Large lathes designed for heavy duty machining applications deliver exceptional performance (even during interrupted cutting operations) - and provide unrivalled accuracy.

Large CNC lathes boost machining capabilities Large lathes designed for heavy duty machining applications deliver exceptional performance (even during interrupted cutting operations) - and provide unrivalled accuracy. West Lothian-based precision engineering specialist - Nexus Precision Engineering (Broxburn) - has built its reputation on delivering high quality manufacturing solutions to the oil/gas (off-shore), electronics and medical sectors - and by providing world-class services and support to its growing portfolio of UK customers. The company, first established in 1993 as TMD and then in 1997 as Nexus, now employs over 50 people and has 2 manufacturing locations in Broxburn (near Edinburgh) and in Portlethen, Aberdeen and a surface treatment facility - also based in Aberdeen.

The Nexus Group of companies provides its customers with a total systems solutions service.

For some customers this can include component design and material procurement assistance as well as a complete manufacturing capability that also includes surface coating treatments (phosphate, Molycote, Xylan, etc).

Nexus derives a significant proportion of its sales revenue (over 90%) from the oil/gas sector - and, in order to do this, has differentiated itself from many precision engineering subcontractors operating within the sector, by focusing its considerable resources on the manufacture of large, complex precision components.

To maintain its competitive advantage in this sub-sector - Nexus has invested heavily, in recent years, in advanced CNC machine tool technologies (lathes, milling machines, horizontal borers) and associated inspection equipment - coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), etc These technologies provide Nexus not only with increased manufacturing capacity - but also greater production flexibility and improved quality (part accuracy, surface finish, surface integrity, etc).

The components manufactured by Nexus are mainly made from hard metals, duplex, stainless steels, alloys, Inconel.

They are also generally required in small batches (typically 5-10 off).

These production realities have driven Nexus to invest in high-performance CNC machine tools - machines that not only deliver (and can be relied upon to deliver day in - day out) - but that can also handle and make economically viable - diverse, low-volume part production.

Over the last few years - Nexus has made significant investment in Doosan Daewoo machine tool technologies supplied by machine tool specialist - Mills Manufacturing Technology, Leamington, UK.

The Doosan Daewoo machines now installed at Nexus' Broxburn facility include the following.

* Two Puma 400LM (long bed) lathes.

* Puma 600L (long bed) lathe.

* Puma 400 lathe.

* V500 Vertical Machining Centre.

* H500 horizontal machining centre (just installed July 2006).

The large Doosan Daewoo Puma lathes have been designed for heavy duty machining applications.

They deliver exceptional performance (even during interrupted cutting operations) - and provide Nexus with unrivalled accuracy and repeatability - and, surface finish.

Nexus machines complex parts to close tolerances - often +/-0.005in but, in many instances, +/-0.001in is required.

Similarly exacting standards for surface finish are also demanded with 0.8 micron Ra often being the rule - not the exception.

For tough roughing out operations - both the Puma 400 and 600 machines provide fast and high material removal capability - and this - plus their rapid and responsive positioning and high-speed turret indexing - ensure that Nexus benefits from unmatched machine cycle times, faster work throughput and increased productivity.

The 'long beds' and programmable tailstocks on the Puma lathes extend Nexus' machining capability still further - enabling the company to handle even larger workpieces (Z-axis = 3235mm on the 600 and 2155mm on the 400).

To become successful and maintain a dominant position within the oil/gas sector supply chain - precision manufacturers need to ensure that their manufacturing systems drive down costs; consistently hit stringent delivery times and improve part quality.

Said Fraser Leggat, workshop manager at Nexus: 'We achieve 100% on time delivery here at Nexus - and have zero scrap/waste rates too.

Investing in advanced, highly capable CNC machine tools has helped to maintain our competitive advantage.' He added: 'We face tough and demanding production challenges here at Nexus - but the Doosan Daewoo machines are always able to rise to them.

The machines' capabilities - plus the excellent service and technical back-up we can access from Mills - means that we're well placed to take advantage of the opportunities that exist within the oil/gas sector and other high precision sectors as well.'

Built by Millsite Engineering, the SmartLathez is equipped with precision ballscrews; a 10-hp spindle motor; a 3 3/8" spindle bore supported at three points; a dual-handle manual pulse generator; and a quick-change tool post. The bedways are induction-hardened and ground, and the slideways of the saddle and cross slide are lined with Turcite-B.

Also included is the Centroid T400S control, which provides accuracy to 0.00001". The control can be networked, enabling users to connect to a LAN and transfer files. A 15" color monitor and multi-directional sidearm mount is standard, as is conversational software programming. The six-position electric toolchanger carries out multiple operations via the control.

A 15% increase in business has led to the relocation of machine tool equipment specialist, Holmes UK to larger premises in East Birmingham.

Automatic lathe specialist relocates A 15% increase in business has led to the relocation of machine tool equipment specialist, Holmes UK to larger premises in East Birmingham. Through the move, Holmes consolidates all its operations on the company's former collet manufacturing site at Kings Road, Tyseley. 'Our 27,000 ft2 facility is more than double the size of the premises we previously occupied in Coventry,' explains Managing Director, Tim Holmes.

'By bringing both sides of the business together, we can now streamline our processes to improve customer service across our complete product range.

'The new site not only enables us to reduce lead times on machine tool refurbishment, but also permits expansion of our engineering services department, as well as increased stockholding of our collet and feeder ranges.

This is backed by major investment in a new computerised stock control system, which will enable us to respond more quickly to the demands of both home and export customers.' 'Our new headquarters provide a strong foundation for future development,' adds Holmes.

'We also have a number of exciting new developments in the pipeline.

I am therefore confident that we shall achieve at least another 15% growth in business during the coming year.' About Holmes UK - established in 1983, Holmes UK specialises in the repair, maintenance and refurbishment of all Wickman multi-spindle machine tools.

The company's comprehensive service is supported by ex-stock availability of collets, feed fingers and other less popular Wickman spares, along with its own range of standard collets and feeders for manual and CNC machine tools.

Holmes UK also offers a growing portfolio of complementary machining products, as well as a wide variety of sub-contract machining services from its 27,000ft2 premises in Tyseley, Birmingham.

Ever-greater flexibility for setting 'one-hit' production methods and increasing productivity on up to 32mm diameter mill/turn type components feature the latest sliding head auto developments.

A whole new series of product launches for 2003 are planned by NC Engineering of Watford following the recent exhibition and citizen cnc sliding head machine previews at the recent JIMTOF machine tool show in Japan. Charged with maintaining its significant market leading position in CNC sliding head lathe technology, Citizen Machinery has brought forward its development programme and is introducing new machines and models with ever-greater flexibility for setting 'one-hit' production methods and increasing productivity on up to 32mm diameter mill/turn type components. Among the new developments are linear motor drives which can help reduce cycle times by up to 40 per cent, improved data processing in the control system and extension of Citizen's well-established simultaneous cutting capability.

Even higher tool capacities and improved driven tool performance have also been introduced on certain new machines.

Targeted at high speed, very accurate production of parts below 4mm diameter, the new Citizen R04 introduces linear motor technology to its 13 tool capacity twin tool post slideways.

The machine is very compact having been designed to fit into the floor space of a traditional cam auto and can even be interfaced with a traditional cam machine bar feed system.

With a 20,000 revs/min spindle, the R04 can cycle 10 per cent faster than a cam machine with the same cutting data or 40 per cent quicker when CNC variable speeds and feeds are utilised.

New global top selling L-Series 16mm, 20mm and 32mm capacity machines now incorporate a more rigid base casting axis slide on the two smaller versions and the L32 is now built on the larger M-Series Citizen base giving improved access for setting.

The front internal working tools and the back spindle are now separated to accommodate simultaneous cutting and tool capacity is now increased to 22.

Meanwhile, the L16 and L20 now have 19 driven tools with 1kW motor, an increase of 25 per cent in power.

A further development is the ability to switch three cross-driven tools to six face-driven working positions by turning the holders through 90deg.

Using the same M-Series base, the new Citizen C20 and C32 have been developed to accommodate hard metal machining and the ability to utilise three gang tool slides.

This achieves a higher flexibility for setting up simultaneous cutting at both main and secondary spindles.

The new tool post configuration accommodates 28 tools of which 19 can be driven.

Y-axis milling, gear hobbing, polygon machining and high speed threading can all now be accomplished on these higher capacity C-Series lathes.

With a new high performance control, computing time is now reduced and the combination of the latest high speed macros shorten cycle times.

Universal lathes are equipped with linear drives and the Siemens 810 D powerline CNC that features the ShopTurn user interface - including 3D-simulation.

The new CTX 320/420 linear universal lathes set new standards in using linear drives, Siemens 810 D powerline with ShopTurn user interface - including 3D-simulation. Features also include a rapidly indexing 12-position turret, fast-operation tail stock, and absolute measuring systems. The new universal lathes CTX 320 and CTX 420 linear offer perfection in process and performance, as well as a output increase of at least 10%.

The foundation for this increase lies in the dynamic linear drive in the X-carriages, the high-speed Siemens 840D powerline control with ShopTurn, a Windows based, shop floor programming system including extensive 3D functionalities, integrated spindle drives in synchronous technology, the fastest turret on the market, a fast tailstock, as well as direct measuring systems in all linear axes.

The fascination with linear drive technology springs no doubt from the advanced dynamics that can be achieved because of the reduced quantities moved, while simultaneously high rapid traverse speeds lead to previously inconceivable productivity increases.

And all this at an even higher rate of precision, because of the zero slack drive system.

Furthermore, the contact-free power transfer makes a wear-free construction of the drive train possible, which benefits availability of the machine during tough, multi-shift operation.

High process safety because of 3D simulation - already in the standard configuration, the new CTX linear generation is controlled by the new Siemens 840 D powerline with ShopTurn.

The 'powerline' designation stands for a performance increase of more than 100% in the CNC- and PLC sector.

This performance increase is due to no small degree to the integrated ShopTurn user interface and the comprehensive 3D functionalities.

Even complex work pieces with face- and shell surface requirements can now be generated very quickly with a high performance technology cycle package, with interactive, context sensitive operator guidance, and integrated 3D simulation, which can be operated without DIN/ISO knowledge.

In addition, ShopTurn makes machine setup easier through intuitive tool administration for the turret, and practice oriented support for workpiece introduction and - measurement.

The Siemens 840D powerline with ShopTurn is included in the machine price, as well as a Windows based PC version, which turns every computer into a high performance tool for external program generation and archiving purposes.

ShopTurn thus stands for highest productivity, maximum operating comfort, and impressive process safety during programming, installation, and machining.

The performance of the integrated spindle drive with impressive acceleration and deceleration capabilities is no less impressive.

Thus, it now takes only 1 second to go from zero to the maximum speed of 5,000 rpm, and it takes no longer to bring the speed back down to zero.

The torque in this case, for the CTX 420 linear, for example, lies at 270Nm (at 100% duty cycle), which is a remarkable 12.5% higher than in the previous model.

The CTX 320/320 linear machines are offered in a number of production oriented expansion configurations: these start at a configuration with a 12-face turret for fixed tools and tailstock, they include a package with 12 driven tools in the turret, a version with driven tools in the Y-axis, and finally include machines with counter-spindle, driven tools and an (optional) Y-axis.

The swing diameter of both machines measures 400 mm for the smaller CTX 320 linear, and 680mm for the CTX 420 linear, with a longitudinal path of 450mm and 635mm respectively.

This options are rounded off with a new hydraulically traversable tailstock with 0.5m/min (an NC-tailstock with 20m/min ipm rapid traverse is available as an option), as well as a fast indexing turret, which brings the next tool into position in only 0.15 seconds.

The bottom line: the machines of the CTX linear series excel with an idle time improvement up to 40%.

By installing a bar fed CNC lathe, British Micanizing is able to produce complex electrical insulation components out of nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene and all plastics laminates grades.

Prior to installing a bar fed Colchester Tornado A90 CNC lathe, British Micanizing, a specialist in the production of electrical insulation components out of Nylon, Polyethylene, polypropylene and all grades of plastic laminates, was having to walk away from potential business involving more complex machining because its methods were not viable. Based in Great Barr, Birmingham, the company, which has been a niche player in electrical insulation components, had not suffered using its conventional machine tools and indeed, with a manufacturing history dating back to 1917 it was well-established in its business. However, as manufacturing director Alan Godwin explains: 'We were seeing more and more lost opportunities and a new contract for insulation bushes for the Ministry of Defence brought forward a decision to invest in CNC.' The directors decided they wanted a British built machine and approached Datamach of Coventry because they wanted support close by in case of any problems.

And indeed, this factor paid-off on one of the first production jobs which involved threading a very brittle insulation material.

As Alan Godwin describes: 'Bearing in mind it was our first venture into CNC.

We had just completed the training course with Datamach at our works instead of at their offices in Coventry due to the amount of work that was stacking up to go through the new machine.

We knew how difficult the material was to machine and so kept putting it back until we plucked up the courage to have a go.' He follows on to describe how they tried to thread the part using all the skills built-up from conventional turning but still the part shattered.

In the end a telephone plea for help to Datamach's technical support team resulted in a suggestion to use a G76 program to give better control of the process than the G78 that had been used.

'Although it took 10 passes to produce the thread it was perfect and demonstrates perfectly what we had been missing for years by using conventional methods.' Amongst other early tasks for the Tornado was production of large numbers of components made from very expensive high grade epoxy material and a tolerance of +0.025mm.

'By then, such was our confidence in the machine that we checked parts every hour.

But so good was the repeatability and consistency of the Tornado, that it produced the order without a hitch,' he maintains.

British Micanizing Co is a true specialist in its sector with 80 live customers at any one time out of 160 or so that are on the books.

There are a wide variety of components flowing through the Great Barr workshop including insulation screws, distance spacers, heat and electrical insulation parts for powder coating plants, transformers and insulators for the major electrical suppliers.

As Alan Godwin outlines: 'We often have customers just arriving on our doorstep with a drawing or sample part.

At times, they don't even know what the material is.

However, we can usually solve the problem as our strength is that we have probably machined a similar part before and there is so much knowledge in our company with some of our people having been with us for over 40 years!' He then relates how they still have on file old specification books and describes how customers still ask for Bakelite.

'We still have some Bakelite but you can't buy it anymore and we also have one of the best old insulation materials you can get called Mica.

However, because it is a glue-based insulator product, components can only be produced from it once.' batch sizes at British Micanizing vary between 80 and 20,000 parts.

While the Tornado has a 6,000 revs/min spindle powered by a 11kW motor, the company rarely runs the machine over 2,000 revs/min due to the nature of the materials being cut.

It uses standard carbide cutting tools with coolant in order to control the heat generation and reduce risk of damage or melting of some of the materials.

Alan Godwin describes how when they machine laminate materials they tend to chip into fine dust which the extraction system carries away.

'Nylon can be messy,' he says, 'its very stringy and wraps around the tools and if swarf builds up it can burn.

However, the flexibility of the Tornado means we have better control when machining this increasingly popular insulating material.' So productive is the A90 with its MBF 1000 bar feed that it will produce 5,000 parts in two days as against at least five days before.

'Also, we previously had to purchase precision ground rod which is at least three times more expensive than standard bar so we now save on material as well as machining time,' he said.

Changeovers are quicker than before taking up to 20 minutes which includes the bar size for the MBF 1000.

As Alan Godwin concludes: 'Investing in the Tornado has transformed our production and opened new markets for us.

When we first made the decision to buy, we thought we would need to run it all day, five days/week to get any pay back and saw the real opportunity as being the ability to take on new work.

A one-hit capability, five-axis mill/turning chucking centre with the advantage of automatic part transfer to a second operation sub-spindle is able to provide single cycle machining.

A one-hit capability, five-axis mill/turning chucking centre with the advantage of automatic part transfer to a second operation sub-spindle is able to provide single cycle machining for parts having up to a 200 mm turned diameter. Now available from Colchester Sales, as a ready-to-turn package, the latest Colchester T6MS chucker follows the latest livery and futuristic guarding design that now distinguishes the Colchester Tornado range. It has the option of a 170 mm or 210 mm chuck size, and the main spindle is powered by 15 kW motor with a 130 mm chuck 5.5 kW sub-spindle.

With a maximum part length capacity of 470 mm between both spindle chuck jaws, the machine has the capability to initiate in-phase radial C-axis rotation that enables in-cycle synchronised spindle kissing for part exchange.

A 12 station, all-driven 3.7 kW, 30 VDI mill/turn turret services both chucking spindles controlled by a totally integrated Fanuc 18i-TB CNC unit.

The machine is compact, having an identical footprint to a two or three axis Tornado version and has a swing over bed of 440 mm, a maximum turning diameter of 200 mm by 200 mm turning length with a maximum turned length (Z-axis) of 450 mm.

The sub-spindle has a spindle bore of 43 mm and a fully synchronised drive with the main spindle to provide on-the-fly part exchange which is carried out at a rapid traverse rate of 30 m/min.

There is a choice of main and sub-spindle speeds of 4,000 or 6,000 revs/min and positional accuracy is plus/minus 0.005 mm.

Repeatability is within plus/minus 0.002 mm.

The Tornado T6 MS is also available in a robot-loaded, Lights-out unmanned package, as well as in a bar fed configuration.

In the Lights-out package, swarf conveyor, tool monitoring and sister tool replacement, production scheduling software and in-process gauging with automatic offset adjustment are all included as standard.

An advanced, CNC lathe has transformed the capability of a small engineering company, so that it is now regularly beating a major Japanese OEM in the competitive replacement machine parts market.

An advanced, British-built Harrison Alpha 1350S lathe has transformed the capability of a small, family-run Staffordshire engineering company, so that it is now taking on - and regularly beating - a major Japanese OE manufacturer in the highly competitive market for replacement machine parts. MPD Engineering of Tamworth, which was formed just five years ago and named after husband-and-wife team, Melanie and Paul Johnson and their eight-year-old son, Devon, was supplied with the two-axis CNC/manual flatbed lathe by Harrison main distributor, Datamach of Coventry. With its 350mm swing, highly sophisticated, yet simple-to-operate touchscreen control based on the successful GE Fanuc 21i-T computerized control system, the Harrison Alpha 1350s has enabled MPD Engineering to achieve significantly better finished results in a fraction of the time taken by its original manual lathe.

'It has made the work so much quicker and an enormous difference to our turnaround times.

We got rid of our old manual lathe after two days with the Harrison.

With the level of work we are now taking on, we would never have been able to keep up.

The speed which we achieve with this machine is clearly the way forward for our company and the standard of finish is unreal.

It is far better than before,' says MPD Engineering Director, Paul Johnson.

He said the company specializes in three distinct market sectors, namely bronze pump gears and stainless steel shafts and regulators for ice-cream mobile dispensing equipment used in ice-cream vans and, secondly, repairs and refurbishment for the plastic injection-moulding industry, including producing lathe-turned sprue bushes for food packaging systems.

But it is in the third category - supplying replacement transmission parts, including gears and sprockets to a range of industrial equipment operators such as fork-lift operators, where MPD Engineering is able to make precise new geared drives, that the company's fortunes have perhaps been boosted most of all by the Harrison Alpha 1350S.

Johnson explains: 'One of our fastest-growing markets is customers with Japanese equipment producing spiral wire for the automotive industry.

Replacement gearbox parts for these machines can take up to four weeks, or even longer, to ship here from Japan.

'Now, with the new lathe we are able to supply them with replacement parts, usually the conical gears in the gearbox, the planet ring and the sun wheel, much more cheaply and much quicker than they could get them before.

It's a sign that more manufacturers are turning to home-based engineering suppliers like ourselves for reliability and value for money.' The Alpha 1350S forms part of Harrison's popular, state-of-the-art S1000 series of CNC/manual lathes, available in five models with up to a maximum 800mm swing.

The S1000 series incorporates the flexibility, speed and ease-of-use of a fully computer-controlled lathe with the extra advantage of easy manual turning.

It is especially suitable for producing reliable, precise medium and high volume turned parts, in semi-automatic or full CNC modes.

A major new feature of the S1000's control capability is its Manual Guide System - a touchscreen accessible cutting programme enabling the full generation of simple cutting profiles and complex automatic programmes to be carried out directly at the machine.

A teach facility is also available, allowing hand wheel-initiated moves to be recorded as a programme and re-run automatically after completion of the first component, while all new programmes generated can be stored to memory for later use or saved to the integral AlphaLink software.

Additionally, all programmes generated in this comprehensive 'Cycle Cutting' mode can be converted to a full CNC programme.

The Alpha range also incorporates a semi-automatic machining capability for stops, taper turning and automatic thread cutting, plus an off-line CAD/CAM machining facility.

One of the heaviest, most powerful lathes in its class, the Alpha S1000S series combines excellent cutting performance and rigidity with quality design and manufacturing for the highest standard of repeatability and long life.

Their high-precision machine beds are hardened to 450 Brinnel prior to grinding, while a PTFE-based (moglice) material is used in key areas for low friction and wear on slides.

All Alpha S1000 lathes use high precision ballscrews, ground and pre-loaded for high accuracy, minimum friction and low maintenance.