Dugard delivers for precision subcontractor

Located near Eastbourne on the South Coast, Dicker Precision Components has recently taken delivery of another machining centre from Dugard Machine Tools.

As a subcontract manufacturer serving a diverse range of industries from medical and aerospace to offshore, subsea and defence, Dicker Precision needed a high-quality machine from a supplier with a track record of delivering within a short turnaround. Dugard was the first name on the company’s radar.

Based in Hailsham in Sussex, Dicker Precision was founded in 1973 – and for much of its existence, the ISO 9001 certified manufacturer has purchased machine tools from Brighton-based Dugard.

“They have always been very good to us – and we have worked with Dugard for 30 plus years,” says managing director Mark Love. “We’ve had several Dugard machines down the years, and we get excellent levels of service. Furthermore, they are just down the road from us so it just makes sense. Regarding the latest machine, Dugard had a model in stock so we went for it.”

The subcontractor has recently taken delivery of a Dugard 1100 vertical machining centre to complement its existing range of Dugard machine tools that include a Dugard 1000Y Plus and a heavyweight Dugard 1886B HD with a 4th axis and a BT50 spindle taper.

“I went to Dugard to see the machine and it was in the showroom with the guarding off, so I could see the build quality,” Mr Love continues. “The price point of the machine is particularly good, especially considering the extras we have on it. We bought the machine and it was up and running within two weeks.

“We specified a Nikken 4th axis unit, and we also have Renishaw probing which makes everything so much easier and quicker. We don’t need to get the clock out – and I have an app on my phone, so we can put one line of code in, and it runs perfectly.”

He adds: “We use the through coolant facility quite a lot and with carbide drilling, we wouldn’t buy a machine without it. The machine also has an extremely useful air blast, as we do a lot of dry cutting on stainless steel. Overall, this machine has been a cracking deal and it has significantly enhanced our capacity. It was originally bought to replace an older machine that we were having reliability issues with.”

Mr Love further explains: “We’ve only used the new machine for processing stainless steel so far – but it’s cutting all day long. We tend to put long cycle time jobs on the machine, as it will just run and run. It also allows our operator to go and work on other machines simultaneously. It virtually runs itself.”

The new machining centre has been supplied to Dicker Precision with the latest Mitsubishi CNC system.

“The CNC has a touchscreen, and it has some interesting quirks to it, but in all honesty, it is no different to operate than a FANUC control system,” Mr Love affirms. “There may be a couple of G- and M-codes that are slightly different, but for all the programs we are running on our other Dugard machines that are all FANUC controlled, we can transfer to the new machine with just a couple of tweaks.

“The processing speed is particularly impressive and if the need arises, we could easily run faster machining cycles.”

Dugard
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