Wednesbury-based aluminium foundry Alucast has completed a £2.25m investment drive by upgrading its casting capability and opening a new 7000 sq ft machine shop to support the growing demand of its automotive customer base for lightweight, complex components.

Following the investment, the company can now call upon a total of 20 CNC machines at any one time, with five of those being five-axis machining centres. This latest equipment, which has been supplied by the Engineering Technology Group (ETG), delivers a 30% increase in capacity to take on up to £3m of new projects.
For further information www.alucast.co.uk

LK Metrology is set to unveil the Altera C ceramic-bridge CMM range from stand H4 at Advanced Engineering.

Using the latest metrology software, multi-sensor technology and CMM design, the compact systems are intended for demanding quality control applications. Built at the company’s factory near Derby, Altera C machines are available in three sizes – 7.7.5, 10.7.5 and 10.7.7 – their respective X, Y and Z-axis movements being 700 x 650 x 500 mm, 1000 x 650 x 500 mm and 1000 x 650 x 650 mm.
For further information www.lkmetrology.com

Pryor Marking Technology is to showcase its range of solutions for identification and traceability.

Located at stand H9, the company’s focus for this year’s exhibition will be laser marking. For the first time in the UK, Pryor will demonstrate its laser workstation, a large, modular floor-standing laser engraving machine. In addition, visitors to the stand will see demonstrations of a portable laser. A PortaDot P50-25 with 4000 Controller, and a PortaDot P130-30 for heavy industrial use will be among other machines on the stand.
The company has extensive experience in supplying global automotive brands and supply chains with marking and traceability technologies. Pryor offers standard and custom technologies for all sizes of manufacturer within the automotive supply chain. Every Pryor laser is supplied in Class 1 light safe enclosures, including the laser VIN cells that were recently installed in the production facilities of Jaguar Land Rover.
For further information www.pryormarking.com

CIS Tools will use Advanced Engineering to launch the Will-Fill coolant control device to the UK market.

Will-Fill is available in three variants, depending on machine sump depth, detecting level fluctuations of 120, 220 or 520 mm respectively. Seven parameters are measured by the system: pH level, concentration of oil/water mix, water hardness, coolant temperature, oil usage, water usage and coolant level. The device, which will be present on stand I73, works with any metalworking fluid, filling and refilling automatically to predetermined levels and concentrations.
For further information www.cis-tools.co.uk

A new stream-finishing machine featuring OTEC Präzisionsfinish patented pulse-drive technology ‘Pulsfinish’ has arrived at UK precision surface-finishing specialist, Fintek. The new machine follows on from the delivery of a new-generation OTEC stream finishing machine in July.

Fintek operations manager Jamie Phillips says: “The difference Pulsfinish makes to mass finishing is substantial. Pulse finishing produces rapid relative motion between the media and workpiece by quickly changing the rotational direction of the work-holding heads in a programmed and controlled way. High-speed acceleration and deceleration increases the finishing forces exerted on the workpiece, making it possible to accurately and evenly deburr, round and smooth surfaces from Rpk 0.2 µm to 0.1 µm, in under a minute.
“The pulse-finishing equipped SF machine is ideal for meeting the needs of the aerospace, high level motorsport, automotive, medical device and tool making industries,” adds Phillips.
Another important sector where ‘Pulsfinish’ is set to make a difference is the mass finishing of additively manufactured components. Recently, Fintek used the system as part of an Innovate UK sponsored research project that brought together a team of experts under the leadership of Croft Additive Manufacturing (CAM). The project also included Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).
In addition to Fintek’s subcontract services, the company is also the UK agent for OTEC Präzisionsfinish’s range of centrifugal disc, drag and stream-finishing systems. Everything from stand-alone units to fully automated systems for inline production are available from Fintek, along with process media, consumables and expertise.
For further information www.fintek.co.uk