An increase in demand for its high-quality machining services from existing customers, coupled with a growing number of new and significant machining contract ‘wins’ from new customers, provided the catalyst for Burcas Ltd to invest in two new machine tools from Mills CNC.

The new machines, both DN Solutions’ models, comprise: a large-capacity, heavy-duty 21” chuck Puma 5100LMB long-bed, box-guideway lathe equipped with driven tooling; and a 10” chuck SMX 2600S multi-tasking mill-turn machine equipped with two opposing (left and right) spindles and a B-axis milling head.Both machines feature the latest FANUC iPlus control and 15” touchscreen iHMIs. Ordered at the same time, in early 2023, the machines increase Burcas’ in-house capabilities and capacity at its West Bromwich facility.

The Puma 5100LMB and SMX 2600S are the second and third machines Burcas has acquired from Mills CNC in its 82-year history – the first being a large Mynx 9500/50 vertical machining centre that arrived in November 2020 to machine high-value, high-precision tooling, prototypes and components primarily for customers in the nuclear sector.

Says Mike Burrows, Burcas’ owner and managing director:“The Mynx 9500/50 has been a great investment and more than proved its worth since being acquired.Day in and day out the machine delivers the high part accuracies and fast processing speeds that we, and our customers, demand.It has undoubtedly helped us strengthen our supply chain position within the nuclear sector and, over the past three years, has been more than instrumental inhelping us secure a number of new machining contracts in the sector.”

The nuclear industry remains important to Burcas, and the company is actively working towards the “Fit for Nuclear’ accreditation to consolidate and strengthen its position in the sector still further.

Burcas’ positive experience with its Mynx machine, and with Mills CNC in general, was a prime motivator in the company investing in its new Puma 5100LMB and SMX 2600S machines.

“It was around September 2022 when enquiries from customers in the defence, aerospace, oil and gas, rail, and nuclear sectors really took off,” recalls Burrows. “This was clearly great news for us, but in order to meet such an increase in demand, we needed to evaluate our existing in-house machining capacity and capabilities, and stress-test our processes and systems, to make sure we could cope.”

As a company committed to continuous improvement, systematic monitoring and analysis of its production processes is not something new, or alien, to Burcas.Identifying and addressing, in advance, any potential production bottlenecks and pinch points, before the new business came on stream, were necessary pre-requisites. The company believed this would make all the difference between seamlessly ramping up production and struggling to meet its new manufacturing targets.The audit identified that Burcas needed to strengthen its turning and milling capabilities.

Says Burrows:“The new business we acquired was all high precision in nature and involved the machining of different materials: everything from aluminium and nickel-chrome-molybdenum steel, through to stainless steels, titanium and Hastelloy.With such diversity, we needed versatile machines capable of performing heavy-duty roughing operations, right through to super-fine finishing operations and everything in-between.To improve our productivity and process efficiencies, we also knew that multi-axis machines would be the direction of travel.”

Armed with a clear understanding of its new machine tool requirements, Burcas approached the market in early 2023 with Mills CNC being one of its first ports of call.

“We like Mills’ business approach and have built a good relationship with the company in a relatively short period of time,” says Burrows.“The depth and breadth of the DN Solution’s range of machines is extensive and Mills’ progressive stocking policy means that machine availability is good.These strengths, combined with Mills’ after-sales and service support, put them in a favourable position vis-à-vis our new investment requirement.”

Subsequent discussions between Burcas and Mills ultimately resulted in both parties agreeing a two-machine-tool package.

The Puma 5100LMB is a large-capacity,long-bed, box guideway lathe with a 650mm maximum turning diameter and a 2002mm maximum turning length. It features a 45kW/1500rpm/2957Nm spindle, driven tooling (4000rpm) and a 12-station turret. The machine supplied to Burcas also features a dead-centre tailstock and through-coolant (20bar) capability.Since installation, the Puma 5100LMB has been put through its paces machining a range of prototypes and parts for the company’s defence, rail and oil and gas customers.

“The Puma 5100LMB is a great acquisition that has considerably strengthened our in-house turning capabilities,”states Burrows.“The machine’s driven tooling capability also means that parts do not need transferring to a machining centre and can be completed in one set up.”

DN Solutions’ SMX 2600S is a multi-tasking mill-turn machine equipped with two opposing 30 kW/4000rpm spindles which, with its 12,000rpmB-axis milling spindle, can perform a range of machining functions such as turning, milling and synchronised cutting in a single set-up.The machine features a 40-position automatic tool changer and was supplied to Burcas with linear scales (X and Yaxis) for improved accuracy and a SLU-X4 steady rest for machining longer parts.

Says Burrows:“The SMX 2600S has only recently been installed but it’s already making a difference machining high-precision, complex parts to completion, in one set-up, for our newly-acquired aerospace and defence machining contracts.The machine’s mill-turn capabilities also means that we have been able to re-imagine and develop new, more efficient machining processes for existing parts, freeing up time and production capacity on our other lathes and machining centres.”

Whether its machining anti-tilt bars for Burcas’ rail customers, down-hole components for oil and gas customers, wobble-box components for aerospace customers or glove-box components for the nuclear industry, the new DN Solutions machines are proving their worth delivering significant productivity and process efficiency gains to a company whose machining services are in demand.
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Founded in 2005, DGF Engineering has been on a continuous growth trajectory and, at every step of the way, the Hertfordshire manufacturer has turned to Dugard for its CNC machine tools. The company started its investment in Dugard machines with the Dugard 1000 three-axis vertical machining centre, since been followed by a SMEC SL 2000M turning centre and now a smaller Dugard 550 machining centre.

The acquisition of the SMEC SL 2000M turning centre in 2022 was due to the turned components at DGF Engineering Ltd increasingly needing secondary milling operations on machining centres. To free-up milling capacity, the Royston-based subcontractor, which produces a diverse range of components for a variety of sectors, believed the Dugard SMEC would make a major difference – and it has.

Recalling why the company invested in a live turning centre, Liam Fernard, workshop manager at DGF Engineering,says: “Turning work with milled features was tying up our CNC milling department for too long and we needed a solution with live tooling. As we were happy with the service that we’d received from Dugard on our Dugard 1000 three-axis vertical machining centre, we naturally looked at their lathes.The SMEC SL 2000M turning centre ticked all the boxes.”

The SMEC SL 2000M CNC lathe comes with FANUC 0iTF or Siemens 828D control options, mill/drill option (M model), 570 mm swing over bed, 460 mm swing over cross slide and an 8″ chuck. It can handle parts measuring up 360 mm diameter and 540/520 mm in length.

With the service, support and reliability of Dugard being as robust as the machines, the company turned to Dugardonce again when it needed additional milling capacity.

Discussing the latest acquisition, Fernard says: “We bought the Dugard 550 for several reasons, one being its small footprint. We didn’t have a huge amount of room and the machine that the Dugard 550 replaced was only a small machine. A lot of the work we do is quite small components, so we didn’t need a large bed and big footprint machine like our Dugard 1000. So, the specification of this machine met all our needs and it fits exactly where we wanted it.”

As a subcontractor, DGF Engineering will typically machine anything, but its main industry focus is the scientific, liquid and gas testing industries – but then this diverse company could also be undertaking work for a farmer down the road.

“We machine a wide range of materials that include aluminium and stainless steel, and for a small machine the Dugard 550 handles stainless very well,” reports Fernard.“The machine has a 10,000 rpm spindle; the horsepower is very good and it will cut all day long.”

Referring to why the company has purchased yet another Dugard machine, Fernard adds: “We’ve been really impressed with the first two Dugard machines we bought and the service has been great. The machine it replaced was getting a little bit old and the spindle speed was only 6000rpm, so it just wasn’t machining how we really wanted. From experience, the first place for us to go was Dugard,to see what they had available.The Dugard 550 stood out; it seemed perfect for our needs.”

The Dugard 550 is a cost-effective vertical machining centre with FANUC, Siemens and Mitsubishi control options. Travel in the X, Y and Z-axis is 550, 440 and 460 mm respectively, with the machine offering a 16-station automatic tool changer (ATC). From order to delivery, the machine was on the shop floor in a matter of weeks.

“The machine was a stock model in the Dugard showroom and, as soon as we were interested, we paid a deposit and it was just a case of sorting things out here to make sure we could get the machine placed,” explains Fernard.“Dugard delivered the machine and took the old one away.They also re-sited another machine for us and completed everything in just 90 minutes. As a company, Dugard understands we have to make money and downtime is expensive, so they do everything in their power to get us up and running as quickly as they can.”

The company is programming its machines with an offline CAM system, alluding to which, Fernard says: “The latest machine fits in easily, just like the other machines. There is a post-processor for the machines, so you don’t have to make any changes. Additionally, we have a mist filtration system on the latest machine. We were debating whether we needed a filtration system, but to make sure we were compliant with legislation, we installed a Dugard filtration unit on the Dugard 550.”

In conclusion, Fernard says: “The machine was delivered with the filtration system already fitted and, as we were very happy with immediate results, we asked Dugard to retrofit filtration systems to our other machines. This was done a day after the Dugard 550 machine was delivered and installed. The service has been fantastic and whenever I speak to anyone who is looking for a machine, I always recommend Dugard because they haven’t put a foot wrong. There’s nothing that is too much trouble for them and they will help you out as much as they can.”
For further information www.dugard.com