UK NEWS

Unlocking the language of electrification

A landmark initiative that aims to unlock the universal language of electrification launched recently at a major event in London.Over 100 industry experts were present at the Museum of London to take a first look at The Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Body of Knowledge (PEMDBoK). This new resource is set to align understanding of the essential skills and capabilities required by the sector.Hosted on the Electric Revolution Skills (ERS) Hub, individuals, employers, course providers, recruiters and companies can sign up to access information on the skills, competencies and training needed to work in PEMD.
For further information www.ershub.co.uk/body-of-knowledge

Unison launches consumable tooling service

Unison Ltd, a UK manufacturer of tube and pipe bending machinery, is introducing a new bend tooling service to make it simple for businesses to receive quality consumable tooling precisely wheneverrequired.The result of a £500,000 investment to date, with a further £250,000 spend planned by Christmas 2023, at the heart of the service is a new tooling manufacturing centre at Unison’s Scarborough headquarters. From here, the company prepares tailored tooling agreements, with around £100,000 worth of tooling, including mandrel balls and wiper dies, held in stock.

“We’ve been aware of a gap in the consumable bend tooling market for some time,” says Unison sales applications engineer Luke Gibson. “As such, we wanted to extend our tooling service to provide even greater convenience to Unison customers, while also giving users of other makes of tube bending machines rapid access to our consumable and long-life products.”
For further information www.unisonltd.com

XYZ helps PJ Innovations make lots of dough

Market Deeping based PJ Innovations makes dough divider-rounder machines (and theirassociated spare parts) for the bakery industry. When the company formed in 2014 it subcontracted all component manufacturing requirements. However, PJ Innovations started investing in XYZ Machine Tools in 2016 to bring some of the work in-house.

The company’s first purchase was an XYZ Proturn SLX 425 lathe with ProtoTRAK control, which it uses for turning large shafts 90mm diameter and 1m long in batches up to 100.The Proturn SLX 425 is a gap-bed lathe with a capacity of 2m and swing over the bed of 480mm. The extra length gives options for longer shafts. Notably, the operator has 20-30 tools ready set, so switching between programs stored in the control unit takes just 5-10 minutes.

For frame plates and the many parts which require lots of drilling, tapping and boring, the company takes advantage of an XYZ SMX 5000 with ProtoTRAK control and 1930 x 356mm table. Programming takes place at the control and fast changeover between jobs makes this machine suitable for 1-offs and low batch sizes.

The most recent acquisition is an XYZ 1000 TMC with ProtoTRAK RMX control. Manufacturing manager James Goode says: “The tool changer speeds machining up a lot and the enclosed cutting area is better from a safety and cleanliness perspective. We also like the handwheels on all XYZ machines, which allow us to move backwards and forwards through a program to prove it out. You can easily learn to program the ProtoTRAK in one day.”

PJ Innovation’s new XYZ 1000 TMC is for component batches of up to 50-off that need drilling, boring and tapping. Additionally, tool setting is easy using the touch probe, with offsets recorded in the control by pressing the ABS set button.
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Toolmaker gets right tool for the job

As a small subcontract toolmaking and machining business, Precision Engineering Services (Buxton) Ltd has carved a niche in the production of press and mould tools for the construction and DIY sectors. As part of these activities, the business undertakes a significant amount of wire EDM work, which is why it has just invested in a Mitsubishi MV1200S wire EDM machine from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).

The Buxton-based manufacturer has a selection of manual and CNC machine tools as well as a die-sink EDM machine and a wire EDM. However, with the company’s 12-year-old Mitsubishi BA8 wire EDM being the busiest machine, its precision levels were sadly diminishing after more than a decade of non-stop operation.

“After more than 10 years of non-stop running, the ball screws on our existing Mitsubishi BA8 wire EDM were deteriorating and maintaining precision was becoming more of a challenge,” explains managing director Chris Barlow.“We knew that a new machine would be the best route forward. With linear drive technology and tubular shaft motors instead of ball screws, the new MV1200S has a 12-year accuracy warranty and an optical drive system that provides circular accuracy within 1μm, so we won’t have this concern in the future.”

With regard to overall cutting time, Barlowsays: “The speed of cutting is always restricted by the wire. However, features that would take four passes to finish on the BA8 are now possible in three or sometimes two passes with our new MV1200S. This improves our productivity by 25% and even 50% in some cases.”

This impressive productivity improvement is credit to the new V350 generator, which has a significantly higher effective clock rate.
For further information www.engtechgroup.com

Paperless shop floor

AMRC Cymru is set to become the first facility in the University of Sheffield AMRC cluster to run a completely paperless shop floor.Senior manufacturing research engineer Anmar Al-Qutayri devised theidea, which uses computer software and an interlinked touchscreen kiosk to house all the necessary documents for a shop floor to function safely.Al-Qutayri says the system is very easy to use: “One of the best things about it is you can store as many documents as needed, all in one place, and complete updates quickly without the need to use countless sheets of paper.”
For further information www.bit.ly/46orl4N