machining or contain turned parts. Already this policy has seen the contribution of chip removal, mostly metal and but also plastic, in the factory rise from 10% to 90% of turnover. It is a progression that was accelerated by the Covid pandemic, when on-site visits to provide customers with fabrication services were forbidden. Another insight offered by Mr Davies is the formidable financial advantage of purchasing a good quality used machine tool, provided that one can be sourced, which is not always easy. His L20 had only 40,000 hours on the clock when it arrived, equivalent to having run for a single shift every weekday. It is notable that, for the jobs completed so far, repayments on finance for a new Cincom would not have been viable. On the other hand, paying back only one- quarter of the amount puts TAS Engineering in a strong position to quote for work very competitively, especially if it is not especially complex. Moreover, small quantities are also practicable, provided that the machine can be set up quickly. Mr Davies often uses Citizen’s Alkart Wizard software running on his laptop to speed programming and downloads the code to the control. Applications engineers at Citizen Machinery UK are always on hand to assist when needed. A recent instance was when Mr Davies was worried about possible damage to the steel engine shaft as it was ejected from the sub spindle. Within an hour, a response was received advising him to omit an M-code at the end of the cycle and replace it with a specific line of alternative code that worked perfectly as soon as it was implemented. “Such after-sales engineering back-up is invaluable, especially if you are new to sliding-head turning,” he concluded. n
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