Machining

Over 40 years ago now, Ted Fort OBE, who has recently become an octogenarian, started buying Okuma machining centres and lathes for his company, Fort Vale Engineering, and now it is a global market leader for the manufacture of stainless steel valves and ancillaries used in the tank container industry for transportation of bulk liquids and gases by road, rail and sea.

Transforming efficiency and repeatability, two Heller 5-axis machining centres have been installed, on with turning capability. This mainly benefits the way marine components are machined at an offshore equipment manufacturer and refurbishment centre in the UK. Previously, the process for machining cast steel components was labour intensive, involving highly skilled machinists setting up each part 16 times on manual mills, drilling machines and lathes.

DMG Mori has introduced a powerful, dynamic, compact machining centre said to be universally applicable across the aerospace, mechanical engineering and die and mould sectors. The DMU 340 Gantry has a stable, one-piece, thermo-symmetrical EN-GJS-600 cast iron machine bed featuring comprehensive cooling for high rigidity and accuracy. Working volume is 3,400x2,800x1,250mm, expandable to 6,000mm in the X-axis and 1,500mm in Z.

Hurco plan to present machining solutions for both simple and complex components at the Southern Manufacturing show, taking place in Farnborough 6th-8th February. David Waghorn, Managing Director of High Wycombe-based Hurco Europe stated: "A modern-day subcontract engineering business must focus on the immediate order book, but at the same time has to keep an eye on the future. It is essential to be as flexible as possible and to be able to advance seamlessly to the next level of technology."

To ensure perfect system performance Zero-Max has introduced balancing machines that incorporate pre-balanced CD couplings. Pre-balancing aids the on-machine trim balancing at the time of assembly into the balance machine. CD Couplings are suitable in design and can provide the correct combination of operating characteristics that provide perfect automotive component balancing.

In order to overcome the challenges of chip formation and evacuation when drilling non-ferrous metals, cutting tool and tooling system company, Sandvik Coromant has announced its CoroDrill 880 CVD diamond-coated insert grades, GCN124 and GCN134. The properties of the diamond coating provide long tool life and combine with a chip breaker and geometry designs to guarantee performance when drilling materials such as aluminium.

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.

A seventh 5-axis machining centre has been installed at Preston-based, tier-2 aerospace subcontractor, TGM, primarily to cope with increasing volumes of Airbus A350 work. Two years ago, each month the firm was delivering four port and starboard aircraft wing sets comprising 20 parts each, whereas today 10 sets per month are required and the number will climb further over the next two years.

Also at Productronica this year, Panduit were showcasing its BlackFin Installation Tools which will replace its previous hydraulic power tool line, which will expand the company with over 60 service locations in 41 countries, to ensure that Panduit are readily available worldwide.

Manufacturer of roller bearings for automotive, aerospace and industrial applications, Schaeffler Technologies, has entered into a cooperation project with global machine tool manufacturer DMG Mori. They are testing suitable metals to advance the development of additively manufactured roller bearing components with the aim of realising optimised products that offer greater added value for end customers.