No business
like show business
Steed Webzell sets out the exhibits likely to catch the eye at this year’s Southern Manufacturing
exhibition, an established annual event in the manufacturing technology/services calendar
Taking place at the 20,000 m2
Farnborough International Exhibition
and Conference Centre, Southern
Manufacturing 2020 will run from 11-13
February. Among the notable exhibitors in
attendance will be Matsuura Machinery,
which will show an MX-520 5-axis CNC
machining centre and HP Jet Fusion 580
3D colour printer on Stand E260 (exhibit
details: https://is.gd/otihaq). The machines
will be working in harmony to demonstrate
the real-world bene ts of current production
strategies being supplied by the company to
UK manufacturers.
Matsuura’s MX-520 (630 by 560 by 510
mm of travel in X, Y, Z) will be utilising
plastic xtures produced on the HP Multi-Jet
Fusion 4200, demonstrating the time and
cost savings achievable by printing
workholding in hours rather than waiting
weeks, sometimes months, for conventional
metal solutions to be supplied.
Another machine tool specialist with a
dual showcase at the event will be XYZ
Machine Tools (Stand J210), which is
shining the spotlight on automation, 5-axis
machining and the latest ProtoTRAK control
system developments (exhibit details:
https://is.gd/elorub).
The company’s robot-based automation
cell, Robo-Tend, will take centre stage. This
modular and mobile robot automation
system is designed for use with XYZ vertical
machining and turning centres tted with
Siemens controls. At Southern
Manufacturing, the system will be
demonstrated attached to an XYZ 750 LR
vertical machining centre (750 by 440 by
500 mm travel in the X, Y and Z axes). Robo-
Tend has been designed to bring automation
within the reach of traditional subcontract
Matsuura’s MX-520
will be utilising plastic
fi xtures produced on
the HP Multi-Jet Fusion
4200 3D printer
engineering businesses, offering potential
payback in just a few months.
For those seeking full, simultaneous
5-axis machining, the XYZ UMC-5X with frontloading
600 mm diameter trunnion rotary
table will also be demonstrated.
Elsewhere at the show, Haas Automation
is likely to promote the virtues of its recently
introduced UMC-500 series of universal
machining centres on Stand G220 (exhibit
details: https://is.gd/uzadup). Shorter travels
and compact footprint make the UMC-500
suitable for the 3+2 and simultaneous
5-axis machining of smaller parts. UMC-500
machines offer the same performance as
the company’s best-selling UMC-750, but in
a smaller footprint; similar in size to a Haas
VF-2. Travels of 610 by 406 by 406 mm
serve an integrated dual-axis trunnion table,
while a 10,000 rpm inline direct-drive
spindle comes with a servo-driven 30+1
side-mount toolchanger.
22 January 2020 www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets
/www.machinery.co.uk
/otihaq
/elorub
/uzadup