THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Student success in robotics

The winners of the 2023 WorldSkills UK Industrial Robotics competition, held in conjunction with FANUC UK, were announcedat an awards ceremony in Manchester last month. Representing the best of the UK’s rising robotics talent, Hannah Currie and Peter O’Neill from Northern Regional College in Northern Ireland beat over 50 talented young apprentices and students to take gold at the national finals, which were held over three days at FANUC’s UK headquarters in Coventry. The duo now have the chance to represent Team UK at the WorldSkills International Industrial Robotics competition in 2024.
For further information www.bit.ly/484XXBj

Knowledge Hubs will be core theme at MACH

MACH 2024 (15-19 April, Birmingham NEC), will attempt to help reverse UK manufacturing’s poor record for adopting new technology. The show’s organiser, the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA),is ona mission to spearhead growth by using its flagship event to launch its new Knowledge Hubs initiative.The programme helps manufacturers learn more about the potential offered by the latest technologies, as well as when to adopt it and how to implement it to best effect.

The initiative received a major shot-in-the-arm with the recent announcement of £4.5bn of Government funding to support advanced manufacturing. The funding will directly benefit several of the exhibition’s key themes, especially energy efficiency, with the fund earmarking £960m for clean energy manufacturing through a Green Industries Growth Accelerator.
For further information www.machexhibition.com

Single-opmachining of heavy-duty chains

Precision Chains in Dudley makes heavy-duty roller chains for use in quarrying, agriculture andescalator applications, to list but a few. The smallest chain link is 2” and the biggest can weigh as much as 25kg.

Ian Thomas, general manager of Precision Chains, says: “Our challenge was to find a better way of manufacturing therollers, pins and bushes required for the chains. Previously, we had to turn, mill, cross-drill, drill down the centre, counterbore and deburr them. All these operations were very labour intensive and time consuming with set-ups on up to three machines, not to mention all the handling involved. Furthermore, moving between these machines has an impact on accuracy.”

Precision Chains chose an XYZ TC320 LTY with parts catcher, swarf management and Hydrafeed bar feeder. The XYZ TC320 LTY has a Siemens 828D control with ShopTurn for easy programming of the Y axis and live tools. It can chuck up to 300mm diameter and has a bar capacity with the bar feeder of up to 78mm diameter. The machine features Ceratizit tooling with two sets of live tools for cross drilling, milling flats and machining lubrication spirals. The company also doubles up with some tools performing both turning and facing operations.

“We run the XYZ TC320 LTY from 07:30 to 21:30, making a complete part in one operation with one operator checking the machine from time to time while completing other tasks,” says Thomas. “We’ve also been able to dispose of two machines which we no longer need.”

Four people underwent training on the XYZ TC320 LTY at XYZ Machine Tools’ Nuneaton office and, working from drawings, the trainees were quickly confident in using the machine and Siemens control.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Mills CNC supplies MCS with two more machines

Mills CNC has supplied precision subcontract specialist – Machined Component Systems (MCS) – with two newFANUC-controlled multi-tasking turning centres.The machines, a 10” chuck Puma 2600SY II lathe with sub-spindle and Y axis, and an 8” chuck TT 1800SY twin-spindle, twin-turret turning centre, both featureHydrafeed MSV80 bar feeders.

The latest arrivals have significantly strengthened the in-house machining capacity and capabilities at MCS, taking the total number of machine tools at the company’s disposal to 40, five of which are DN Solutions and Doosan machines supplied by Mills CNC.

Says MCS managing director Warren Gray:“The Puma 2600SY is fast, accurate, powerful and reliable. With its integrated Y axis and sub-spindle the machine is capable of processing high-precision, complex parts in one-hit and, in a relatively short period of time, has proved its worth.It was these capabilities, in addition to its immediate availability, which clinched the deal.”

The investment in the TT 1800SY turning centre arrived as a direct result, back in early 2023, of an existing customer dramatically uplifting its requirements for high-quality mill-turned machined parts. While obviously great news for MCS, the increase in demand, if not addressed quickly and decisively, would have swallowed up a significant proportion of the company’s existing turning capacity.

“The TT 1800SY allows simultaneous machining on both spindles and enables us to perform high-precision milling, drilling and tapping operations in a single set-up,” says Gray. “Byintegrating the machine with a bar feeder we have a ‘de facto’ flexible automated manufacturing cell at our disposal.”
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Nearly 9000 attend Advanced Engineering

Across the two days of the recent Advanced Engineering exhibition at the Birmingham NEC, 8943 attendees witnessed the latest innovations that the UK has to offer. Visitors arrived from companies such asAirbus, Rolls-Royce, IBM, Boeing, McLaren, BAE Systems, Catapult HVM, Jaguar Land Rover and many more. Attendees also had access to over 150 speakers across its forums. More than 400 companies exhibited, with 80% of exhibitor space already sold for the 2024 event, which will take place on 30-31October.

Roy Higginbotham, procurement contract specialist at Leonardo Helicopters, said: “The show was even better than last year. We had an agenda and a list of companies to see depending on the equipment we wanted to buy for the next five years. For us, it’s about having a one-stop shop where you can spend one or two days finding the supplier you need.”
For further information www.advancedengineeringuk.com