.com