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Competitiveness initiatives; manual/CNC technology’s benefi ts; Renishaw’s new
machine shop impresses; TS Harrison & Sons’ Alpha is claimed unique; UK CNC units
get support; 3D printing association; CAD-based parts catalogue
july 1995
In July 1995, we nd resonance with the current calls for reshoring
in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic’s supply chain disruption.
Twenty- ve years ago, Made In UK Group is aiming at a national
effort to encourage local procurement before importing. It is one of a
number of collective activities we highlight at company, sector, region
or national level that can bring bene ts. The government of the day
has just released its second White Paper on ‘Competitiveness,
forging ahead’. It is dismissed by The Economist as a “rag bag of
small policies”. We suggest that a collection of many small
initiatives is not automatically a bad thing, likening this to the many
small efforts that are part of continuous improvement. We go on to
cite a number of small programmes having government backing that
bring bene t to companies or sectors, adding impetus to the normal
day-to-day efforts already underway to remain competitive. Outright
cynicism is no answer to our problems, we conclude.
In our second comment this month, we herald the arrival of
combination manual/CNC lathe technology, also similarly but less
evident for the milling machine area. Able to be operated by those
having manual skills, so not requiring CNC programming knowledge,
we suggest that these machines will provide a useful weapon in low
quantity manufacture for companies, offering a step up from manual
machinery without a commensurate skills hurdle to clear, or make
possible the production of medium volume quantities, but on lower
cost than, albeit faster, full CNC machinery.
In news, we have a report from Renishaw’s new machine shop at
New Mills, Wotton-under-Edge. A clinically clean environment and
ef cient unattended production on its machining centres supported
by in-house xturing (the precursor to the RAMTIC system that
continues to be used today) and on-machine measuring processes
were key features. Tolerances of 20 micron are held, courtesy of
what is known as artefact measurement – a calibrated component
with similar features and of similar material to that being cut that is
held within the working envelope – which is regularly measured by
approach compensates for temperature-induced dimensional drift.
The 600 Group’s latest development, the TS Harrison & Sons
Alpha lathe, has been unveiled, with the company heralding it as ‘the
ultimate centre lathe’. Similar to the several manual/CNC
combination machines available at this time, this sits at a level just
below that, and is therefore claimed unique. Manual operation,
parameter-driven CNC cycles and manual+CNC generation of tapers
and radii are possible manners of use. For batch production, CNC
cycles and taught action can be replayed. The Alpha line continues
today.
The UK’s attempt at developing a CNC system, via motor drives
specialist Control Techniques, is getting support via machine tool
agent Geo Kingsbury through its MHP Vantage CNC lathe line.
Kingsbury had purchased UK CNC lathe maker MHP in previous
years and this latest machine featuring Control Techniques’ CNC
system sees it enter the market with a cost advantage versus those
using the established CNC brands. First customer for the new range
is Thermocouple Instruments in Wales.
We report the setting up of the International Rapid Prototyping
Association, which takes over from the Warwick Rapid Prototyping
and Tooling Club, while in another sign of modern times and the
importance of computer-held and used data, workholding and
xturing rm Wixroyd has released its product catalogue in AutoCAD
format.
In feature articles this month, we have: how six-legged hexapod
machines are already in use in Russia; an analysis of the UK’s gearmaking
sector; EMO metalforming machinery developments; an
explanation of the ner points
of BS5750 quality standard
successor BS EN ISO
9000; plus our regular
subcontracting
supplement.
▼
Key Events
july 95
Restoration of US–Vietnam
relations, 20 years after
Vietnam War ends
25years ago
Bill Gates is
world’s richest
man, $12.9bn
Website
superstore Amazon.com
of cially opens
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New football fee
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Forest for Liverpool
– £8.4m
Srebrenica,
Bosnia, massacre
of 7,000 Bosnian
Muslim men by
Serbian army
the in-machine probe used to measure production parts. This
▼
volmon /stock.adobe.com
pavlofox /stock.adobe.com
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ATX PC
motherboard
form factor
launched by
Intel
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patrikslezak /stock.adobe.com
wolter /stock.adobe.com
rcfotostock /stock.adobe.com
/Amazon.com
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