Subcontractor expands its service capabilities – with help from Dugard

But regardless of experience, we can all learn new tricks – and for this Birkenhead company, the learning curve has taken a new twist with investment in 3D printing and CNC machine tools from Dugard.

With customers in industry sectors as diverse as automotive, aerospace and offshore through to petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food, Machfab offers a complete range of services that includes conventional and CNC milling and turning, jigs and fixtures, breakdown and repair work, press tool manufacture, reverse engineering, prototyping, R&D and sheet metalworking. Some of these services were not previously available.

“Two years ago, we decided to diversify the company,” says Machfab director, Ian Hazlehurst. “Traditionally, we were a conventional machine shop so we made the decision to invest in CNC equipment – but we also wanted to do something that differentiated ourselves in the marketplace so we went down the 3D printing route to get into additive manufacturing.

“We worked with the Liverpool Innovation Fund and managed to get funding from them to purchase our first 3D printer – a Stratasys Fortus 380mc. We bought this machine as an entry point to additive manufacturing, primarily for prototyping and R&D work.”

Another reason the company opted to invest in CNC machine tools was that it was not always competitive on batch work or small production runs of components. Alluding to this, Mr Hazlehurst continues: “We weren’t competitive on volume work as everyone had CNC machines and we had conventional which meant our production times were a lot longer. So, we decided as part of the project with the 3D printer to invest in two Dugard vertical machining centres.”

The subcontract manufacturer purchased a 3-axis Dugard 1100 with a rotary table and a Dugard 1000E. Ian Hazlehurst elaborates: “The story behind the 1000E machine is that Dugard actually gave us it as a ‘test machine’ as we had initially decided to buy the larger Dugard 1100. The 1000E was installed for our guys to learn on but we liked it so much, we bought it as well as the larger Dugard 1100 machine.”

For a company that had not yet stepped fully into the realms of CNC and had a history steeped in conventional machining, the initial loan of a CNC machining centre to introduce the business to CNC production goes a long way to demonstrate the service provided by Brighton-based Dugard Machine Tools.

Referring to the larger of the two machines and why the company chose the Dugard 1100, Mr Hazlehurst recalls: “We wanted a machine that could process a wide range of components and the Dugard 1100, particularly as it has a fourth axis unit installed, offers that flexibility. We also have a Renishaw probing system fitted which means we can take measurements of parts before removing them from the machine - as certain customers asked if we could do that. Equally important is the fact that the machine has a large bed and a powerful spindle so metal removal rates are high. We can also machine hard steels as well.”

The Dugard 1100 VMC provides a spacious work envelope of 1,100 x 610 x 560mm in the X, Y and Z axes with a 1,000kg maximum table load that can be accommodated on the 1,250 x 600mm bed.

The machine also provides a 20 to 10,000rpm speed range that guarantees high levels of torque throughout the speed range. Complementing this is the 24-position automatic tool change carousel and the BT40 spindle taper that permits heavy-duty cutting on a complete range of metals, including the most challenging aerospace-grade materials. Both Machfab machines were supplied with Siemens CNC, however they are available with Fanuc or Mitsubishi variants.

Machfab Engineering https://machfabengineering.co.uk

Dugard www.dugard.com