Manual/CNC turret mill contributes to healthcare
Manual/CNC turret milling machine gives a medical device manufacturing department total flexibility because it can switch between manual and computer control at any stage in the machining cycle.
XYZ manual/CNC turret mill contributes to quality healthcare Patient care is the top priority for Britain's National Health Service, although delivering a quality healthcare programme demands more than medical expertise. The United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust, for example, depends on its Medical Equipment Management Organisation (MEMO) to provide an effective and systematic approach to medical device management. This involves maintaining sophisticated medical equipment such as MRI scanners and the design and manufacture of anything from a simple surgical instrument to a complex ultrasound-scanning device.
MEMO's ISO 13485-accredited manufacturing facility based at Bristol Royal Infirmary is fully equipped with computerised design systems and machine tools.
Its most recent acquisition is a XYZ SM 1500 manual/CNC turret mill that, according to David Ford, MEMO's mechanical services manager, 'Gives us total flexibility because we can switch between manual and computer control at any stage in the machining cycle.' The new turret mill, he adds, is already a firm favourite with the highly qualified technicians who use it for development and prototype projects.
The 2.25kW/3UP variable speed (75-4200 rev/min) XYZ SM 1500's simple-to-use ProtoTRAK control combines a three-axis circular interpolation capability with numerous canned cycles.
Most parts can be programmed within minutes, and there are time saving DRO features even when working manually.
And for more complex parts CAM or G-code files can be used as well as ProtoTRAK programs that are tool path or geometry based.
With its 660mm (X) by 330mm (Y) by 406mm (Z) machining envelope and robust Meehanite ribbed cast iron construction, the SM 1500, confirms Ford, is ideally suited to MEMO's role as a job shop, sub-contractor and specialist manufacturer of electro/mechanical medical devices.
He describes the activities of the trading arm of the Medical Physics and Bioengineering Department as 'diverse and challenging'.
This, in part, is because MEMO is required to operate on a commercial basis and, in part, because of the sheer variety of work undertaken on behalf of NHS Trusts, private healthcare providers and medical device manufacturers.
'A lot of the components we produce here involve the machining of difficult profiles and various materials, and although they are usually 'one-offs' we find it extremely helpful to be able to produce and store programs for future use,' he says.
'We don't actually manufacture anything you could go out and buy: we take ideas, often the result of discussions with the clinicians, and then turn them into something practical.
MEMO, for example, specialises in the design and development of radiotherapy treatment fixation systems for the secure immobilisation of patients requiring precisely targeted daily treatment.
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