Schunk is preparing for the next step of its global growth, with around €85m set to be invested at locations in Brackenheim-Hausen, Mengen and St Georgen in Germany, along with Morrisville in the US, by mid-2020.

The move will create around 42,000 sq m of additional production and administration space. The process started with the US plant in North Carolina, where the new buildings were officially handed over a few weeks ago. As well as expanding the production area, Schunk Intec USA created a generous new administrative building that, through its open architecture, encourages and inspires creativity and lateral thinking.
In addition, €40m is being put into the Competence Centre for Gripping Systems in Brackenheim-Hausen, just 5km from Schunk’s headquarters in Lauffen. The expansion will cover an area of 22,000 sq m and represents a doubling of the existing production area. Schunk is also investing another €30m in the Competence Centre for Lathe Chuck Technology and Stationary Workholding in Mengen, in the district of Sigmaringen. Here, 12,000 sq m will be added for production, research and development. Finally, €5m will be invested at the St Georgen site in the Black Forest, where the production area will double with an increase of 4200 sq m.
For further information www.schunk.com

Having supported users of Citizen sliding-head turning centres for almost 30 years, Floyd Automatic Tooling now has a permanent presence at the new Citizen Machinery UK facility in Brierley Hill.

The company kicked off its residency by exhibiting at the recent open house staged by Citizen in Brierley Hill, which attracted around 300 visitors.
“The expansive range of collets, guide bushes, grippers and machine accessories are continually expanding into specialist solutions that can solve issues for sliding-head turned-part producers which no other UK company can supply,” says managing director Richard Floyd. “This capability has been acknowledged by Citizen with this permanent booth. We probably have the most comprehensive range of tooling and accessories for sliding-head machines in the UK, and our ever-closer partnership will provide opportunities in the future to combine the resources of Floyd Automatic and Citizen Machinery for product presentations, machining trials, project support, and assistance with special applications.”
For further information www.floydautomatic.co.uk

Chester Machine Tools has completed another large installation of machines in the Middle East for a company specialising in oil refinery.

The engineering team from Chester completed the build, commissioning and training on a 3.2 m double-column vertical boring machine with 30-ton table load capacity. This machine was supplied in addition to a large 1 m stroke slotting machine, three 80 mm radial drills, several lathes with up to 6 m centre distance, and universal milling machines.
Anthony Edwards, sales and operations Director says: “We specialise in the supply of machine tools to the international energy sector, providing a product range and network of customer support that meets the highly specific manufacturing requirements of our clients. The construction of the bespoke Chester 3.2 m double-column vertical boring machine and large-scale installation of metal-working machines is a testament to our engineers and the products we supply. We export to over 70 countries worldwide and are proud to add this installation to our increasing blue-chip portfolio.”
For further information www.chestermachinetools.com

The latest version of the hyperMILL CADCAM suite, 2019.1, is now available from Open Mind.

Enhancements include expansion of the finishing module in the hyperMILL ‘MAXX Machining’ performance package. Further highlights include process optimisations, as well as new functions for reducing calculation times.
‘5-axis Prismatic Fillet Finishing’ is a new function in the finishing module of hyperMILL MAXX Machining: thanks to the geometry and automatic setting of the barrel cutter, this feature can be used in accordance with the principle of a high-feed milling cutter.
Processing takes place in a plunging and pulling movement with an extremely high feed, thus optimising performance when using conical barrel cutters, also called circle segment or parabolic cutters. In addition, ball and radius cutters can be used efficiently with this strategy.
Thread-milling options have also been completely redesigned for hyperMILL 2019.1 to improve convenience and ease-of-use for the programmer. The module supports a variety of different thread-milling cutter types and allows easy selection of right-hand and left-hand threads, or the definition of the milling direction from bottom to top, or vice versa. Additionally, the thread-milling feature offers automatic approach and retract macros, a selection of roughing options and simplified programming.
Open Mind’s hyperMILL manages the order of the processing steps with job IDs. Changes to job numbers have so far resulted in recalculations, but these are now avoided to save time. The improvement in job management now means that a job ID can be changed without having to subsequently recalculate the machining job in question. Consecutive numbering of the compound and machining job is controlled via a start value and an increment value. The benefit of this new feature is transparent structuring and reduced calculation times.
For further information www.openmind-tech.com

The latest Heidenhain TNC 620 control is now available as a standard option across the range of heavy-duty vertical machining centres from XYZ Machine Tools.

Customers ordering the XYZ 660 HD, XYZ 800 HD and XYZ 1100 HD VMCs can now choose between the Siemens or Heidenhain control as standard.
“We’ve supplied a Heidenhain control option for many years, but due in part to complexity and cost, found it to be a slow seller,” says Nigel Atherton, managing director of XYZ Machine Tools. “The arrival of the TNC 620, with its touchscreen user interface and latest machine control technology, means the time is right to offer it as a standard fit on machines within our heavy-duty range.”
Heidenhain’s TNC 620 is a successor to the iTNC530 control, which is being phased after 18 years of sales. XYZ’s addition of this control as a standard fit will help to future proof its heavy-duty range of machines and deliver the performance that customers demand, particularly those in the aerospace, mould and die, toolmaking, and education sectors.
“Due to our independence as a machine tool supplier we are free to adapt our range quickly,” says Atherton. “As a result, we can offer the latest in control technology to meet the needs of customers.
“Customers often tend to be loyal to a particular CNC due to their expertise and familiarity with it,” he adds. “Therefore, extending our use of Heidenhain controls to the HD series of machines – we already offer Heidenhain on our flagship UMC-5X machine – is a logical step. With prices starting at just under £60,000 for the XYZ 660 HD featuring the Heidenhain TNC 620, we are confident that this will be attractive to both new and potential customers.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com