Machining Capabilities
CNC Turning
We have a range of machines, including mill-turn and sub-spindle capability, with the following capacities.
Bar fed: Ø5 mm up to Ø65 mm, and depending on the component design, up to 500 mm long.
From Billet: Ø250mm and up to 250mm long.
Hand-loaded parts: Down to Ø2 mm material.
CNC Machining Centre
We have a 4 axis machine, with the 4th axis being a rotary table. These are the machine's capacities.
Main bed: 600 x 450
Rotary table: Ø300 x 500
Other machinery. . .
Although predominately a manufacturing business, we do have a variety of manually operated lathes, mills and other machinery for producing in-house tooling, and for customers who require more limited runs of components. Some of our customers utilise only this service.
To see examples of our machining, take a look at our gallery. Many of our products are made from stainless steel, but we are accustomed to machining plastics and other metals of various descriptions.
Are there any design aspects that will help to minimise the cost of my components?
- Increase the tolerance.
Fine tolerance specifications are sometimes added to drawings in places where they are not strictly necessary. Fine tolerances increase setup time, and require more checking of components to ensure that they are remaining within the specification. And as always, time equals money, thus cost to the customer.
- Reduce the surface finish requirement.
A fine finish looks beautiful, but again, sometimes is not completely necessary. Depending on the situation, a higher feed-rate and an insert with a larger radius will provide a satisfactory result. And it reduces the machining time. Of course, this is not always possible, and sometimes is not even desirable, but it is worth considering.
- Reduce complexity.
William Golding said: "The greatest ideas are the simplest". And it is true. However, it can take a great deal of thought to make something simple, but it is worth it. It may be that reducing the complexity of the part is possible by removing unnecessary detail. But it could go even further, you may even be able to reduce the number of parts themselves. It may take a lot of thought and the bravery to head in another direction, but the potential always exists. And needless to say, it will cost less. . .
- Design the part to 'fall-off-finished'.
With a bit of a design alteration, the part may be able to be changed so that the necessary detail is all at one end. While we do have sub-spindle ability, it does take time to set this up. And yes, we can set up for a second operation, but again, it takes time. The easiest and most cost-effective route is for the part to fall off the machine with no further machining operations required. This is not always possible, but something that should be taken into account.
- Change the material.
Some materials are just more expensive. For instance, stainless steel is more expensive than mild steel. Acetal is more expensive than PVC. So the question is, can the material choice be changed? Sometimes it can. However, the end use will dictate the appropriate material choice, and whether it can be altered. But worth thinking about.
