SUBCONTRACTING NEWS

Filtermist increases uptime at Tooling 2000

One of the biggest challenges for any machine shop is workshop air quality and the impact coolant mist has on staff wellbeing. To prevent coolant mist from impacting the air quality in the workplace, Tooling 2000 installed on-machine mist extraction systems from Filtermist.

In addition to COSHH-compliant clean air, the Birmingham-based automotive subcontract manufacturer is also benefitting in other less obvious ways, as senior business development manager at Tooling 2000, Iain Bubb, explains: “Filtermist systems firstly protects our workforce, which is of paramount importance. However, they also allow us to open our machine doors sooner, providing more machining uptime.”

If the doors of the machines are opened immediately after a cutting cycle without Filtermist system in place, oil mist enters the air. This results in a film on the machines, tools, floor and anything else in the vicinity, causing a health and safety concern.

“With Filtermist, we’re removing all airborne particulates from the machine tool atmosphere, which not only keeps the inside of the machine clean, but also also helps to remove the swarf as it does not stick to any tacky coolant residue on the machine bed.”

With the Filtermist FX5002 mist extraction systems fitted to its range of Hurco machining centres, Tooling 2000 finds maintenance of the technology easy to manage.

“We have a TPM [Total Productive Maintenance] system in place so, after a set number of production hours, we change and clean the Filtermist filters. Productivity is also very important to us as it cascades down to the bottom line. With the Filtermist technology we get more uptime from our machines, giving us better productivity and profitability.”

More information www.filtermist.co.uk

Brother machining centre halves cycle times

Aylesbury-based R&A Engineering won a contract in early 2023 to produce several hundred aluminium parts per month (across six variants) for assembly into sensors that optimise the orientation of wind turbines. The job was tying up a pair of BT 40-taper vertical machining centres on the shop floor and impacting the subcontractor’s ability to take on other work. So the decision was taken to transfer production to a 30-taper, high-speed VMC, prompting an order for a Brother M200X3 with 16,000 rpm spindle from Whitehouse Machine Tools.

The new Brother Speedio M200X3 five-axis VMC has on average halved the time it takes to complete post-anodising milling, drilling and tapping operations on the six components. The machine is therefore able to perform the same work as the two VMCs used previously.

Ed Piotrowski, operations manager at R&A, says: “The Brother performs very well. Cycle times are now between 90 seconds and four minutes, half of what they were before. Moreover, the machine holds the ±0.05 mm tolerance all day long without any problem. It’s a really accurate machine.”

Reviewing the characteristics of the respective BT spindle machines, Piotrowski observes that while power and rigidity are higher in a 40-taper VMC, modern, smaller-taper counterparts such as the Brother have a reasonably well specified spindle motor with good torque, even in the medium- to high-speed range. The drive motors are also consistent with robust machining, while face-and-taper-contact tool retention assists further, as in R&A’s case.

He says: “Although the machining of light alloys is really the province of this type of machine, using CAM software to create intelligent cycles involving light depths of cut and high-speed contouring means it can also tackle tough and difficult-to-machine metals.”

More information www.wmtcnc.com

Lights-out milling of multiple small batches

The benefits gained from automating the machining of prismatic components in a high-mix, low-volume production environment are no better exemplified than at Alitech Precision Parts in Silverstone. Since 2019, the subcontractor has invested in four German-built Hermle five-axis, trunnion-type machining centres from UK agent Kingsbury. Two are equipped for automatic exchange of pallets (with fixtured workpieces) between a storage system and the machining area.

Alitech’s owner and managing director Darren Cudd says: “The essence of making this type of production profitable is to buy a high-quality, powerful, reliable machining platform, equip it with accurate zero-point clamping systems and use high-end carbide tools that we can push to the limit of their performance. You must also have the confidence to program and simulate a new cycle in CAM before leaving it to run overnight without anyone present.”

This is exactly what Cudd has been doing since a Hermle C 22 UP machining centre, equipped with a PW150 storage and handling system for 18 square pallets (320 mm), was installed in 2020, six weeks before the start of the Covid pandemic. Two years later, a Hermle C 42 U arrived on the shop floor. Then in October 2024, a second automated Hermle cell was installed, a 650 x 600 x 500 mm capacity C 32 U machining centre featuring an HS Flex two-level store housing 12 square pallets (400 mm).


Cudd calculates that, disregarding this latest purchase, the other automated C 22 UP cell accounts for less than 30% of the site’s machine tool investment, yet has for the past few years generated up to 50% of Alitech’s turnover, a performance-to-cost benefit approaching 2:1.

More information www.kingsburyuk.com

Setting the course for high precision

Some 15 years ago, Ammann AG changed its strategic business orientation from a contract manufacturer for machined switch and track parts to Ammann Components, a system supplier specialising in complex, high-precision workpieces. Success and growth followed – thanks in part to the company’s high-quality machinery, which is dominated by several Heckert machining centres from Starrag. Now, the of Tägerwilen, Switzerland-based is expecting a further boost from its recently delivered Heckert H75.

The successor model to the successful Heckert HEC 500, the H75 comes with various improvements and promising options. The machine produces large aluminium gearbox housings for which the customer specifies centre distances with a tight tolerance.

Managing director Paul Ammann is especially enthusiastic about the machine’s spindle with its maximum torque of 950 Nm and speed up to 12,500 rpm. This capability makes the BAZ spindle equally suitable for aluminium and heavy machining. To maximise flexibility and keep set-up times to a minimum, the Heckert H75 features extensive tool storage: with its four coupled towers, the magazine has a capacity for almost 400 tools.

As the company plans long term for all its investments, the imminent move to a new location will have an impact on the Heckert H75, as Ammann explains: “At the moment, automation is neither necessary nor possible. At our new location, however, we’ll expand the Heckert H75 and our existing Heckert HEC 500 with a pallet system to create a low-manpower production system. It was therefore important to us that the H75 is fully compatible with the Heckert HEC 500 so that a second set-up station is not needed. As expected, our partner Starrag was extremely flexible and made the necessary adjustments to the Y-axis travel and pallet changer.”

More information www.starrag.com

LATHE FROM MILLS CNC PROVIDES FOCUS, DRIVE AND AMBITION AT MACROMANUFACTURING

Mills CNC, the UK’s exclusive distributor of DN Solutions and Zayer machine tools, has
recently supplied Macro Manufacturing, a progressive precision subcontract specialist start-
up based in Aberdeen, with a new high-performance multi-tasking lathe. The FANUC-
controlled DN Solutions Lynx 2600SY lathe with sub-spindle and Y axis was installed at the
company’s 89 m² facility in April 2024, where it machines a range of components for a
growing number of customers in the oil and gas, renewables, and agriculture industries, to
list but a few.
The parts, which Macro Manufacturing typically machines in medium batch sizes, are made
from a range of different materials. Prevalent among them are stainless steel grades 316,
316L and 17-4, duplex and super-duplex stainless steels, aluminium alloys, 4140 low-alloy
steel, exotic alloys such Inconel and Hastelloy, and certain engineering plastics that include
acetyl.
Components machined on site by Macro Manufacturing are also characterised by their
complexity, with tight geometric tolerances and exacting surface finish requirements
proving the norm rather than the exception. Although relatively small in size, these parts
frequently exhibit intricate and delicate features that can only be undergo efficient and
economic machining on a multi-tasking lathe.
Says Macro Manufacturing’s owner and director, Matthew Forbes: “The Lynx 2600SY is a
high-accuracy multi-tasking lathe that has significantly increased our in-house machining
capacity and capabilities. It enables us to machine complex parts quickly, in one set-up.
Since its arrival, we’ve been able to secure new machining contracts from both new and
existing customers, and have strengthened our position within several customer supply
chains.”
The Lynx 2600SY is the first machine tool Macro Manufacturing has acquired from DN
Solutions since the company’s incorporation in 2022. It is also the first new machine
acquired by the company in its two-year history. Like many new precision subcontract start-
ups, Macro Manufacturing had relatively humble beginnings, beginning life in what can only
be described a shed on a local farm. The company fulfilled its initial machining contracts
using little more than a couple of pre-owned CNC machine tools.
“The early days were a challenge,” recalls Forbes. “I was still employed full-time at my
previous company and was having to manage and run Macro Manufacturing in my spare
time – often during the night and through the weekends.”

This situation was always intended to be a stop-gap measure until the company was more
established. So, after a few months, Forbes decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and put all his time
and effort into making Macro Manufacturing a success.
As the driving force behind the company’s rise, Forbes is an apprentice-trained, time-served
engineer with significant machining (programming and operator) experience. He is
passionate about engineering and always had the desire and ambition to run his own
company. His vision, which he is now bringing to realisation, was (and is) to supply high-
quality, competitively-priced precision machined components to customers. The firm’s
ultimate ambition is to grow through the development of long-term partner relationships.
Part and parcel of these plans was to relocate the business to new premises and increase
the company’s in-house machining resources. Macro Manufacturing’s decision to invest in
the new Lynx 2600SY was made for a number of reasons.
“I knew that having access to a multi-tasking turning centre would enable us to expand our
customer base and take on more complex, and hopefully, more profitable work,” he
explains. “A lathe with integrated Y axis, sub-spindle and driven tooling capabilities would
allow us to machine precision parts to completion in one set-up and avoid the problem of
production bottlenecks that stem from transferring parts between machines. Furthermore,
the machine’s ability to run unattended, we believed, would make us more efficient and
productive.”
Having already experienced a Lynx 2100SY lathe in his previous employment, Forbes
approached Mills CNC to enquire about the availability of a larger capacity Lynx 2600SY.
“I liked Mills’ proactive approach from the outset,” he says. “They were interested in our
plans and made the investment process simple and straightforward.”
Mills CNC describes the 10” chuck/81 mm bar capacity Lynx 2600SY as a popular and proven
compact turning centre featuring a powerful, high-torque main spindle (18.5 kW/3500
rpm/403 Nm), a 6” chuck 4500 rpm sub-spindle and 6000 rpm driven tooling capabilities.
The lathe also features a ±52.5 mm Y axis, a 12-station/24-position servo-driven turret,
roller LM guideways and FANUC 0iTP control. In addition, the machine supplied to Macro
Manufacturing is equipped with an automatic tool setter, a Filtermist oil mist extraction unit
and 20 bar fixed coolant capability.
Says Forbes: “The Lynx 2600SY is a highly productive machine that’s ideal for fast and
accurate small parts processing. Since installation, our new lathe has been put through its
paces machining a range of complex parts and hasn’t missed a beat. The Lynx 2600SY has
made us more competitive. It’s proved more than instrumental in us acquiring new
customers and securing repeat business with many existing ones.”
Macro Manufacturing is not a company that rests on its laurels or leaves anything to chance.
In the not-too-distant future, the business will relocate again to larger premises, take on
additional staff and, as part of its commitment to continuous improvement, invest in more
advanced machine tools and ancillary technologies.

The company has ambitious growth plans for the future and, with Forbes at the helm, it is a
safe bet that Macro Manufacturing will bring these plans to fruition.
More information www.millscnc.co.uk