UK NEWS

Quest for flexibility brings Nakamura investment

Quest Precision Engineering has been on a trajectory of continuous growth thanks to the acquisition of seven high-end Nakamura-Tome turning centres from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG). The Scottish manufacturer initially acquired two Nakamura-Tome turning centres through the pandemic and has kept adding to the plant list ever since.

The Dundee-based company has four Nakamura-Tome WT150II turning centres, two NTY3-150 turn-mill centres and has just purchased a Nakamura MX-100 from ETG’s Scottish distribution partner RAM Engineering & Tooling.

“We’ve been working with Quest Precision for over 20 years and done a lot of applications together, focusing on productivity and flexibility,” says Ross Milne, company director at RAM Engineering & Tooling. “This is epitomised by the Nakamura MX-100 turn-mill centre with swivelling B axis, opposing spindles and lower turret. We’ve also got a gantry loader and bar feed on the machine. It’s a proper step-change.”

Gordon Deuchars, managing director at Quest Precision, says: “Nakamura one led to Nakamura two in just three months, and then around 18 months later we won a big order. This brought Nakamura three and four online. More recently, we’ve been manufacturing the complex ‘Mark 3’ autonomous valve for the oil and gas industry from Inconel 718. We needed a robust machine to take us to the next level, namely the NTY3-150. We’ve now progressed to the Mark 4 valve, which is why we recently installed the MX-100 multi-axis machine.”

He adds: “Our relationship with ETG has been first class. From the moment we enquired about the first machine they’ve been there for us on every turnkey project. The Nakamura range offers the flexibility, efficiency and reliability that we need as a busy manufacturer in the subcontract field.”

More information www.engtechgroup.com

New machines boost productivity at RWG

Mills CNC has recently supplied RWG (Repair & Overhauls) Ltd with two new DN Solutions CNC machine tools: a Puma VTR 1216M vertical turning lathe and a Puma 3100Y multi-tasking turning centre. Both equipped with FANUC controls, the machines arrived at RWG’s machine shop in Aberdeen in March 2024 and July 2024. They are the first DN Solutions machines installed at the company.

RWG is an international, OEM-approved business that provides repair, maintenance and overhaul services for Siemens industrial aero-derivative gas generators and Rolls-Royce marine gas turbines. These services, which all take place at RWG’s facilities in Aberdeen, start with the stripping down of a customer’s gas turbine or generator for cleaning and inspection prior to component repair and reassembly.

As part of a machine shop upgrade programme, the company is currently replacing older manual machines with new CNC models.

The investment in a DN Solutions VTR 1216M, which has replaced an older large-capacity manual borer, was made to re-machine and repair a wide spectrum of large turbine and generator parts that include engine casings, stator and rotor vanes, housings, shafts, seals, valves, and actuators.

“Since installation, the machine has performed well and is hitting non-negotiable, tight tolerances on the performance-critical parts we repair,” reports Angus Donald, RWG’s production supervisor. “Such has been the support and service from Mills during and after the purchase process, that we decided to place an order with them for a new Puma 3100Y.”

The Puma 3100Y – with its 12-inch chuck, 130 mm Y axis and 5000 rpm driven tooling capabilities – was acquired by RWG as part of larger manufacturing repair project to machine a series of complex, high-precision parts in relatively small volumes for a specific engine’s combustion system.

More information www.millscnc.co.uk

Dugard supplies C&K with six machines

With 75% of its turning centres bought from Dugard, it is safe to say that C&K Precision Engineers is reaping the rewards of working with the south coast machine tool specialist. The Stoke-based manufacturer is a subcontract machining, assembly and fabrication business serving the medical, aerospace, surveillance and general manufacturing sectors. Working in these segments, C&K Precision demands machine tools capable of delivering high-quality, tight-tolerance workpieces from the most challenging material grades. 

Matthew Kelsall, Director at C&K Precision, says: “We moved to a larger facility in 2017 and seen continual grown ever since. There’s a skills shortage and we’re lucky to have a good team around us, but we have to maximise that with the most productive machines.”

That is why six of the company’s eight turning centres have been purchased from Dugard Machine Tools. Alluding to why the second-generation business founded in 1969 keeps returning to Dugard, Kelsall says: “One of the main things is reliability. The first Dugard machine we bought has been with us for six years and it’s been very reliable. It’s a very robust and rigid machine with box guideways, and we need that as we cut many exotic materials.”

As a turner operating four machines at C&K Precision, Matthew Gerrard adds: “The machines are built extremely well, and they perform brilliantly on materials like Inconel 625 and titanium. You can make massive cuts on the Dugard SMEC machines, whereas others might stall. This is due to their high-specification motors and box-way construction. Furthermore, if we’re making parts from titanium with less than 1 mm wall thickness, the Dugard SMEC machines ensure we don’t get any vibration.”

More information www.dugard.com

LSFH repeats order for Biglia lathes

LoneStar Fasteners Hydrobolt (LSFH), a manufacturer of fasteners, bolts and other precision-machined components, has placed a repeat order for turning centres that will further expand CNC turn-milling capacity at its Wednesbury facility. The company has invested £1.5m in six twin-spindle Y-axis lathes built by Biglia in Italy and supplied through sole UK and Ireland agent Whitehouse Machine Tools.

LSFH is buying new lathes to manufacture components more efficiently and precisely in one hit, rather than in two, three or even four operations, as previously. The decision to invest in Biglia was based on lathe rigidity and the power of the spindles and driven tools, which enables the machining of components in stainless steel, titanium and high-nickel alloys. These materials commonly find use in the oil and gas, petrochemical, and power generation sectors, all of which are supplied by LSFH. To preserve surface finish on components and prevent damage after machining, every lathe features a parts catcher and conveyor.

Robbie Beckett, operations director at LoneStar’s Wednesbury facility says: “The first two machines, installed in 2023, were B620YS single-turret turning centres with 80 mm bar capacity, which have enabled us to reduce production costs, improve surface finish on components and increase productivity. They performed exceptionally well over their first year of operation, so we decided to order four more turn-mill centres from the same supplier.”

The next pair of lathes to arrive, in May 2024, were a Biglia B750YS with a single turret and 100 mm bar capacity, and a B465T2Y2, the first with twin turrets. They were followed in August 2024 by an additional B750YS and another twin-turret lathe, a BMX45T2Y2 with superimposed machining capability, facilitating three tools in simultaneous cut.

More information www.wmtcnc.com

FROM ‘ZERO’ TO PROGRAMMING ‘HERO’ WITH HYPERMILL FROM OPENMIND TECHNOLOGIES

As a mechanical engineer who grew up around his father’s historical motorcycles, the stars
were always aligned for Duncan Dunbar to follow his passion and start his own race
engineering business. So, when Dunbar returned to Scotland from studying and working in
high-end motorsport, he got a unit, purchased a machining centre and invested in a
HyperMill CAM system from Open Mind Technologies to help drive his business forward. 
 
As the director and owner of Dunbar Race Engineering, which was founded in 2018 to
deliver design and reverse engineering services, Dunbar rapidly realised that the company
needed to make the next step into manufacturing. This led to the acquisition of a Hurco
VM10i three-axis VMC with a 4 th -axis rotary table, a Mitutoyo CMM and a seat of HyperMill
CAM software.
Specialising in the manufacture and design of components for racing motorcycles and high-
efficiency internal combustion engines, Dunbar’s expertise was initially carved from stints in
British Superbikes and MotoGP before moving into Formula 1. As an engineering team
leader responsible for eight design engineers at Mercedes AMG High-Performance
Powertrains, Dunbar contributed to the Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button World
Championships from 2008 to 2014. However, the draw of Scotland and his motorcycle
passion was too much of a pull. 
 
“Riding from the age of five, I’ve ridden in offroad and road race motorcycle competitions
and worked in motorsport since I left university,” he says. “I worked in the motorsport
industry for the first 15 years of my career, initially in superbikes, MotoGP and then for a
leading Formula 1 team in the engine design and development department. After that, I
took some time out in Scotland, which is when I started designing parts to help friends with
their racing projects. From there it grew into a commercial operation. Initially, I was
designing and then outsourcing production before realising we needed to do it all
ourselves.”
 
To bring manufacturing in-house, Dunbar Race Engineering invested in a machining centre
and a reputable CADCAM system, namely HyperMill. A CMM and a part marker also arrived.
“My manufacturing experience in this context was ‘zero’. I grew up making parts for bikes
on a small Boxford lathe with my dad. I never intended to go down the manufacturing route,
but when the realisation came about and we needed to make the next step, I wanted to
have an approach where we’d have no excuses.”
 

Continues Dunbar: “HyperMill gave us every opportunity to do the best we possibly could.
We weren’t looking at parts thinking ‘we can’t make it’. Our mindset was all about thinking
‘How do we make it?’ With the support of Open Mind and HyperMill, we’ve been able to
make some fantastic parts, especially given our level of experience.”
 
Dunbar Race Engineering is producing a variety of chassis parts for racing motorcycles and
chassis kits. The company also manufactures suspension parts with scanned surfaces or
difficult pockets to machine. 
 
Fabricator Kevin McNulty from Dunbar Race Engineering adds: “I’ve been a fabricator for
over 15 years, and I started working here two years ago – learning how to become a
machinist. It’s been a steep learning curve, finding out how to operate a CNC machining
centre and program our CNC machine. HyperMill has made the journey a lot easier,
particularly with set-ups. Getting all of that into my head as a non-machinist would typically
be a challenge but seeing it all on a screen with HyperMill makes it so much easier to figure
out and interpret what set-up is necessary for each part. The simulation capability is perfect.
It provides you with trust in what you are programming, and you can see that it’s safe to run
the program.”
 
Reflecting upon the journey of Dunbar Race Engineering, Open Mind UK’s sales manager
Simon Docker says: “It’s inspiring to see small British companies grow with the help of
HyperMill. The majority of components on the racing bikes at Dunbar are manufactured
here.
He adds: “Open Mind can help businesses small and large. As a company, we pride ourselves
on our level of support and here we have an example of a team that hasn’t even come from
a machining background. They had no machining knowledge, no knowledge of G-Codes – but
they used our support desk to reach this stage. Dunbar has come from nothing to a business
making fantastic components in a short time.”
 
Adding to this sentiment, Dunbar concludes: “It’s surprised us how quickly we’ve been able
to develop our experience and the type of parts we’re making. There are some components
that we initially considered and were worried that we’d never be able to make them. When
you break jobs down to one face at a time and one machining cycle at a time, and then build
that back into a job list with support from HyperMill – we can see how quickly we’ve
progressed. We can now make components that are pleasing to both us and our customers,
and we’re looking forward to taking on more machining challenges. HyperMill is an enabler.
It allows us to look at components and design things with the knowledge that we can make
them. We know we have the back-up from the applications engineers and the support
centre at Open Mind. That knowledge allows us to take on these projects without any fear
of not being able to deliver.”
More information www.openmind-tech.com