Yesterday on the first day, the exhibition floor was buzzing with excitement at the return of the key, well-established trade show as companies were at last given the opportunity to meet with existing and new customers and to network.
In terms of machining centres and lathe suppliers and manufacturers, the likes of XYZ Machine Tools, Dugard Machine Tools, Haas Automation, Mills CNC, MACH Machine Tools and Hurco Europe all showcased the latest technology they offer the marketplace.
XYZ gave UK exhibition visitors the first sight of the brand new XYZ SS 65 twin/sub-spindle turning centre, which has a high specification and build quality and equipped with a 16.5 kW, 4000 revs/min, main spindle, 65mm bar capacity, with 200mm diameter main spindle chuck complemented by a 150mm chuck on the 11 kW, 5000 revs/min, sub-spindle, which has a 52 mm bore.
The XYZ 750 LR vertical machining centre (pictured above) and the latest versions of the popular Proto
Among the Dugard machines at Southern were a Kitamura vertical machining centre, a powerful SMEC turning centre and also a Hanwha sliding head turning centre. The Kitamura MedCenter5AX 5-axis vertical machining centre, the SMEC SL2000ASY turning centre and the compact Hanwha XD10 sliding head turning centre which is driven by the Fanuc CNC interface with Siemens control systems also available were on display.
Workholding providers such as 1st Machine Tool Accessories Ltd and Thame Workholding also showed their ranges of chucks, vices and more, while cutting tool companies like Guhring, Kyocera and the Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC) were also showcasing their products and solutions.
Also featuring were CADCAM and production IT firms like CGTech Ltd – who were hand to show off their Vericut CNC simulation software, along with Open Mind Technologies, while additive manufacturing firm Laser Lines showed off their latest 3D printing technology.
In terms of metrology manufacturers exhibiting – Hexagon, Vision Engineering, Nikon Metrology, Mitutoyo (UK) Ltd, the Sempre Group and Faro attended – while two coordinate measuring machines (CMM) were the highlight of this year’s Aberlink stand, with the Extol and the Axiom both using the latest release of the Aberlink 3D CMM inspection software.
A host of precision engineering subcontractors also exhibited, showing what services they offer including Biz Engineering Ltd, Bowyer Engineering Ltd, DKW Engineering Ltd, Douglas Precision, DRN Engineering Ltd, Fife Fabrications Ltd, Falcon Precision Limited, Jota Advanced Engineering Ltd, Leemark Engineering (Hayes) Ltd, LMS Precision Engineering and Mintdale Engineering Ltd.
