A 3-axis Spinner machine drives
performance; Doosan machines
improve production and help
fi rms meet continued demand;
and Haas, Grob and Mazak
machining centres all prove their
worth on the shop-fl oor
New investments
A n investment of £250,000 in a
Sodick die sinker and a German-built
3-axis, Spinner vertical machine
centre (VMC) from UK sales agent
Whitehouse Machine Tools ( www.is.gd/
LlpJiQ ) was made at the back-end of last
year by family-run toolmaker and plastic
injection moulding specialist Plasticom
Group.
It was as recently as 2012 that manual
plus two-and-a-half-axis CNC milling gave
way to full 3D machining of plastic injection
moulds on a 3-axis VMC at Plasticom – so
the purchases represent quite a
transformation for the toolroom.
The arrival of the Spinner machine at the
end of September 2020 coincided with the
departure of a 25-year-old CNC milling
machine and the decision for the change
was down to toolroom coordinator, Ian
Alexander (pictured), who investigated the
best replacement for it.
As part of this process, three were
considered and the Spinner was selected
due to the comprehensive speci cation of
the standard version of the manufacturer’s
VC750. The machine has improved cutting
performance and component geometry,
boosted speeds and lead times and offers
more productive capacity.
It includes linear scales, 22-bar throughspindle
coolant, a swarf conveyor, Blum
TC52 spindle probing, 24-station BT40 tool
magazine, 12,000 rpm spindle, Siemens
drives with up to 36 m/min feed rate and
the latest Sinumerik 840D control with 24-
inch Industry 4.0 multi-touch display.
“The VMC represented the best value for
money by far and the latest Siemens control
is a real bonus. It allows us to program
cycles to produce complex forms directly at
the machine, taking the load off our CAD/
“We also like the rigid, cross-table,
“The Spinner is between 30 and 70 per
on the type of component. I should say it
halves cycle times on average due to faster
axis movements, the extra rigidity which
allows heavier cuts to be taken without
causing vibration, and the latest Siemens
control.
“It offers so much more productive
capacity that there will be a lot of spare
time to take on additional subcontract
machining, which at present accounts for
only a few per cent of turnover.”
Operating from a factory of nearly 20,000
square feet in Ashford, Kent, Plasticom has
longstanding high pro le customers
including household names, such as Stanley
Black & Decker, Games Workshop, Qualcast
and Swann-Morton, as well as a host of
smaller rms that call on its services.
VENTILATOR PARTS
In March, Plasticom was invited to be part
of the UK government’s Ventilator Challenge
UK consortium and staff worked long hours
under considerable pressure to ship 15,000
plastic ventilator parts to McLaren Racing to
a very challenging schedule.
The company is accredited to
ISO13485:2016 and has a class seven
clean room for assembly of medical
devices. Its plastic injection moulding
capacity utilises machines rated from 20 to
530 tonnes, including automation, and
extends to twin-shot moulding and overmoulding.
Manufacture of press tools, vacuum
forming tools and die casting tools also
CAM department,” explains Alexander.
C-frame design, which results in superior
cutting performance and component
geometry. The ability to probe a part before
it comes off the table and re-machine it if
necessary is a big time-saver and makes us
more competitive.
cent quicker than our other VMC, depending
Toolroom coordinator Ian Alexander says
the Spinner offers so much more productive
capacity that there will be spare time to
take on additional subcontract machining
32 January 2021 | www.machinery.co.uk | MachineryMagazine | @MachineryTweets
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