As a manufacturer and stockholder of high-integrity bolting, Beck Prosper Ltd has recently invested in a large Leadwell LTC-35CL turning centre from Whitehouse Machine Tools. The new acquisition will enable the Kingswinford manufacturer to increase the capacity, and productivity and also enhance the quality levels of components the business manufactures.
Robbie Beaman from Beck Prosper says: “The part on the machine at the moment is a long fastener, and on the lathes that we already have, they do not have the length capacity of this new machine. So, they cannot facilitate the same diameter that this spindle has. Turning particularly long parts can be quite tricky and we have to get our parts ‘bang on’ with no taper or deviation, as many parts go for secondary grinding operations. The existing machines that we have, which are a lot older, have more wear and are not in line. This new machine is far more rigid and a lot more capable of machining longer parts, accurately.”
“Since we have been using the machine, we have had no scrap parts or errors and there is absolutely zero taper along the length of these parts. We have several relatively long workpieces and in some instances, we have not been able to take the work on as we could not do so. Effectively, we were losing out on business. By installing this new machine, we have been able to take on larger jobs and we have more capacity, as now we have an extra machine doing this type of work. The machine is also extremely reliable.”
The new LTC-35 Series turning centre has a 30kW spindle motor, a FANUC CNC unit with a capacity that can accommodate parts up to 2100mm with a maximum workpiece diameter of 600mm. With an X-axis travel of 344+10mm and a Z-axis of 1100mm, the machine can accommodate large parts whilst offering flexibility with its 12 tool station turret. There are additional variants with different dimensional capacities in the series.
Explaining the operations that are being undertaken on the new box slideway machine on a particular L43 steel part that is almost 1m in length, Robbie Beaman adds: “On this particular job, we have faced and centred one end, then turned and tapered the length of the component – with absolutely no vibration and much better surface finishes. We can absolutely rely on this machine for machining our components to a very high standard.”
“We also machine a lot of difficult materials that are difficult to chip, but the torque on the machine improves the cutting performance of the tools and allows you to run at higher feeds and speeds with improved cutting action,” concludes Robbie.
