In an initiative to help boost engineering skills, members of the BTMA (British Turned Parts Manufacturers Association) have devised a series of courses in conjunction with their technical members.

The courses are designed to take an employee with the right attitude and provide him with the necessary information to progress on to programming and setting CNC turning machines.

The cutting tool technology courses are well under way and the 1st of the Machine setter courses (Entry level) is now fully booked. The training department at Tornos UK is hosting this first course with other course dates planned in the coming months beginning to fill up and being shared between the other technical members.

http://www.machinery.co.uk/article/11405/BTMA-effort-to-challenge-skills-shortages.aspx

Complex parts with a single setup INDEX and TRAUB machine tools are focused on precision parts production and include the entire range of CNC turning machines, from single-spindle to multi-spindle to sliding headstock machines and turnmills. In each case, the objective is to allow users to produce complex parts in a single setup. Index and Traub machines find application globally in screw machine, aerospace, medical devices, automotive, and other precision machined parts industries.

An extremely productive, high precision CNC multitasking machine, the 6-spindle Index multispindle machine series has revolutionized precision parts production. The original and now standard of the industry 20 years on, Index sells more than 100 of its CNC multispindle machines a year.

Configured to meet customer requirements the machines eliminate form tools and cams, providing a more accurate solution than conventional machines with quicker change-over part to part. Single-point, off-the-shelf pre-settable tooling contributes to superior surface finish, accuracy, and low tooling cost.

For multi-tasking work, Index offers several machine ranges. Among them, the Index G-series machines offer two Y and two B axes and 5-axis milling. The new C100 with three 14-position tool turrets and identical main and counterspindles is designed for fast, cost-competitive production of medium complexity parts turned parts from bar stock from 30-42mm diameter.

Ideal for small to medium lot sizes, the three-turret machines deliver high performance within a small floor space, and are targeted to handle fixed headstock work often run on Swiss-type machines. And the new four-turret, 80-tool Traub TNX with identical main and counterspindles can put up to four tools on a workpiece at one time.

A flagship of the Traub line of Swiss turning machines, the Traub TNL CNC sliding headstock automatic turning center series has been a very effective solution. With the recent addition of the K version, users gained additional efficiencies for parts that are less than 1.5” long and added precision with a fixed head stock that allows for better stability during milling operations and therefore higher precision.

Established in 1982, INDEX Corporation, Noblesville, IN, provides sales, application and parts/service support, with the help of its qualified distributor network, to customers in North America. Regional service centers throughout the U.S. include offices in Connecticut, Indianapolis, and California. Factorytrained INDEX and TRAUB service engineers are located in five tech centers. Additional service is available through local distributors. INDEX, a part of INDEX Group, Esslingen, Germany, is an active member of AMTDA and PMPA.

http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/Issue/Article/False/71171/Issue

A Techno CNC router paid for itself on the first job by producing an order of aluminum signs with acrylic letters for a bookstore chain in about one-tenth the time that would have been required to produce them by hand.

The push-through acrylic letters had to be produced to demanding tolerances that would have been difficult or impossible to meet by hand. The Techno CNC router has helped the company enter new markets by producing signs and related specialty items from a range of materials including plastics, aluminum, wood and other materials in one-fifth to one-tenth of the time that would have been required by hand.

Creative Accessories is a 25-employee company that is constantly seeking new niche markets for its products. The company’s primary product is signs and displays but it also produces a range of specialty items, most of which are made from a variety of acrylic plastics and woods. For example, the company has recently begun producing carved wood signs and marketing them through sign stores and catalogs. In the past, the company produced these items using traditional hand and power tools including bandsaws, shapers, and routers. This meant that a considerable amount of time was required to produce each piece and that accuracy was dependent on the skill of the person doing the work.

The difficulty of producing these products by hand came to a head recently when the company had the opportunity to bid on a large order for display signs to be used by a bookstore chain in their coffee shops. The displays each consist of a rectangular aluminum display cut out in order to insert acrylic letters. Each of the letters is flanged so they are retained in the sign. Creative Accessories management realized that the cost of producing the job with manual methods would have been too high to get the order and the accuracy that could have been achieved would probably not be up to the customer’s demanding standards.

The company examined several CNC routers and selected the Gantry System from Techno-Isel, New Hyde Park, New York because of its accuracy, relatively low cost and its ability to interface with popular software packages. It then submitted a bid for the bookstore displays stating that it would purchase the machine if it received the order. When it got the order, Creative Accessories immediately ordered the router and began work. Techno customer support was very helpful in providing guidance on the cutting speeds and type of bits required to machine aluminum and acrylics.

While the aluminum display was easily clamped to the machine table, attaching the softer acrylic letters without damaging them proved to be a bit more of a challenge. On this first project, Creative Accessories used double sided carpet tape which held the letters without difficulty but was somewhat time-consuming to remove them. Later, the company developed a universal vacuum deck with multiple chambers that can exert tons of clamp-down force. This deck is being used for all of the company’s internal plastics work on the machine.

The first job covered the cost of the machine despite the fact that a fair amount of time was required for learning how to program, set up and run it. In general, the company has found that it can produce signs and other specialty products in about one-tenth the time previously required. Since then, Creative Accessories has significantly increased its business in a number of areas due largely to the increased productivity and accuracy.

Creative Accessories has picked up a considerable amount of wholesale work for other signmakers that still produce signs by hand. These include carved wood signs, plastic signs and electrified signs. Small, carved wood signs normally take three to four hours to produce by hand yet can be cut on the router in about 15 minutes. CASmate Pro has proven to be quite a valuable tool in this area. In particular, the program’s “scan to cut” feature makes it possible to scan a logo or other design and create a vector image with square corners and sharp angles in no time at all. The program downloads quite easily to the Techno gantry system.

Quality of work produced by the company has also been greatly improved. The machine has a resolution of 0.0005 inch which is about 100 times the precision that can be achieved by hand. So the letters and specialized shapes produced on the router are far more precise than hand-cut, and any required copies are identical to the originals. The company trains its employees to achieve high standards all the way from design through production and finishing and the router makes it relatively easy to achieve these standards.

The strength and rigidity of the table was also important. The Techno machine is constructed from extruded aluminum profiles which can support all the materials that the company uses and provides easy clamping. The machine also has four ground and hardened steel shafts and eight recirculating bearings in each axis. This shaft and bearing system produces very smooth play free motion which produces high quality cuts.

The quality of the cuts produced on the Techno router is directly related to its design. Most sign routers use small diameter (less than 0.5 inch) acme screws and brass or plastic acme nuts while the Techno routers all use ballscrew system transfers over 90 percent of the motor power to produce cutting force while acme screw systems typically only transfer 35 percent of the motor power. The rolling action versus sliding also means less wear, longer life and greater rigidity, essential for producing clean cuts in plastics and metals. The patented anti-backlash ball nut on the Techno router also produces more accurate cuts for making inlays with clearances down to the machine resolution.

http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/0197bp4.html

Advanced, multi-axis, multi-tasking CNC machine tools are seen by a subcontractor as essential for meeting stringent customer delivery times and ensuring cost competitiveness and quality

GW Cowler Precision Engineers has recently invested in a Doosan, high-performance 6-axis multi-tasking turning centre supplied by Mills Manufacturing Technology, Leamington Spa, UK. The machine is a Puma 2500SY turning centre equipped with integrated Y-axis (100mm travel) capability, a milling sub-spindle (11kW 6,000 rev/min with full C-axis and 0.001 deg indexing) and live tooling.

Cowler is using the Puma to machine small-to-medium batch series of high-precision, complex parts.

The Hertfordshire, UK-based precision engineering subcontract specialist supplies the automotive, motor sport, aerospace, electronics and home furnishings industries.

In spite of this diversity - these industries share a number of common manufacturing characteristics and requirements that Cowler has to meet to ensure the company’s growth and continuing success.

Director at GW Cowler, Andy Cowler, said: ‘The critical manufacturing issues that confront us concern our ability to i) hit stringent customer delivery times; ii) ensure guaranteed high part quality (accuracy, surface finish etc) and iii) maintain our cost competitiveness’.

Cowler said, in a report to Manufacturingtalk: ‘To achieve these results our machine tool investment programme is now firmly focused on acquiring advanced, multi-functional machine tools - and the Puma 2500SY is a case in point.

The machine delivers excellent performance and high productivity.

We can complete jobs in a single set-up through using the machine’s sub-spindle for second ops) which in turn increases our work throughput, improves our machine tool utilisation and ensures part accuracy owing to reduced handling and fixturing’.

He added: ‘Furthermore the machine’s generous 100mm travel Y-axis function gives us extra versatility and enables parts to be machined off centre contour milling of keyways and cross milling of flats.

And the machine’s fast rapids and 0.10s turret indexing help reduce cycle times too’.

Further evidence of the company’s commitment to investing in multi-functional, high-productivity machine tools is the purchase of a Doosan V430 twin-pallet vertical machining centre (VMC), again supplied by Mills.

The V430, with its 18.5kW 10,000 rev/min (BT40) spindle and 30-position ATC and twin pallets (650 x 450mm), provides Cowler with powerful, fast, flexible and reliable milling capability.

Although there is no ‘typical’ job manufactured by Cowler - a good example of the company’s capabilities is illustrated by the film scanning units it manufactures for one of its customers.

The scanning units are used for scanning 35mm film (single frames) for CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) special effects applications in film, television, etc.

They contain over 65 individual parts - all machined and then assembled by Cowler.

Made from aluminium, stainless steel and bronze, the parts are machined to high-precision (0.01mm) and are assembled in-house prior to shipment.

The company manufactures up to 4 ’sets’ per month.

* About GW Cowler - GW Cowler Precision Engineers Limited was established in 1982 and today employs over 20 staff at its 6,500m2 facility in Hertford.

The company specialises in small-to-medium batch series production (anything from prototypes and one-offs through to orders of 5,000+ precision parts).

As well as providing high-precision CNC machining capability (turning, milling, grinding etc) to its customers, the company also offers a comprehensive range of finishing services.

These include electro-plating, polishing, sub-assemblies and so on.

As well as investing in the latest advanced machine tools the company has made similarly strategic investments in developing its CAD/CAM and inspection capabilities.

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/mil/mil172.html

The ability to make complex parts in one setup, with greater flexibility and faster turnaround on short run work, is a major advantage over cam-driven Swiss machines.

Instead of sacrificing its future growth to conventional technology, one precision machine shop has profited from new CNC (Computer Numerical Control) Swiss machines. Devon Precision Industries (Wolcott, CT) has expanded its capabilities by acquiring three Conquest® ST220 six-axis Swiss-turn CNC lathes from Hardinge Inc. (Elmira, NY). All purchased within the past three years, the CNC Swiss machines have enabled Devon to generate more profit on short run jobs. These demanding precision jobs for medical, automotive, telecommunications, and aerospace customers now represent about 5% of Devon’s business, and their share is increasing.

Devon brought in their first Hardinge lathe after trials comparing its performance with three other CNC Swiss machine manufacturers. The company sent blueprints for the same trial part to each potential supplier. After the parts were delivered, Devon’s representatives visited the manufacturers’ facilities, verified the data, and conducted a spares availability test. Because Hardinge outperformed the other suppliers in the performance testing and support evaluations, Devon placed the order with them.

Devon’s migration to CNC machines from conventional cam-driven Swiss machines reflects the changing nature of today’s workforce. Currently, more workers are experienced in CNC machine operation, with programs stored in computers and downloaded to the machines. In addition, Hardinge was included in Devon’s initial short list because they were already a reliable supplier of collets for Devon’s conventional Swiss machines. According to Devon president Yvon Desaulniers, Hardinge is the only U.S. manufacturer of this type of machine. “We had negative downtime experiences in the past because we had to wait for parts,” he says. “So we made spares availability a part of our vendor evaluation.”

http://www.apexdesigninc.com/markets/articles03.html

Tight-tolerance cutting for the aerospace industry and beyond is provided by two Jet Edge High Rail Gantry waterjet systems, for Pegasus Northwest, a Boeing-certified abrasive waterjet cutting firm

Pegasus Northwest is a Boeing-certified abrasive waterjet cutting service company, located in Kent, that specializes in tight-tolerance cutting for the aerospace industry and beyond. Armed with two Jet Edge High Rail Gantry waterjet systems, Pegasus Northwest has established itself as one of the most accurate waterjet shops in the industry by using only diamond orifices and the highest grade garnet abrasive on the market, said Ron Palstring, Pegasus’ longtime plant manager.

The company’s reputation is born out of its many years of experience meeting stringent aerospace industry performance requirements for quality, service, on-time delivery and documentation.

Pegasus Northwest got its start in 1970, cutting decorative panel blanks for Boeing aircraft using a shear and panel saw.

This niche service was the heart of the small company’s business until 1997, when Boeing nudged it toward becoming one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading waterjet service companies by requiring it to expand beyond blanks and produce final parts utilizing CNC programming.

After researching CNC cutting options, Pegasus Northwest decided abrasive waterjet was the best method for cutting stacks of the phenolic resin panels, while providing the flexibility to cut other parts from virtually any material, Palstring recalled.

‘It was important that we stack our material for efficiency,’ he noted.
‘Other cutting methods prohibited stacking and cutting multiple layers deep.’ Pegasus researched several waterjet systems before deciding on a 12X14′ Jet Edge High Rail Gantry with an oversized tank (then manufactured by Chukar Industries) that could accommodate four sheet goods loaded at once.

They powered the system with a 50-horsepower Jet Edge intensifier pump and equipped the gantry with a 72′ spreader bar with two abrasivejet cutting heads and two pneumatic drill units mounted next to each cutting head.

The company uses the pneumatic drills to pre-pierce materials that are prone to delaminating.

It did not take long for word to get out about the company’s new waterjet system, and before long, Pegasus branched beyond the aerospace market and began doing job shop work for other industries, Palstring said.

‘Everyone around us found out about our waterjet and they would drop off a PO and blank material at our door,’ he said.

‘That honed us in to trying to attach other markets.

Today, 80 percent of our business is aerospace contractor work and 20 percent is miscellaneous.’ In 2000, Pegasus Northwest needed a second waterjet system to keep up with demand.

They purchased a custom-designed 12X8′ Jet Edge High Rail Gantry with a 72-inch spreader bar, four cutting heads and one pneumatic drill, and powered it with a 150-horsepower Jet Edge intensifier pump.

Since installing its waterjet systems, Pegasus Northwest has grown from three employees to 25, and has moved from an 8,000 square-foot leased facility to a 30,000 square-foot modern manufacturing facility that it owns outright, Palstring noted.

The company has eight waterjet operators and runs its systems 100 hours a week.

In addition to its Jet Edge systems, Pegasus Northwest also owns three CNC routers, a 48′ manual mill and a manual lathe.

It offers its customers material valued up to $20,000 on net-30 terms and has its own enclosed curtain-type delivery truck.

The company is D-9100, AQS and BQS certified, and is currently pursuing AS-9100 certification.

It is Boeing rated for 100 percent on-time delivery and 100 percent acceptability.

In 1999, Pegasus Northwest received Boeing’s prestigious Presidents Award for Supplier of the Year as well as Boeing’s Continuous Cost Improvement Program Award.

Palstring attributes his company’s success to the owner’s willingness to buy the best equipment, being good at what it does and following detailed procedures.

‘Our niche is tight tolerance,’ Palstring said.

‘We hold tolerances on a large cutting envelope that no one else can achieve with their waterjet cutting machines.

We hold +/- .005′ on 1′ titanium and aluminum parts for a couple of our customers.

We will do positive and negative push-through tile inlays with virtually no grout lines.

We use diamond orifices and the best garnet and we cut faster than anybody.

We maximize every inch of the table with sheets that are 12 feet long.

Having an envelope that size allows us to cut parts in one day.

It saves time and materials and we pass that savings on to customers.

It’s a value-added service at no added cost to the customer.’ Pegasus Northwest uses its waterjet systems to cut numerous materials, including epoxy resin, fiberglass, acrylic with foreign materials imbedded into it, 8′ thick titanium, glass, aluminum, stainless steel, phenolic, shim stock and up to 12-inch thick mild steel.

Some of its more challenging projects include cutting 9-inch-thick titanium billets (mtl market value $26,000 each) for the Boeing 787 and cutting sphere sink bowls for its sister company, Lumicor, which manufactures architectural panels, sinks and countertops out of a unique patented resin material.

To cut the sink bowls, Pegasus tilted the waterjet head and made feed rate controlled tooling to spin the sink bowl blank.

Palstring said his company decided to buy its Jet Edge waterjet systems based on their accuracy and repeatability over a large work envelope.

The Jet Edge systems also had several key features Pegasus was looking for, including a CNC machine designed to last in the waterjet cutting environment, multiple head capability, a drill head fixture, Main Z and independent Z control, and a ball-screw design that features a moving screw and stationary ball which prevents backlash, allowing the machine to cut round holes and hold tight tolerances.

‘I’ve ran virtually every single waterjet and Jet Edge was always the most accurate and durable machine out there,’ Palstring said.

‘Jet Edge is the best engineered waterjet machine.

The biggest difference is that the other machines would need to be recalibrated daily and would just lose themselves.

Now we are set up for biannual and annual recalibration.

It saves thousands of man hours not having to recalibrate daily.’ Palstring noted that Jet Edge’s High Rail Gantries are very accessible for loading and unloading, and praised Jet Edge’s pump for its ease of maintenance and reliability.

‘You’re able to access the table from 360 degrees,’ he said.

‘It is very easy to load.

You don’t have anything in front of you and the cutting heads go beyond the catcher tank.

The height of the table is perfect, the Jet Edge pumps are easy to work on and they are the best design out there.

Replacing the seals takes a half-hour max.’ Palstring also praised Jet Edge’s parts and service department.

‘Jet Edge has well-written documentation and friendly technical employees to help troubleshoot,’ he said.

‘Jet Edge’s service is excellent.

We’ve always had someone call us back and we always receive correct parts and quantities and 24-hour on-time delivery of parts, and they will let us know if we don’t need any particular parts in a parts kit.’

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/jee/jee125.html

Buggy manufacturer Rage invested in a Haas TL-25 CNC lathe with sub-spindle and a Haas VF-2 CNC vertical machining centre, partly because of after-sales service

Fans of BBC’s Top Gear motoring programme will best-know presenter Richard Hammond for his headline-grabbing near fatal crash in a jet-powered dragster, earlier this year. They may also remember his second most famous moment - and arguably his most famous on-air quote - delivered to camera as he wrestled a rabid, 300hp based Bowler Wildcat 4×4 around a quarry pit somewhere in the UK.

In a moment of unbridled joy, and with a wanton disregard for the inevitable ridicule he’d later face from his co-presenters, Hammond threw his head back and exclaimed: ‘I am a Driving God!’ and so endeared himself to a nation of car-loving small boys of all ages, who could at least imagine what he felt like.

The only thing is the Bowler Wildcat costs GBP50,000, which is a lot of anyone’s money, even if it comes with a prime-time TV recommendation and motoring omnipotence as standard.

However, for about one third the cost of a Bowler, a small but expanding engineering business called Rage Motorsport in Dunstable will sell you an off-road buggy powered by a six-speed 180hp Honda Fireblade motorcycle engine, with a top speed of over 100mph.

It may not be Paris/Dakar ready like the Bowler, but it can still make you feel like someone has put the universe on fast-forward and will make you laugh until, like Richard Hammond, your inner teenager yelps with joy.

Rage Motorsport builds multi-terrain, extreme performance vehicles that make even average drivers - with bigger than average adrenal glands - feel immortal.

They’re exhilarating, hilariously fast and beautifully engineered.

The Land Rover based Bowler does 0-60 in 4.8 seconds: Quick on the tarmac, let alone ploughing through sand dunes.

The top-of-the-range Rage weighs just 375kg and does 0-60 in just 3 seconds and is equally at home on the racetrack as it is off road.

It’s no wonder the orders are stacking up.

To meet demand, the company’s manufacturing operations are undergoing a major overhaul.

‘Up until recently, we’d been subcontracting all of the major machined parts,’ says Sales Director, Joe Adams, ‘ but we got to the point where we had to take stock of the situation and decide what our business objectives were.

If we were going to grow the product range and the company, we realised we’d have to take responsibility for all the quality critical operations.

We couldn’t depend on suppliers any longer.’ Twins Steve and Adam Gentil, who’d been making high-performance buggies for their own entertainment for around15 years, started Rage just 4 years ago.

‘Someone saw that they were making a world-class product and suggested that they put them into production,’ says Adams.

‘Neither of them had any professional engineering training, but they taught themselves how to design a balanced, finely tuned chassis and marry it to a high-powered motorcycle engine.

It sounds easy, but building something safe, fast and very driveable is no mean feat.

Some big automotive companies spend tens of millions to achieve the same thing.’ Before investing in a Haas TL-25 CNC lathe with sub-spindle and a Haas VF-2 CNC vertical machining centre, Rage took a careful look at what else was available.

‘We looked at machine tool models that were cheaper and some which were more expensive than the Haas machines, but we quickly concluded that we couldn’t do any better than the cost/specification of the US built machines,’ explains the company’s co-founder and director, Steve Gentil.

‘Also, others had recommended Haas to us - and told us that after sales service was second-to-none.’ Installed in June 2006, the two machines have been set to work producing a wide range of parts for the company’s increasingly popular and growing range of buggies.

Parts machined include front and rear hubs, uprights, discs, ball joints and exhaust flanges, to name but a few.

‘The exhaust flanges are quite tricky to machine,’ says Gentil.

‘They’re round on one side and oval on the other.

But complex components are simple to produce using the Haas machines, even for relative novices.

‘These are our first CNC machines, but to be honest we needn’t have worried about getting to grips with them.

We taught ourselves to program very quickly and we were making parts a day or so after they were installed.’ The legendary Haas CNC makes every Haas machine tool easy to operate.

With special Haas-only features like word-processor editing, one-button features, multi-function jog handle and Visual Quick Code programming, the Haas CNC is arguably one of the most user-friendly available, at any price.

‘Operating the machines is like driving a Rage off-road racing buggy,’ laughs Gentil.

‘They go wherever you point them, they’re responsive, and they won’t let you down.’ Rage machine’s parts manufactured from aluminium and mild, stainless and chromium steels.

Some, such as bearing sets, are machined to particularly tight tolerances, which, according to Steve, the Haas machines are more than capable of achieving.

‘We work the machines really hard,’ he says.

‘They’re currently running 24 hours a day to keep up with demand, but we’ve had few if any problems.

They’ve given us the quality and reliability we needed, so I’m pretty sure we’re going to be investing in more in the very near future.’ Around 10 buggies are built at a time, so batch sizes vary from 100-off up to 1600-off for items such as small wishbone tubes.

‘Installing our own in-house CNC machining facility has brought financial benefit, too,’ concludes Steve.

‘Not only have we gained greater control of our production schedules, enabling us to be more productive, but we’ve also cut our piece-part costs in half! Rage buggies have already become must-have weekend toys for hundreds of enthusiasts who typically claim that it’s the most fun you can have on four wheels.

They’re also fast-becoming the industry standard corporate-entertainment vehicle, not just for their high fun quotient, but also because of their inherent reliability.

‘More and more hospitality companies are choosing Rage buggies because they’re a safe investment,’ says Adams.

They’re rugged with very high standards of build-quality and engineering.

The frames are laser-cut, powder coated tubular space frames, they have cross-drilled stainless discs all round with two-pot Brembo calipers and we only use the best fittings, such as Cobra FIA approved race seats.’ There’s a road going version - the Road Rage! - currently in testing and there’s even talk of a race series or two.

‘The eventual aim is to have official approval from the racing authorities so we can set-up a UK, and eventually a world based series,’ says Adams, ‘perhaps with a purpose-built Rally-Cross version.’ For the time being, though, as the word spreads, Rage Motorsport is enjoying a ride almost as exciting as the one it sells.

Eventually tested by the Top Gear team against other, lesser buggies, Hammond and his larger than life colleague Jeremy Clarkson concluded that a Rage buggy was the one to lust after.

If you want the fun of a Bowler Wildcat but haven’t got GBP50,000 to spend on a weekend toy, Joe Adams will be happy to take your call.

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/has/has140.html

The Quicktool is a multitool integrated into a quick release skewer. The main selling point being that you never have to pack a multitool again because the Quicktool is always there holding your back wheel in place.

A neat bit of CNC machined kit the mutlitool features five of the most usable tools that should see you through the most common trailside mechanicals: 4 and 5mm Allen keys, Phillips head screwdriver, chaintool and two sized spoke wrench.

The design of the Quicktool is rock solid on the bike, is rattle free and weighs in the same as an XTR quick release skewer. Initially designed for the mountain bike Quicktool are also working on a130mm axled road going version. Expect prices to be around the €50 mark, we’ll be getting one it for test as soon as production versions become available.

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/quicktools-multitool-12761

Royal products introduces the advantage of the Accu-length CNC collet chuck. Royal manufactures two basic types of collet chucks; the pullback and the Accu-length style. Announcing a collet chuck designed to eliminate part pullback, the Accu-length chuck has a tapered sleeve that pushes forward over the collet to compress it, resulting in precise z-axis positioning. Accu-length has a low profile nose and exclusive tapered body design to provide exceptional tool clearance, these CNC collet chucks are guaranteed to run within 0.0003″ TIR.

Our new models all include dual-length operation and features;
- Multiple keyways for fine adjustability
- Optimized for outstanding rigidity
- Balanced for high speed RPM operation
- Gripping capacities range from 1/64″ to 3″ diameter

Royal products is a primary source for metalworking tools that service machinists with CNC lathe applications where a collet chuck offers better performance than a 3-jaw chuck. We embrace Lean manufacturing principals and have earned an excellent reputation among metalworking professionals for outstanding collet chuck quality. So if its V-flange tool holders, CNC bar pullers, live or dead centers, Albrecht drill chucks or deburring tools you need call Royal.

http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/532611/1106

Tube manipulation technology specialists, AddisonMckee, have launched shell-rolling machine for forming the round and oval shapes that make up the outer bodies of catalytic converters and mufflers.

AddisonMckee has been introducing a range of high performance solutions for use in the manufacture of catalytic converters and mufflers.

Used to feed pre-cut flat sheets through a configuration of four position-controlled programmable rollers, AddisonMckee’s ShellRoller machine can form the outer shell of a muffler or catalytic converter in virtually any round, oval or asymmetrical configuration and is suitable for use with carbon steel, stainless steel and titanium.

Each forming work-cell consists of a feed system that loads the sheets using a vacuum pick-up to lift the sheets from an incoming stack and load them into the roller section of the machine for forming. The load station incorporates fanning magnet technology to separate all incoming sheets in order to prevent feeding multiple sheets into the machine rollers.

Precision rollers:

In the forming section of the machine, four precision rollers work together to form the various cross sections as required. The top and bottom rollers are used to pinch the incoming sheet and feed it backwards and forwards as dictated by the program to create the shell shape required. These two rollers are driven by electric servo gear motors and are electronically synchronized to reduce the risk of slippage during forming.

Required part shape:

The front and rear rollers then act in conjunction with the feed rollers to create the required part shape. These rollers are positioned using electro-mechanical linear actuators (as opposed to the hydraulic rollers often used on competitor models) for precise motion and clean, quiet operation. The control system controls the position of these front and rear rollers in relation to the feed position of the sheet to generate the required bend radius in the sheet throughout the operation to ensure the correct finished shell shape.

Maximum flexibility:

Designed for maximum manufacturing flexibility, the standard system is capable of forming shells ranging in length from 75mm up to 350mm. Cross sections of up to 180mm are possible, in either round or as the major axis of an oval section. The minimum radius available is ~65mm although this is somewhat dependent upon the material being formed. Machines with larger or smaller capacities are available in order to create shells of significantly larger lengths or cross sections to meet customer requirements.

Complete range of solutions:

With the ShellRoller machine now in place alongside our complete range of muffler and catalytic converter manufacturing solutions, AddisonMckee are now able to demonstrate that AddisonMckee’s renowned technology and quality is not exclusively reserved for those with tube bending and end forming requirements.

http://www.ferret.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=76381