Founded in 1955, Skelmersdale-based Kirkham Engineering has established a reputation as a specialist in the production of repetition turned parts on CNC fixed-head and sliding-head machines. With decades of experience and a machine inventory supplied by a host of manufacturers down the generations, the latest machine to be installed is a Nakamura Tome AS-200L turning centre from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).

The Nakamura AS-200-LMYSF follows a previous AS-200L acquisition from ETG that arrived in 2017.

Financial director Barry Lynam says: “The AS-200-LMYSF can be set-up extremely quickly and this gives us flexibility for small batch runs of fast turnaround parts. It can respond far quicker than our more complex machines. The machine has a large work envelope in a small footprint and is extremely robust, which is perfect for heavy-duty cutting.”

Supplied as a complete package by ETG, the AS-200-LMYSF arrived with tooling, a Hydrafeed MSV-65 bar feed (plus BSU bar support unit to give 1.5 m) and a swarf conveyor, making the machine ready-to-run on the day it arrived. The machine has a maximum turning diameter of 280 mm with a maximum through-spindle bar diameter of 65 mm.

“We already have highly capable twin-spindle and twin-turret machines, but we wanted something that had a smaller footprint and was faster to program and get up and running – the AS-200L fitted the bill,” says Lynam. “Unlike the larger machines, the AS-200-LMYSF is the latest-generation machine with the new FANUC CNC and NT Machine Simulation and NT Collision Guard from Nakamura Tome. This allows us to rapidly program and simulate our components, and run the first part with confidence and speed.”

For further information
www.engtechgroup.com