There are three distinct, but complementary, elements of YMT’s business – machine tools, tooling, and service and applications. The machining division offers a range of high quality vertical, horizontal and 5-axis machining centres from Hedelius (Germany) and YCM (Taiwan) plus turning centres from Taiwanese manufacturer Goodway.
The tooling division – and the focus of this article – is headed up by tooling and workholding manager Jason Short and dedicated to providing toolholding, workholding and fixturing solutions for a variety of applications. The wide portfolio spans everything from spindle tooling, collets and machine vices, through to angle heads, heat shrink technology and rotary tables. Oil and mist extraction systems are also included.
The third arm to YMT’s business, service and applications, is self-explanatory but central to the company’s ongoing success. Offering high quality products is one thing: supporting and working closely with customers to form longstanding relationships is another ball game entirely. YMT takes this element of the business seriously enough to warrant a division dedicated entirely to it. Turnkey projects are also undertaken from time to time.
Formerly known as Yeovil Machine Tools, YMT was founded by its current managing director, Richard Hillard in 1981. A modest product line, mainly comprising tooling and manual turret mills formed the basis of the company’s early product portfolio. Now of course the technology on offer has expanded significantly.
“Whilst the machining and tooling two divisions are certainly complementary – customers buying our machine tools will sometimes need fixturing, vices and workholding equipment – the proportion is not as high as you might think,” Jason Short explains. “Only around 10% of machine buyers purchase tooling as well. The lion’s share of our business on the tooling side is totally independent – we sell either directly from our Yeovil facility or through our distribution network. We’re effectively self-sufficient – and we carry £750,000 worth of stock here at our Yeovil facility.”
On the subject of distribution, YMT has always had a strong presence in the South of England, but to provide national support it uses a tried and trusted distributor network to extend its geographical reach. Of this number, there are 15 ‘master dealers’, handpicked for their technical knowledge and product know-how.
Quality that doesn’t break the bank
Even for the casual observer, with a slogan like ‘Affordable Technology’ it’s a relatively simple task to establish YMT’s business priorities. Over time, the company has assembled a product line derived from principals that champion high quality products at cost-effective pricing.
“It certainly hasn’t been an easy exercise,” Mr Short reveals, “but I’m really pleased with the products and the excellent relationships we have with our principals. The price/performance aspect is vitally important and we’ve proved that it is possible to have both, but getting to this point has involved countless meetings, trips abroad and exhibitions. Then when you find a company, you discover that they already have a UK agent in place. I’ve been with YMT for 17 years and I believe, quite literally, that it’s taken that long to get to where we are now.”
In terms of workholding/toolholding products and accessories, YMT’s range is all encompassing.
It features workholding equipment from 5th Axis (USA); driven tooling from Algra (Italy); presetting machines from Alfa-Sys (Lichtenstein); spindle tooling from Kojex (Taiwan), ETP (Sweden), Diebold (Germany), Tuscan and Zurn (Germany); collets and pullstuds from Kojex and Tuscan; speed increasers and angle heads from OMG (Italy); fourth and fifth axis rotary tables from Detron (Taiwan); heatshrink machines and tooling from Diebold; probes and measuring equipment from Tschorn (Germany), (as well as Blum, Heidenhain and Renishaw); and oil and mist extraction systems from AR Filtrazioni (Italy).
Many of these manufacturers won’t be household names, but all have been selected with YMT’s ‘Affordable Technology’ philosophy in mind – good quality at prices that won’t break the bank.
Set to impress
Probably YMT’s newest agency (so new it’s not on the website yet) is a range of tool presetters from Lichtenstein-based Alfa-Sys which encompasses a variety of applications and capacities.
Alfa-Set 23/44/64 models for example feature X-axis (diameter) capacities of 270, 420 and 600mm and Z-axis travels of 380, 450 and 450mm respectively. On these models, the operating grip isn’t mounted on the measuring bracket so there’s no forces acting on the system. The machines offer single hand operation and a pneumatic axis clamp. A ball bearing sleeve precision toolholder provides optimum runout accuracy, even when using long tools.
All Alfa-Set presetters are supplied with a versatile, high quality image processing system and again there are options. Vision 2 comprises a 12.1inch colour touchscreen and 20x magnification; Vision 4 offers 20/40 and 80x magnification and extended measuring programs for spiral cutting tools; and Vision 5 comes with all the features of Vision 4 plus a larger 19-inch screen and 30/60 and 120x magnification.
The heat is on
For some 5-axis and mould and die applications where rigidity and runout is paramount and tooling has to access dimensionally tight areas, heat shrink tooling really comes into its own because no collet is used. YMT offers a wide range of heat shrink machines and tooling from German manufacturer Diebold.
“Our partnership with Diebold has been in place for around five years now,” Mr Short comments. “Diebold were early innovators of heat shrink technology with its ThermoGrip concept and we offer a wide range of Diebold BT40, HSK63A and SK40/DV40 heat shrink holders to suit the vast majority of applications. We also carry Diebold’s line of manual and automatic induction coil heatshrink machines and cooling systems.”
Fourth and fifth axis rotary tables are provided courtesy of Taiwan-based Detron, one of YMT’s most successful product lines. “We believe that from a specification and accuracy perspective, Detron can give Japanese manufacturers a real run for their money,” Mr Short says.
“Additionally, an important aspect with rotary tables is the interface with the machine tool. Our service engineers fit all the cabling and motors here onsite before being installed on the customer’s machine so we can guarantee everything will work first time. We also have our own test rig in house for ongoing servicing. As far as I’m aware, none of our competitors offer this service.”
Product diversity
Customers needing high-speed spindle tooling would do well to take a look at the Kojex range of toolholders offered by YMT: “30,000rpm is standard for these holders, and they can be fine balanced to run comfortably at speeds of up to 100,000rpm,” Mr Short explains.
“Kojex’s DC Slim toolholders incorporate the smallest mechanical collet system in the world and we’ve enjoyed a 15-year relationship with the company – they’re great to work with and the support we receive is second to none. The holders are available in BT30, BT40, HSK63A and SK40/DV40 formats and with their ability to access really tight areas, they’re very popular with 5-axis machining applications.”
Product wise, a departure from the norm for YMT is the range of AR Filtrazioni oil and mist extraction systems. The Italian manufacturer has over 30 years’ experience in air filtration and YMT offers no less than 14 different models to suit just about every requirement. These units fit directly onto the machine tool and filter out harmful fumes produced by cutting fluids. All the ‘good’ moisture produced by the machining process is recycled into the machine – minus the harmful coolants particulates of course.
“YMT’s product range is probably wider than people think,” Mr Short concludes. “We often say we’re the best kept secret in the industry and in many ways that’s true. The reality is that we have great products, great people and we’re dedicated to giving our customers the best possible service. We’re friendly, flexible and we’ll always go the extra mile for our clients.”
