UK — Provider of integrated CAM software, Solidcam UK, joined The British Turned Parts Manufacturers Association (BTMA) as a Technical Member.

Germany — Already in 2019, on the occasion of the EMO exhibition, Lach Diamant wrote „the trend in milling is towards Monoblock“ — or, in other words, to “renounce“ profitably the use of cartridge milling cutters. The PCD-Monoblock is, in direct comparison with cartridge milling cutters, immediately ready for use — without time-consuming adjustment of the cutting edges needed.

UK — Kirkham Engineering has established a reputation as specialists in the production of repetition turned parts on CNC fixed head and sliding head machines. With decades of experience and a machine inventory supplied by a host of manufacturers down the generations, the latest machine to be installed was a Nakamura Tome AS-200L turning centre from the Engineering Technology Group (ETG).

USA — One of the critical components of a plastic 3D printer is the extrusion tip. To protect these components, tip shields made of heat resistant materials had to be machined. Savillex developed a method to produced tip shields made of PFA by injection moulding, allowing Stratasys and their customers to significantly reduce costs.

Sweden — New computer-aided-manufacturing (CAM) technology has been introduced by Esprit CAM, part of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division. It provides manufacturers with the control and flexibility needed to use multi-spindle and multi-channel computer-numerical-control (CNC) machinery for the machining of long parts.

The production of die-casting, plastic mould injection tools and sheet metal working tools used mostly in the automotive industry requires extremely high precision, up to hundredths of a millimetre. The success of a part or a whole project can depend on these strict tolerances, hence, using the appropriate technology is key. Although they are not complete solutions in themselves, proper EDM machine tools are best suited to perform these tasks. This is exactly how Naton sees it, a Hungarian company that designs and manufactures precision tools exclusively for the die casting industry.

In times of travel restrictions online tool ordering, services and training are gaining in importance. How do suppliers react to this demand? ETMM presents some of the current developments that make tool ordering faster and easier and support training efforts.

UK — As a supply chain partner to a multitude of blue chip OEMs that are household names, Unilathe has been providing a complete engineering service to industry since its inception in 1977. Applying the latest generation of machine tools, the Stoke-on-Trent Tier 1 subcontract manufacturer has recently invested in a Kitamura Mycenter HX500iG horizontal machining centre from Dugard Machine Tools to add to its three previously installed Kitamura machines.

UK — The new precision gear grinding centre from PTG Holroyd, called the HG350-G, is the first from PTG Holroyd — and believed to be the first in the UK — to use Siemens’ new Sinumerik One CNC, the successor to the automation specialist’s 840D CNC.

South Korea — In order to enhance their smart factory concept, Hyundai WIA is using Module Works CNC software technology.