Seco Tools (UK) reports that its ‘Inspiration through Innovation’ (ITI) event, which took place at the company’s Technology Centre recently, was a huge success, with over 750 visitors attending the over two days.Some 16 machining demonstrations took place. Each one focused on an actual or representative customer part, and involved a number of technical partners working together and harmonising their technologies to develop the machining process. Seco provided the cutting tools for all 16 demonstrations.

Other highlights at ITI 2108 included: nine seminars, each led by an industry expert and each covering, in some depth, a relevant and topical manufacturing issue; eight best-practice tutorials focusing, in the main, on the best-practice machining of stainless steels, titanium and nickel-based alloys; and over 40 technical partners showcasing their latest products, services and technology solutions to visitors.
For further information www.secotools.com

Based in Crewkerne, Somerset, VES Precision was established in 1991 to provide a range of precision engineering and subcontract machining services to local companies such as Westland Helicopters (now Leonardo Helicopters) and Normalair Garrett (now Honeywell Aerospace), both of which are located in nearby Yeovil.

Recent substantial investments in advanced, high-yield machine tools have enabled VES Precision to significantly increase its output. As this rise in production had started to place a strain on the company’s inspection provision, VES quality assurance manager Steve Trigg recently investigated CNC CMMs.

After evaluating the merits of CMMs from several leading manufacturers, an Axiom Too HS machine was purchased from Aberlink.

“As our new Aberlink CMM is very easy to use, soon after its installation our operators were up and running,” says Trigg.“In addition to the Axiom Too HS’s improved accuracy specification being able to accommodate high-precision parts, the machine’s automated CNC nature and speed of operation has resulted in considerably quicker throughput in our inspection department.

“Not only has the Axiom Too HS satisfied our current inspection requirements, our new CMM’s speed will enable it to handle any foreseeable increases in production,” he adds.“Also, its accuracy specification will enable the inspection of the most demanding of our components now in the future.”

Available in several capacity variants, the Axiom Too HS boasts an aluminium bridge with a very low thermal mass, making it suitable for use ineither controlled environments or within less than perfect shop-floor conditions. For increased accuracy, air bearings of optimised stiffness are employed on all axes, while a granite Y beam allows the preloading of bridge bearings in both directions.
For further information www.aberlink.com

Uxbridge-based Martin Baker is a specialist in aviation ejector seats, making products that have saved more than 7500 lives to date, with 19 pilots saved in 2018 alone.With quality literally a matter of life or death, for the past 25 years the company has been measuring and controlling its seats and critical life-saving components with the help of metrology expert Mitutoyo.

With ejection seats in all areas of aviation from helicopters and light prop aircraft to fighter jets, Martin Baker currently produces more than 40 seats each month plus a complete variety of components for the regulatory maintenance and repair cycle of existing seats in service. Producing everything from spares for seats dating back to 1949 through to more than 700 parts for each Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) seat, Martin Baker has 25,000 live components and beyond 50,000 parts on its inventory list. With components manufactured by 25 CNC machine tools, at the centre of the 800 employee manufacturing site is a four-machine 72 pallet DMG cell that runs 24 hours a day and 364 days a year.

Ensuring that components conform to the exacting standards of Martin Baker, the company has an inspection department with 55 staff that relies heavily on inspection equipment from Mitutoyo. Discussing the relationship with Mitutoyo, inspection manager Darren Smith says: “Martin Baker has had a long association with Mitutoyo, using hand tools like micrometers, calipers and height gauges, as well as CMMs for more than 30 years. As our company has evolved, so has the technology. We now have five Mitutoyo CMMs, three SurfTest machines, a Contracer, two training kits and the Mitutoyo MeasurLink system for SPC.We also have over 300 Mitutoyo handtools and gauges on-site.”
For further information www.mitutoyo.co.uk