Turning technology
centre, the subcontract manufacturer invested in a Hanwha XD10 sliding head lathe from Dugard. Recalling the situation, Managing Director, Mr Stuart Wade says: “We were getting regular orders for small copper components in quantities from 8,000 to 12,000-off and we needed extra capacity. Our existing machine tool supplier didn’t have a machine available in the timeframe that we wanted, so we decided to look at the Hanwha machine from Dugard. We quickly discovered that the PCR chip breaking cycle on the Hanwha machine is far superior to what we already had - and this would allow us to run more jobs unmanned and extend our tool life.” After purchasing the first Hanwha machine from Dugard, Empire Manufacturing quickly realised that the Hanwha machine was also better at holding tolerance on long runs of components. One particular example is a frequent production run of stainless steel M3 and M4 tight tolerance screws with a weight limit tolerance of +/-0.3mg. Inevitably there were some scrap components when machining screws on its existing sliding head machines. However, switching the parts to the Hanwha machine reduced the scrap rate considerably and eradicated the need for constant operator intervention. As a long-time sliding head business owner, Stuart says: “The ability of the Hanwha machines to hold tolerance is on another level, I have never seen anything like it on a sliding head machine. There are also a lot of features on the Hanwha machines that stand out from our existing technology. It is for these reasons we opted to buy a second Hanwha machine when the requirement was there. Another reason we opted for a second machine from Dugard was the service, it genuinely is outstanding and better than anything we receive from other machine tool suppliers.” The SMEC SL2000-BSY turning centre was the first purchase from Dugard and whilst this
machine was on order, a Hanwha machine was ordered and delivered. The performance and availability of the Hanwha machine resulted in a second Hanwha soon following. Recalling the purchase of the fixed head machine, Stuart adds: “We had a gantry-loaded turning centre that has performed well down the years. However, it was creating a lot of problems with the unloading of finished parts. Loading billets via the gantry was a simple task but the more complicated our parts became, the more the machine would fail on the unloading operation and in many cases, it would damage parts during unloading.” “The service we received from the existing supplier was indifferent, so we looked at other potential machine tool vendors. We decided to invest in a SMEC SL2000-BSY fixed head turning centre with a 2m barfeed unit, a Robojob robot loader and a Roto-Rack parts catcher. The integration of the turning centre with an automated robot loading system and the Roto- Rack part collection system was all handled by Dugard and Hydrafeed,” continues Stuart. As a subcontract company to the aerospace, electronics, automotive, leisure and entertainment sector, precision and quality is a necessity. As Stuart continues: “Investing in the SMEC SL2000BSY eradicated our issues with unloading parts and we rapidly ramped up to extended periods of unmanned machining. We are manufacturing a range of fuel filter caps and distributor bodies for the automotive and aerospace markets and some parts will vary from 100 to 1000-off. Other billet loaded parts could run from 500 to 1000-off with barfed parts stretching to runs of 3000 to 10,000-off.” “We really couldn’t be happier with both the quality of the machines and the impeccable level of service we have received from Dugard,” concluded Stuart. n
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Machinery & Manufacturing 45
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