This additional 30,000 ft2 of space has boosted the company’s total floor space to 121,000 ft2 and enhances the firm’s ability to project manage the production of large, low volume components.
Within the new facility is a purpose-built, temperature-controlled environment for its latest machine tool investment, an HG-72-3000-B11 universal, heavy duty grinding machine from Danobat Group (01733 265566). This 3,000 mm between centres machine is capable of grinding parts up to 640 mm in diameter and weighing up to 1.5 tonnes. The integrated torque motor on the CNC-controlled B-axis allows the machine to carry out a range of grinding functions, including external and internal grinding, as well as thread grinding. The machine’s wheelhead is powered by a 45 kW motor that generates peripheral speeds of up to 45 m/min.
“The Danobat HG-72-3000-B11 is probably the largest capacity universal CNC grinder available for subcontract work in the UK and having it should open up a number of opportunities,” says Nathan Davies, new product development manager at LPE. “It is also a very accurate machine that will allow us to grind very large components with bores up to 1.1 m deep, many with thin wall sections down to 2 mm, to tolerances of 0.01 mm and surface finishes of 0.4 Ra.
“Danobat is a company that is open to challenges and their engineers were willing to change and develop ideas in partnership with us,” Davies continues, concluding: “The result of the close working relationship between LPE and Danobat means that we have achieved something quite special, in terms of grinding capability.”
This article was first published in the June issue of Machinery magazine.
