THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

College hosts landmark Haas facility

West Nottinghamshire College (WNC) has become the UK’s first Gene Haas Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, bringing a major investment in engineering facilities and training programmes for students, apprentices and employers.The link-up will see the college awarded £500,000 to develop its engineering facilities and employer-focused curriculum, aimed at growing the number of skilled manufacturers in the local area and beyond.

The money will fund improvements to the college’s Engineering Innovation Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield, by remodelling the building to dedicate a larger area of its groundfloor to manufacturing, automation and robotics. WNC will also construct a new mezzanine floor containing classrooms overlooking the existing open-plan workshop space.In addition, the college will rebrand the building, which currently boasts six Haas CNC machines used by engineering students and apprentices, as the Gene Haas Centre for Advanced Manufacturing.
For further information www.wnc.ac.uk

Subcontractor takes-off with 18th Nakamura-Tome

West End Precision is now in possession of its 18th Nakamura-Tome turning centre from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG). The Bideford-based subcontractor serves the automotive, aerospace and general subcontract manufacturing supply chain; all industries that have faced challenges in recent years – but business is certainly booming now. In 2022, the company took delivery of a Nakamura-Tome NTY3-150, a WT150II and it has just added to the plant list with a Nakamura WT150IIF, the third WT150 series machine in 18 months. With over 15 sliding head lathes, multi-spindle autos, centreless grinding and 18 Nakamura machines, West End Precision is no run-of-the-mill manufacturing business.

Alex Dziurzynski from West End Precision says: “We are predominantly a high-volume manufacturer and we’ll typically set the machine and run it for a long time. We do all the programming at the console; we don’t do any offline programming and the onus is that once the machine is set, it will keep running. This means we can have one operator running multiple machines and, as long as spindles are turning, we’re making money. The Nakamura machines give us that ability.”

The latest Nakamura-Tome is machining a family of aluminium 6026 components for a brake system manufacturer.

“We machine two different parts in batches of 10,000 to 20,000-off, with the WT150IIF producing around 6000 parts a week,” says Dziurzynski. “The 60mm diameter cast billets were previously machined on a gantry-loaded machine and the major saving has arrived from our ability to change to bar stock and bar-feed the parts on the Nakamura WT150IIF – slashing component loading times.”
For further information www.engtechgroup.com

Cutting plastics down to size and shape

Mills CNChas supplied engineering plastic stockholder and precision subcontract machining specialist, Plastim Ltd, part of the Omnia Plastica SpA Group, with a new, large-capacity multi-tasking turning centre.The machine, a DN Solutions’ 12” chuck Puma 3100Y equipped with a 3000rpm spindle, 12-station turret, driven tooling (5000rpm), integrated Y-axis capability (±65mm) and the latest FANUC control is now in situ at the company’s 12,000sq ft facility in Cheltenham.

The Puma 3100Y sits in close proximityto three other Doosan lathes supplied by Mills CNC over the past 10 years and is machining a range of high-precision plastic parts for a growing number of UK customers operating in the oil and gas, aerospace, motorsport, electronics, transport, chemical, energy, food processing, and materials handling sectors, to name but a few.

The other machines supplied by Mills CNC that Plastim has at its disposal comprise a Puma 3100LY (installed in 2013), a Lynx 220LYA (2017), and a Lynx 300 (2021). All of the machines have FANUC controls ensuring easy program and part transfer between machines.

Says Warren Ironside, Plastim’s operations director:“Our Puma and Lynx lathes are real workhorses. They are powerful, fast, accurate and flexible.A number have Yaxes and driven tooling, enabling them to mill and drill components, as well as machine a range of features likegrooves, threads and other complex geometries, quickly, seamlessly and in one set up.Our lathes, backed by Mills CNC’s aftersales service and support, ensure that we’re able to meet the high accuracy, tight tolerance and fast turnaround demands of our customers.”
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Vision Engineering Group names new MD

Microscope, 3D inspection and metrology specialist Vision Engineering is appointing Sam Crossley as the company’s newmanaging director, a role that will draw upon his extensive global leadership and financial experience.Previously a member of the senior leadership team at Rotork, which employs over 3700 employees in 39 countries, Crossley has comprehensive market knowledge in the oil and gas, petrochemical, mining and automation markets. Current managing director Mark Curtis will continue to head the board as CEO, focusing on strategic development and wider group growth opportunities.
For further information www.visioneng.com

World Machinery to stage open house event

World Machinery is hosting an open day at its Bridgnorth headquarters in Shropshire on 19-20 July. The company will use the event to showcase the latest Bodor fibre laser cutting technology, including a 30 kW, 3000 x 1500 mm P3 model. World Machinery will also promote a Bodor T230A tube laser cutter for round, square and rectangular tube, as well as a Bodor i7 compact fibre laser cutter with 6 kW resonator. Several press brakes will also be on show, including a GHBend 1132ES pump-control model (110 T x 3200 mm) and a GH-3512 up-stroking machine with double side quick-release clamp as standard.
For further information www.worldmc.co.uk