Subcontract machining firm Apel, which specialises in the manufacture of precision components for the aerospace industry, began investing in Citizen CNC turning centres in the 1980s to help raise efficiency. Over time, the company has continued re-investing in modern, productive lathes purchased exclusively from Citizen Machinery UK.

At its Wilmslow facility, Apel today operates nine Cincom sliding-head lathes and one Miyano fixed head model. Together they produce around 50,000 components per month across more than 3000 part numbers. Utilisation of these Citizen CNC lathes and related technologies has led to higher levels of productivity and profitability.

The technology providing the biggest contribution to raising production efficiency at Apel is Citizen’s proprietary LFV (low-frequency vibration) chip-breaking software, which is part of the operating system in the control of three of the six 20 mm capacity Cincom L20s on site. Upon activation, the function breaks what would otherwise be long, stringy swarf into short, manageable chips. Around 50% of material processed by Apel is aerospace-grade stainless steel bar and LFV is especially effective when processing this alloy.

Paul Bowker, Apel’s quality director, says: “We were an early adopter of LFV in 2018 following a visit to Citizen Machinery’s technical centre in Bushey to witness demonstrations. LFV reduces the metal removal rate slightly, so we don’t use it all the time, but it’s really useful to be able to pick and choose when we activate this function.”

Apel also uses Citizen Machinery’s adaptive guide bush (AGB) system, which automatically compensates for variation in bar diameter, preventing stock seizing in the bush. In addition, AGB constantly maintains concentricity to prevent run-out. The user is able to avoid downtime and maintain tight machining tolerances.

More information www.citizenmachinery.co.uk