Motorsport subcontractor saves material with Hydrafeed technology

The barfeed unit was installed as part of a package that also included a Mazak Quickturn Nexus 100. This investment was made in January to support the turning of parts up to 300 mm long an 25 mm diameter. Turning bar of this length would have resulted in considerable waste, if the company was to have used a standard short magazine bar feed. Explains director Tim Forster: "The materials we use are very expensive, so reducing waste and bar remnants has a marked benefit to our bottom line. Some bars we turn are over £800 for a 3 m length; if the Hydrafeed 5-51 is reducing remnants by 15%, we are saving £120 per bar. When we are turning components up to 300 mm long in quantities up to 1,000, the saving can prove very noticeable." T&K Precision is a long-time user of Hydrfeed and Mazak technology. It has purchased equipment from Hydrafeed for over 25 years, starting with rotary indexing units and collet closers, with this evolving to take in barfeed systems when it acquired its first Mazak CNC turning centre over 12 years ago.