Whitehouse Machine Tools Ltd

The sixth generation of ultra-high-precision turning centres from Spinner, Germany, which started manufacturing them in the 1950s, was presented on the manufacturer's stand at AMB 2018. Available in the UK and Ireland through Whitehouse Machine Tools, the new Microturn lathe is built in two sizes and is capable of producing components to well within five microns dimensional tolerance in series production.

Tony Bess, Director of Subcontract Machinists Plalite, has invested £3m in capital equipment in three years, including purchasing two Japanese-built Speedio M140X2 30-taper mill-turn centres from Brother, supplied by Whitehouse Machine Tools. The first of the five axis machines was installed in mid-2017 and proved so successful that a second was added six months later. 

Moving its prismatic machining capability forward with the purchase of its first 5-axis vertical-spindle machining centre (VMC), East Sussex-based subcontractor, Dicker Precision, is now using the German-built Spinner U620 Compact, which is supplied as a turnkey package with tooling, the initial part program and training by UK and Ireland agent, Whitehouse Machine Tools, Kenilworth.

German manufacturer, Spinner, represented in the UK and Ireland by sole agent Whitehouse Machine Tools, Kenilworth, has announced the new VC1650 5-axis machining centre. Anyone needing to machine complex components weighing up to two tonnes within an 820mm cube may wish to review it. Rigidity and accuracy are assured by deploying a +1°/-110° B-axis spindle to provide the fifth CNC axis, avoiding having to swivel the rotary table.

When you look at the cuboid aluminium components produced for medical diagnostic equipment by subcontractor AES Precision Engineering, you'd think they were milled, drilled and tapped on a machining centre rather than a lathe; indeed they used to be, from sawn billet in two separate operations on a pair of 3-axis vertical-spindle machines in a total cycle time of 12 minutes. Since April this year, they have been machined complete from round bar in one operation in an Italian-built Biglia B565-YS 6-axis turn-mill centre supplied by UK agent Whitehouse Machine Tools.

Dicker Precision Components, at its East Sussex factory of subcontract machinists, has a Biglia twin-turret, twin-spindle CNC turning centre supplied by Whitehouse Machine Tools, which has streamlined the production of a family of aluminium switch cover assemblies. The savings are so great that the cycle time for producing one part of the assembly has been halved while the other part is produced in a little over one-third of the time.

An updated version of Brother’s Speedio M140X1 5-axis, 30-taper mill-turn centre has been introduced. The Speedio M140X2, the machine was launched at Jimtof 2016 last November and is available in the UK and Ireland through sole agent, Whitehouse Machine Tools.

  The ranges of 3, 4, and 5-axis Vertical Machining Centres (VMCs) from Spinner, have been uprated in response to suggestions from end users. Whitehouse Machine Tools, explains here the improvements the U-630 and U-1530 have made.

A vertical-spindle machining centre has been introduced by Spinner, which despite having a working envelope of 1,650x820x820mm, occupies a relatively small footprint on the shop floor of 3,550x2,750mm. Its compactness is a result of employing a novel method for protecting the 1,800x820mm table’s X and Y axis guideways from swarf and coolant ingress using a single wiper system and without recourse to telescopic covers.

Known to produce significant reductions in cycle times, compared with multiple set-ups on several machine tools, is single-hit production. However, few applications result in a time saving as great as that being achieved by Plymouth subcontractor, Morris Engineering, during the production of a military aircraft gyroscope part from S420 stainless steel bar.

The first 30-taper vertical machining centre (VMC) has been installed by Ilfracombe subcontract machinists, Richmond CNC, to cope with a steep increase in medical and aerospace work. It is a twin-pallet Speedio R650X1, built by Brother in Japan, and has transformed the speed and efficiency with which parts are manufactured, according to the subcontractor’s managing director, Gary Rich.

A new, CNC turn-mill centre called Quattro B436Y2, with two Y-axis tool turrets and two opposed C-axis spindles, has been introduced by the Italian firm, Biglia, whose sole sales and service agent for the UK and Ireland is Whitehouse Machine Tools, Kenilworth. Quattro lathes have been produced since 1990 and are now in their third generation. They are especially well suited to machining of tough alloys due to their sturdiness and high power.

By employing a novel method for protecting the table’s X and Y axis guideways from swarf and coolant ingress, using a single wiper system and without recourse to telescopic covers Spinner, has managed to endow its new VC1150 vertical machining centre with a working volume of 1,150 x 620 x 600 mm in a compact footprint of barely six square metres. This is up to 30 per cent smaller than for other machines of similar capacity.

With a specification that includes 1g or higher linear acceleration to 60 m/min rapid traverse and 20 m/min cutting feed, 1.2 seconds tool-to-tool change and seven seconds pallet change, the new Akari 450j 4-axis horizontal machining centre from Whitehouse Machine Tools is one of the most productive on the market for producing components within a nominal 600 mm cube.

In the past year, a new name in metalcutting equipment has come to the fore in the UK since Whitehouse Machine Tools, Kenilworth, took over the sole sales and service agency for Spinner Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik GmbH, near Munich. It gives British manufacturers the option of buying top quality, European-built machines at prices that are more competitive than those offered by more established names.

Manchester-based Renthal is changing its rear chainwheel (sprocket) manufacturing process from CNC drilling followed by a sequence of manual operations to virtually one-hit production on a pair of Brother machining centres. The Japanese-built, high-speed, twin-pallet machines were installed in January 2012 by UK agent, Whitehouse Machine Tools.

From 25th to 29th June, manufacturers will have a chance to review the latest products from German machine tool builder, Spinner, at an open house being staged by recently appointed UK and Ireland agent, Whitehouse Machine Tools. Anyone wishing to attend the event in Kenilworth should complete the form on the company's website.

Tried and tested designs and components used by leading global machine tool manufacturers have been selected by Averex Automation, Taichung, to produce the Akari HS-450i horizontal-spindle machining centre (HMC). By choosing only the best constituents and coupling them with a lower cost manufacturing base in Taiwan, the company is able to build a very high precision machine at a competitive price.

An aluminium billet was put on a new Brother TC-22B-O vertical machining centre shortly after it arrived last summer (2010) at the Crediton works of Adaero Precision Components.

High-pressure diecasting specialist, Kemlows, provides a one-stop-shop solution to customers' manufacturing needs, from consultation through product design or re-engineering to casting production, machining, finishing, assembly and on-time supply of top quality products.