The first Revomaze puzzles went on sale in 2009. Since then, the range has expanded to 18 designs, each offering increasingly complicated challenges. Simon Dawson, managing director of DPC, says: “The Revomaze concept is a top-of-the-range maze or executive toy comprising brass nickel-plated bodies, stainless steel pins and draw bars, and aluminium outer sleeves. Our client, Ashton Pitt, wanted a highly-reliable precision engineer to manufacture the parts while they focus on promotional work and designing new puzzles.
“We first made parts for the beginner level blue-coloured maze,” he adds. “There are currently eight different versions in production with more planned.”
The mazes have very complex designs, with square and circular moves, different paths and depths. For example, the indigo-coloured game has seven depths. Precision-engineered components include ramps leading from one level to another, as well as sliders, pins and bridges. Some mazes include magnets.
“Machining the parts requires very complicated G-code programming which can take two days to complete,” says Dawson. “The client provides the designs for each maze, then we work hand-in-hand with them to develop their designs into machinable parts.”
DPC uses a Citizen M32 machine for the main maze bodies and a Mazak turn-mill centre for aluminium sleeves. In addition, DPC’s product inspection and process control services are also critical. There are 21 aspects that are checked thoroughly.
“The finish of the mazes is also crucial,” says Dawson. “The brass raised body is nickel-plated to a bright, durable finish. In addition, the outer sleeves are diamond-turned to get a beautiful finish, then colour-anodised to match the particular maze design with which it is to be mated.”
Chris Pitt of Ashton Pitt adds: “We looked carefully for a production manufacturer who has the same passion about quality that we – and all our worldwide clients – require for a premium product. We have enjoyed a very successful relationship with DPC due to the meticulous attention to detail by Simon and all the staff. Our ability to compete worldwide relies on the high quality of the machining.”
Over £1 million has been invested in expanding DPC’s workshops and premises in recent years by owners Simon Dawson, Paul Dawson and Julie Hughes. New machines include a Miyano BNA 42 GTY with low frequency vibration (LFV) technology and a Citizen L20 Type 8, also with LFV, which enables better swarf management in metal or plastics.
The Citizen is a 20 mm capacity sliding-head lathe with sub-spindle live tooling and magazine bar feed, while the Miyano offers 42 mm capacity and is the first of its type in the UK to feature LFV.
