THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Hyperbat wins major Lotus contract

A UK manufacturer of electric vehicle battery packs has sealed a multi-million-pound contract to supply Lotus with batteries for its new all-electric Evija, said to be the world’s most powerful production car.Hyperbat was formed to bring together Williams Advanced Engineering’s (WAE) EV battery expertise with Unipart’s capability in manufacturing safety-critical products for premium OEMs.

Full production of the battery packs will take place on the firm’s new production line at Unipart Manufacturing Group’s site in Coventry, where the manufacturing process will involve assembling 12,000 components split across 500 unique parts, with 100,000 welds in each pack. The mid-mounted battery pack will support a target output of 2000 PS, and performance targets of 0-62mph in under three seconds and a top speed of over 200mph.
For further information www.hyperbat.com

CADCAM suite adds new tool-making function

In the mould and die industry, Open Mind says that its hyperMILL CADCAM suite is regarded as a complete end-to-end solution as it can cover aspects such as electrode manufacturing and wire EDM. Now, it is the introduction of the five-axis radial machining function that takes centre stage.

The new function is suitable for the process-optimised production of round moulds, where surfaces cannot undergo hand finishing or polishing operations. For components such as blow moulds that are applied in vehicle bumper production or consumer goods bottles, high-quality machined surfaces are critical as secondary hand finishing can introduce optical facets and surface inconsistencies that may appear in downstream processing.

According to Open Mind, improvements to the current version of hyperMILL – combined with five-axis radial machining – are setting standards in blow-mould machining. Thanks to a new radial projection method, it is possible to calculate tool paths extremely quickly, and the user can apply various machining strategies to respond flexibly to the component conditions.

The new ‘Flow Equidistant’ infeed strategy is the first of its kind that supports the generation of tool paths with a constant infeed for vertical and challenging surfaces. This capability means that surfaces can integrate into the overall machining sequence, with processing taking place in a single step. Seamless machining with a very high surface quality is guaranteed, reports the company. Every machining sequence needs to produce sharp corners at the junction of the upper and lower halves of the mould to avoid problems during the moulding process. An automatic tangent extension feature eliminates the manual CAD steps needed to extend the numerous surface elements found in complex designs.
For further information www.openmind-tech.com

Open house success for Hurco

Despite all the headwinds in the economy, manufacturing has had a buoyant 2022, if Hurco’s experience selling its machine tools is anything to go by. Order intake in monetary value was close to a record high, beaten only just by the exceptional figures posted in 2018. To provide further evidence, 70 companies pre-registered to attend the company’s open house at its headquarters in High Wycombe last month. A total of 104 people attended over the two days, generating £650,000 of sales.

Managing director David Waghorn says: “The outlook for 2023 is good. The vast majority of our customers are subcontractors and all seem very busy. There are raised levels of activity in the aerospace and oil and gas sectors, both are now booming after being in the doldrums for an extended period, while motorsport is perennially active. Against this backdrop, we needed to employ five new service engineers in 2022 and we continue to recruit more.”
For further information www.hurco.co.uk

Back on the investment trail with a vengeance

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of DN Solutions’ (formerly Doosan) machine tools and a major automation systems’ provider to UK and Irish component manufacturers, has recently supplied precision subcontract specialist, Lenane Precision, with a new DVF 5000 simultaneous five-axis machining centre.

The machine, the third DVF 5000 to arrive at the company in as many years, was delivered and installed at Lenane’s modern production facility in Shannon, County Clare in September 2022. Notably, the latest DVF 5000 has significantly increased the company’s machining capacity and capabilities, and is seeing use at this moment in time to produce a range of complex components for aerospace and medical device customers. These components, made from aluminium, stainless and titanium, have intricate features, tight tolerances and exacting surface finishes.

Says Jim Lenane, managing director at Lenane Precision: “Machining prototypes and first-article components for the highly regulated aerospace and medical sectors means that there is little room for manoeuvre or discrepancy from product design to production result: parts need to be right first time, every time.”

He adds: “The new DVF 5000 has been deliberately positioned adjacent to the flexible automated manufacturing cell that was installed in March 2020. The new DVF 5000 complements and works in tandem with the cell.”

The automated cell – a sophisticated, complex and modular turnkey solution designed by Lenane in conjunction with Mills CNC – comprises two DVF 5000 machining centres and a FANUC industrial robot integrated by a robot positioning track that runs between both machines to enable fast, efficient and reliable part loading and unloading operations to occur. Other elements of the cell include an integrated racking system, holding up to 36 pallets (400 x 400 mm, each with a 140 kg maximum load). The company aims to get 20 hours pf machining operation from the cell every day.
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

Renishaw opens technology centre in India

To support its rapidly growing customer base in India, Renishaw opened a new technology centre in Bangalore last month. The new facility provides customers with access to demonstrations of the company’s solutions for metrology and material analysis. Spanning 12,000 sq m, the site houses Renishaw’s technical, operations, and sales and marketing teams, as well as the warehouse and technology centre.

The centre allows companies to work with engineers to understand how their processes can become more efficient and productive using Renishaw technologies. Visitors will be able to view demonstrations of the company’s product portfolio, including its metrology equipment for process control applications. The investment is seen as crucial in enabling Renishaw to keep up with India’s rapid industrial growth.
For further information www.renishaw.com