THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Wearable robotic exoskeletons

IUVO, a spin-off company of the BioRobotics Institute (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna) in the field of wearable technologies, has recently received a joint investment from Comau and Össur. The objective of IUVO is to create wearable, intelligent and active tools for a better quality of life. Here, the first concrete examples are robotic exoskeletons capable of aiding and improving the quality of life for workers in the industrial and service fields, and for medical patients in need of improved mobility.

A fundamental aspect of the venture is the joint desire to progress and evolve human-machine collaboration within diverse sectors, including biomedical, manufacturing and consumer. With headquarters inside the Comau HUMANufacturing Innovation Centre in Pisa, and a group of engineers and researches, IUVO is leveraging the shared competencies of the extended team to develop and commercialise wearable technologies.
For further information www.comau.com

Bystronic open house well attended

Nearly 100 people attended Bystronic UK’s latest three-day open house held at its Coventry showroom during September 2017. Visitors were able to see many of the latest technological advances from the Swiss company and witness presentations and practical demonstrations.

The event also allowed engineers to catch up on advances announced at Bystronic’s ‘Competence Days’ held in June at group headquarters in Niederönz. These included manufacturing software, MES, which is being developed in collaboration with Spanish company, Lantek; ByCockpit, an Industry 4.0-compatible app that monitors sheet metal machining processes in real time; a new rotary axis for processing tube on a ByStar Fiber flat-bed laser cutting machine; and Xpert 80, a new press brake that can be moved around a factory by fork lift truck, yet offers a bending capacity of 80 tonnes over 1.5 m in a footprint of less than 3 sq m.
For further information www.bystronic.co.uk

Students come to Rupert’s aid

Engineering students at Cornwall College responded magnificently to a telephone call from the owner of Rupert, a retired greyhound who was struggling to walk due to chronic arthritis in his back legs. As part of their BTEC level 3 CNC training, the students designed and manufactured a special harness from aluminium, titanium and carbon fibre, making use of machine tools from XYZ in the college workshop along with Mastercam software.

The parts for the harness were initially sketched out on paper before being finalised using Mastercam. Data for the main frame of the harness was then transferred to the college’s XYZ Mini Mill 560 vertical machining centre for milling, profiling and drilling, with other fittings turned on the workshop’s XYZ SLX 1630 ProTurn lathe. As a result of these efforts, Rupert now has improved mobility and his quality of life is vastly improved.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Inflexion agrees Xtrac buyout

Inflexion Private Equity has agreed the buyout of Xtrac Ltd, a specialist in the design and manufacture of transmissions for the motorsport and automotive industries. Xtrac’s established management team will remain with the business, overseeing the company’s future expansion as a result of this investment. It is planned that more staff will be added to 330 already employed, while the Xtrac factory at Thatcham will be extended and additional machinery introduced.

Adrian Moore managing director of Xtrac, says: “Inflexion shares our values; its investment will accelerate our ambitious growth strategy, developing the next generation of high-end transmission systems and expanding our coverage of the high-performance hybrid and electric car transmission market. The partnership supports Xtrac’s ethos of employee ownership, and our team looks forward to a new chapter in the continuing development and growth of our company.”
For further information www.xtrac.com

Lathe takes over production of prismatic parts

Looking at the cuboid aluminium components produced for medical diagnostic equipment by subcontractor AES Precision Engineering, one would think they were milled, drilled and tapped on a machining centre rather than a lathe; indeed they used to be, from sawn billet in two separate operations on a pair of three-axis vertical-spindle machines in a total cycle time of 12 minutes.

However, since April this year, they have been machined complete from round bar in one operation on an Italian-built Biglia B565-YS 6-axis turn-mill centre supplied by UK agent Whitehouse Machine Tools. Program run time has more than halved to 5.5 minutes, accuracy is improved and there is no handling between machines or work-in-progress on the shop floor, significantly reducing the cost of production. Only two turning tools can be found in the machine’s 12-station turret, one for facing the bar end and another for parting-off, the remainder are axially and radially driven tools.

Mark Wilson, director of the family-run subcontracting firm, says: “We asked four potential suppliers to offer a turnkey package based on production of the aluminium medical part. Whitehouse demonstrated the best process in terms of quality, capability and cost on a Biglia lathe at its Kenilworth technical centre.”
Production engineer Trevor Orman adds: “The quality of the Italian lathe is high for this class of machine, costing under £200,000 with tooling. Although tolerances on the medical part are fairly open at 0.1 mm, the Biglia repeats to within microns, which means we no longer have to chase tolerance all day as the temperature varies on the shop floor.
“The machine’s accuracy will also be invaluable for the production of more tightly toleranced components, while its rigidity means that tool wear is noticeably lower than on our other lathes,” he concludes.
For further information www.wmtcnc.com