Golfing subcontractor reduces tooling handicap

The investment level at the Lancashire-based company has seen it acquire CNC twin spindle, sliding head turning centres and CNC machining centres in recent years, so acquiring the correct tooling was the next natural stage. The CNC machining section produces aluminium components for golf trolleys, as well as tooling for its internal plastic moulding department that provides plastic mouldings for the golf trolleys. It was problems machining aluminium components in the machine shop that led to the introduction of ITC. Upon his first visit, ITC technical sales engineer Jason Clark was confronted with an aluminium lighting component for a StandelDawman customer. Mr Clark introduced ITC's 12 mm diameter 2041 Cyber Series square end carbide milling cutter and changed the machining strategy to increase speeds and feeds beyond the capabilities of the previous tooling. Targeting the rough machining process, the 2041 series reduced the cycle time from 12 to 6 minutes. Dedicated to the rough machining of aluminium, the first 2041 Cyber Series cutter was soon accompanied by 6, 8 and 10 mm diameter cutters. Further 2041 Series tools were acquired with corner radii. The company then acquired the 6 and 10 mm diameter ranges of ITC's 2052 two flute ball nosed series of ultra wear resistant micro-grain carbide cutters for finish machining and the processing of intricate forms. This improvement continued with high end cutters introduced to produce mould tools for a new trolley design. The Hanita 70N7 high performance solid carbide end mill series was introduced reducing roughing and semi finishing cycle times from over two days to a couple of hours on many of the tooling components. StandelDawman engineering director Gary Dawes commented: "The Hanita high feed cutters have been a revelation to our business. The change of strategy to high feed and low depth of cut machining has reduced the stress on our machine tools while bringing obvious productivity benefits. These tools have been perfectly complemented by ITC's BritCut and Hanita ball nose cutters for finish machining. "The surface finish on our mould tools has improved to the extent that we no longer need to polish parts after machining. We used to machine, polish, etch and anodise our mould tool parts. Taking the polishing away from the process has enabled us to save additional time and move staff from this labour intensive task."