Lincoln Crankshaft & Machine’s £900,000 grinding investment

The Broadbent Stanley "Orbigrind" has a maximum distance between centres of 11,000 mm and swing of 1,900 mm. Conventional CNC machines utilise recirculating ballscrew drives via ac motors and, after a short period of time, constantly reversing a crosslide/wheelhead assembly weighing some 7 or 8 tonnes introduces inaccuracies, due to excessive wear in the ballscrew/drive. The Orbigrind utilises linear motor technology, which, while more expensive, completely eliminates the need for conventional drives, and gives micron accuracy. Although still in the early stages of machine usage, LC&M has already achieved major savings in both set-up and machining times. Gone is the need to individually clock each bearing or pin diameter, prior to grinding, as all adjustment is now accommodated within the control software. "Once fully proficient, we believe we can slash up to 60 per cent off setting times alone. This will give us better throughput, a reduction in lead time, which in turn will make us more competitive in the market place," said Mick Harwood, managing director of LC&M. LC&M was founded eight years ago from the ashes of Clark Crank & Forge Company and specialises in manufacturing one-off and small batch production of shafts and crankshafts, up to 11 m in length. In its first year of trading, the company achieved a turnover of £150,000, rising to almost £9 million last year. With almost 80 per cent of production exported, the company has been awarded a Queens Award for Enterprise in International Trade.