A robot cell installed by CNC Robotics at Autodesk’s Advanced Design & Manufacturing Facility in Birmingham has been busy producing part of the hull for a 3D-printed boat. With a striking design that includes wave-inspired sides and a fin-like form that tapers toward the stern, MAMBO (motor additive manufacturing boat) is a boat like no other, both in its distinctive looks and its use of fibre-reinforced plastic by 3D printing.

Milan-based Moi Composites collaborated on the design of the boat with Autodesk, which provided its Fusion 360 and Netfabb software. Construction of various hull sections took place in both Birmingham and Milan using continuous-fibre manufacturing with robots on both sites. The 3D printing process gives greater durability and performance, while also saving material.

For further information www.cncrobotics.co.uk

A UK manufacturer of round, flat and profile wire has strengthened its senior management team (SMT) with three key appointments. Alloy Wire International, which celebrates 75 years of manufacturing in 2021, has promoted Tom Mander, Andrew Du Plessis and Adam Shaw as managing director designate, technical director and finance director, respectively. The trio will work with the current SMT to help the company in its next stage of development as it looks to maximise a £3m investment in material, drawing machines, spooling equipment and office/factory improvements.

For further information www.alloywire.com

Ametek Precitech, in conjunction with Micro-LAM, Taylor Hobson and Zygo, is creating the Precision Advancement Centre of Excellence (PACE), which will open at Taylor Hobson’s headquarters in Leicester. In essence, the PACE facility is an applications centre for advanced diamond turning manufacturing and metrology. To help improve the facility’s capabilities, Ametek Precitech has supplied a four-axis Nanoform X configured with an Optimus laser-assisted machining system from Micro-LAM. This machine will improve the throughput and quality of diamond-turning processes for hard-to-machine materials.

For further information
www.precitech.com

Whitehouse Machine Tools, the UK and Ireland sales agent for several machine tool manufacturers in the Far East and Europe, has appointed Peter Smith to the new position of sales and marketing director. He is a board member, working alongside joint managing directors Tim Whitehouse and Tom Hughes, and a stakeholder in the business. Smith brings with him a wealth of knowledge and directly relevant experience in rotational and prismatic metal-cutting machinery, having held senior positions in UK machine-tool sales for over two decades, including at subsidiaries of global OEMs.

For further information www.wmtcnc.com

Coventry-based Pailton Engineering has invested in two bespoke universal-joint staking rigs, transforming a manual process into an automated one. The two machines can run simultaneously, to stake 19 or 15 mm universal joints. Pailton says that a huge benefit of the machines is their quality assurance and consistency of component assembly. Similarly, data recorded by the machines offers full traceability to show the build record of universal joints, including assembly pressure parameters. Pailton has located the equipment in a purpose-built cleanroom work area dedicated to universal-joint assembly.

For further information www.pailton.com