EXHIBITIONS

Turning over a new leaf can overcome friction

Many manufacturers in Queensland and other states have grown to rely on a Brisbane-based company, especially when projects or production-runs have a requirement for precision-machined plastics in industrial applications.

A family-owned business for three decades, Modern Engineering Pty Ltd specialises in providing general and precision engineering services to industry, together with a pump repair and 24 hour breakdown service.

The machine shop in Toombul Road, Northgate is comprehensively equipped to undertake such machining tasks as turning and milling, and is able to offer full fabrication and assembly services. Many of the company’s machine tools are CNC controlled, which considerably increases the set-up time and leads to quicker production of precision parts and, ultimately, faster delivery to customers.

In addition to producing a variety of components in mild steel, stainless, copper, brass, bronze, and other metals and alloys, the company machines various types of wearing and bearing materials. All its friction materials are asbestos-free.

Replacing metal
Managing director Chris Richards, explained that the company’s own D-Glide range of materials gives design engineers the chance of replacing metal-based materials with unique, non-asbestos, wearing and bearing composites capable of duplicating – and in some cases exceeding – the performance of asbestos composites.

He said that D-Glide materials possess strength, durability, dimensional stability, and excellent wear characteristics besides exhibiting good resistance to attack by many chemicals, and have found an a large number of applications for railways, the mining and chemical industries, in food and confectionery production, for fluid handling systems, and in the marine industry.

Webmaster on 11.21.08 @ 06:49 PM CST [read full article here]

Having trouble with your Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost?

Don’t worry, because Sydney-based Dellow Automotive is the largest manufacturer in Australia of replacement parts for classic and performance cars. It has been in operation for about 45 years, and now exports its products to some 25 countries.

Due to the number of enthusiasts now restoring or building cars, such as the revered Silver Ghost, demand around the world for Dellow products has ‘blown out’ to unexpectedly large proportions. To cope with the influx of orders, the company needed to expand its capacity to produce such major items as flywheels, bell-housings, and adaptors.

Earlier this year, the company took delivery of a Colchester Tornado T10M-bar, which was built in England by the 600 Group to Dellow’s exacting specifications, and was supplied through the Sydney branch of 600 Machine Tools.

The 4.5 tonne machine was installed and commissioned at the Dellow plant in Revesby, and is now in full production. The Tornado has the ability to produce in minutes some of the components that are in most demand, and has helped the automotive company to maintain its reputation for excellent service to enthusiasts seeking increasingly-rare spares for classic vehicles.

Company founder and owner, Jeff Dellow, said: “The investment in the machine is well worth it, because we can now add to our already extensive list of more than 3,000 products that we make in our Sydney workshops.”

Webmaster on 11.21.08 @ 06:38 PM CST [read full article here]

You can start a road train on a GT300

Almost everybody has marvelled at the road trains that deliver Australia’s minerals to ports, and many engineers have wondered how these vehicles withstand the heavy loads and demanding conditions of the mining and quarrying industries. The secret is twofold: innovative design and exemplary workmanship.

AZMEB Global Trailers Pty. Ltd., also known as BTS (Bulk Transfer Systems), manufacture the Patented Bowl Floor Door Side Tipper, and Flex Tipper range of trailers. For the Australian market, and exports the vehicles to the mining industries of Africa, Canada, China, and Indonesia.

Director of the company and designer of the tipper concepts, Bernd Ostermeyer, began developing and manufacturing the Door Side Tippers in 1974, believing that the side tipper technology could be improved, invested heavily in R&D that has created numerous new products. Among these accomplishments are such important trailer components as the continuous door hinge, the floating tee-bar body pivot, and the perimeter hoist.

Road trains have to be sturdily built and extremely durable, in addition to being efficient. Building-in these qualities begins in the company’s workshops in North Bundaberg, Queensland. Skilled craftsmen use precision machine tools that are designed to cope with components of the size required for the huge trailers.

Mr Ostermeyer said: “To keep our edge in domestic and international markets, we need to equip our workshops with machine tools that can produce components accurately and quickly. Making high-precision cylinders of substantial size presents quite a challenge and much thought was put into selecting the right machine for this task.”

After careful evaluation of the contenders, AZMEB invested in a YCM GT300 MA lathe with milling capabilities, supplied and supported by the Brisbane branch of 600 Machine Tools.

Fitted with an operator-friendly CNC control, the newcomer is a slant bed machine that can perform conventional turning duties, but also can handle horizontal and vertical milling tasks. Its structure and build-quality provide rigidity under heavy turning conditions and superb dampening to allow accurate machining of workpieces of all sizes.

Webmaster on 11.21.08 @ 06:28 PM CST [read full article here]

Machine rigidity delivers speed and accuracy

When the long-established Australian operation of the world-famous Crown company installed its second vertical machining centre from YCM of Taiwan, it noted the intrinsic quality and reliability of the machine. Built under a rigorous QA regime, the 12-model TV range is now a favourite in machine shops in all the industrialised nations.

When Crown sought to meet increasing demand for its forkhoists and walk-behind stacker ranges by increasing its manufacturing capacity, analysis of the capabilities, price, and cost-benefit ratio of the TV50 from YCM produced the most ticks on the company’s wish list.

General manager of manufacturing, Bob Barber, said: “In addition to reliability and speed of throughput, this model offered rigidity – and that is essential when you are machining parts that require accuracy. It is bigger than our first YCM machining centre, and has a 30 horsepower motor that provides the grunt we need for our class of work.”

Now in the final stages of its commissioning, the machine has many of its programs already written, and is awaiting specialised input from Seco about the settings required for the specific cutting programs.

Mr Barber said: “Experiments undertaken in tandem with Seco indicate that the TV50 is capable of massively slashing feed-times, and is expected to cut machining time in half – an extraordinary improvement that will further underline the exemplary service Crown is able to offer its customers throughout Australia.


He explained that Ohio-based Crown had been serving customers in The Lucky Country for more than four decades, and is the number one supplier of lift trucks in Australia.

“Although we import some items from our sister companies around the world, along with other suppliers in such countries as Germany and Korea, a notable percentage of the mechanical-handling products sold by Crown in Australia are manufactured in our New South Wales plant. For example, the new YCM will increase our output of I-beam frames for forkhoists.”

He added that the company had built an enviable reputation as an employer with a stable workforce – a considerable advantage at a time when the country is suffering a severe skills shortage.

Local support
The high-quality machines designed and manufactured by YCM are sold and supported in Australia exclusively by 600 Machine Tools. Part of the UK-based 600 Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of lathes, this distributor has branches in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, along with agents in Adelaide and Perth.

Managing director of the Australian operation, Cliff Purser, said: “The YCM TV Series vertical machining centres are acknowledged worldwide as high performance machine tools. This range was specially developed for such quality-driven industries as aerospace, vehicle manufacturing, and electronics, in addition to such specialised operations as the production of precision moulds and dies.”

Webmaster on 11.21.08 @ 06:23 PM CST [read full article here]

New machine sparks-up a top toolmaker

One of Australia’s top-tier toolmakers, has built a portfolio of customers by placing strong emphasis on accuracy. A family business, Product Engineering P/L of Brisbane has a reputation for producing press tools and injection moulds for the plastics industry to high specifications, and on time and on budget.

It was this ‘customer focus’ that prompted the engineering company to replace an aging Japanese spark-erosion machine with a new Joemars WT655 wirecut machine. The newcomer was ordered from the Queensland branch of 600 Machine Tools, the Sydney-based company that represents Joemars throughout Australia.

Director of the company and workshop manager, Gavin Lister, explained: “One of our customers discussed with us the engineering requirements for a component that was larger than our existing machine could handle.”

He continued: “As that machine was coming to the end of its life, it was decided to replace it with a unit that could not only meet our specifications for accuracy and reliability, but also cope with larger workpieces.”

The WT655, which has a worktable manufactured from stainless-steel, has U and V axes located above the columm to offer increased stability. It can handle precise taper machining when facing high wire tension and high water pressure.

The wirecut machine’s highly rigid design and good thermal balance are designed for precision machining. The simple wire-feeding and wire-collecting design has been developed for higher reliability.

Like many of the machines in the Product Engineering workshop, the WT655 is CNC controlled. The operator’s screen provides large quantities of graphic descriptions, on-line help, warning descriptions, and detailed operation instructions.

The sophisticated controller enables the operator to input the wire diameter, workpiece material and thickness, and surface roughness required, resulting in the appropriate machining factors being automatically called-up from the machining databank.

Webmaster on 11.21.08 @ 06:03 PM CST [read full article here]

Machine tool keeps company competitive in export markets

A Sydney company has acquired a machine tool that has slashed the time taken for a key task, with a commensure reduction in labour costs.

Kelco has acquired the country’s first Robodrill Spacesaver from the Australasian agent for Fanuc of Japan, 600 Machine Tools, and has installed the new machine in its factory at Brookvale in New South Wales.

Managing director of the flow products manufacturer, Kerry Field, said: “We mould batches of up to 10,000 of our 75 standard plastic components, but do not incorporate the threads because of the complexity and expense of producing injection dies.”

He explained that, until now, the two necessary threads had been tapped individually, with the swarf being removed using tweezers. A complete batch had typically taken about six months to complete.

“The Robodrill accomplishes the entire task in half a day!” he said. “The cutting process produces chips of plastic, eliminating the job of removing the curls of swarf,” Mr Field said.

There have been supplementary benefits, too, because Kelco has been able to operate a ‘just in time’ delivery of finished products to its customers, with a consequent reduction in inventory.

The company now has two factories, both in New South Wales, reflecting its 20% year on year growth, along with a stockholding distributor in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The principal customers for Kelco’s flow and level control products are pump and irrigation system specialists, along with electrical wholesalers.

Webmaster on 11.21.08 @ 05:57 PM CST [read full article here]

Brisbane managing director is exceptionally testy

The managing director Brisbane-based Geo-Con Products Pty. Ltd., South Africa-born Hollings Norton, admits to being continually ‘testy.’ This is hardly surprising, given that Geo-Con is one of Australia’s foremost manufacturers of test equipment.

Mr Norton is a civil engineer by qualification, a Member of the Institute of Engineers, Australia, and Registered Professional Engineer Queensland, and has a B.Sc. (Eng.) degree. All his business life has been involved in civil engineering, concentrating mainly in the field of investigation, design, and construction of geotechnical works – i.e. foundations, basements, tunnelling (pipe jacking).

The company operates a fully-equipped and very busy machine shop, producing a comprehensive range of testing equipment such as concrete cylinder, cube and flex beam moulds, compaction and CBR equipment, etc., along with designing and manufacturing items to clients particular requirements – all to Australian Standard specifications or those appropriate for export markets.

At the beginning of this year, it could be seen that one of the machines was coming to the end of its useful life, making it increasingly difficult for the operator to maintain the levels of accuracy required by the company’s QA regime.

Mr Norton said: “As the company had traditionally purchased equipment from 600 Machine Tools, it was decided to call-in engineers from its Brisbane branch to discuss our ‘wish list’ and help us to choose the right machine for the envisaged tasks.”

Webmaster on 11.21.08 @ 05:53 PM CST [read full article here]

GRANDDAUGHTER OF T S HARRISON VISITS HECKMONDWICKE PLANT

The granddaughter of Yorkshire lathe company founder, Mr TS Harrison, marked her 90th birthday with a VIP visit to the machine tool manufacturer’s Heckmondwicke plant. Mrs Joan Crawshaw, accompanied by her daughter and son-in-law, toured the factory on Union Street, which still occupies the same location as the original TS Harrison & Sons site founded in 1898.

She saw modern, computer-controlled Harrison Alpha lathes being made and met directors and employees of Colchester-Harrison, which is now part of The 600 Group.

“It has brought back so many memories”, said Mrs Crawshaw of High Street, Heckmondwicke, who recalled being taken to the Harrison factory by her father, John, when she was a young child. She also reminded her hosts that she had worked on the ‘shop-floor’ alongside other female machine operators during World War II.

“There were no computers, of course, in those days and it’s all very different now. But I’m delighted to see that Harrison lathes are still being made here”.

For further information please contact tools@600machinery.com.au

Webmaster on 11.21.08 @ 05:47 PM CST [read full article here]

The loss of Adam’s rib has yielded unexpected benefits

The loss of Adam’s rib has yielded unexpected benefits
When Adam’s rib was fashioned into Eve, nobody imagined that the female of species could tackle many of the tasks that males could do – and, in some cases, do them better!

Most men, for example, believe that operating machine tools is exclusively a male preserve, completely ignoring the fact that women operated most types of machines in factories during the 1940s while the menfolk were overseas fighting to preserve the democratic way of life.

One man who subscribes to the idea that, sometimes, ‘the best man for the job is a woman’ is Wayne Fletcher of Intricate Engineering.

Some years ago, he decided to run his own workshop. A fitter and turner by trade, Wayne had all the qualifications but not the required amount of capital. So, he started seeking-out customers, and began producing components on a lathe installed in the garage of his house – sometimes burning the midnight oil to meet tight deadlines.

Saving all the supplementary income, Wayne and his wife Janette bought a five acre plot in New South Wales – which they still have today. During this time, Janette continued as a dental nurse, helping her husband with the paperwork.

Eventually, the husband and wife team decided that there was sufficient business coming-in to take the considerable risk of moving the machines into a factory. They achieved this objective in 2002, and haven’t looked back.

The duo formed a company called Intricate Engineering, and offered all the usual services provided by small owner-operated workshops. However, they found a niche in the market for components that other workshops found difficult to make.

Wayne takes the view that ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way. So, not only did this aspect of the business flourish, but the small company attracted batchwork, with some substantial production runs. However, this two-pronged achievement brought a new challenge.

Webmaster on 11.21.08 @ 05:43 PM CST [read full article here]

Queensland's Industrial Exhibition 2007

COME AND VISIT US

30 August – 1 September 2007

Qld, Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds

Run by Industrial and Machinery Suppliers Association of Queensland Queensland’s
trade exhibition of machinery, equipment and services for manufacturing
industries, with an emphasis on machine tools, sheet metal equipment, industrial
engineering and materials handling.

Webmaster on 08.06.07 @ 02:18 AM CST [read full article here]

Fine cuts eliminate hand polishing

Fine cuts eliminate hand polishing

WHEN a Sydney engineering workshop noted for precision jobs and fast turnaround invested in a new Fanuc Robodrill, it got more than it bargained for.

The managing director of Oz Models, Wally Austin, said the acquisition enables staff to produce a smooth machined surface to the required profile.

"We are very impressed with the performance of the Robodrill FS31i-A%, because it has enabled us to enhance the quality of each finished component on tasks that formerly took three times as long," Austin said.

The newcomer has done more than maintain the workshop's customary high levels of accuracy - even running at a spindle-speed of 21,000 rpm. The fineness of the cut has eliminated most of the polishing processes needed on work pieces such as close tolerance moulds for the plastic industry.

At its workshops in Ryde, Oz Models has provided a variety of services for the past decade. It has built a first-class reputation for pattern-making, producing high-precision dies and moulds, jigs and fixtures, special purpose machines and short run machined parts. Oz Models uses a wide variety of materials including metal, plastic and resins to manufacture these jobs.

Webmaster on 05.14.07 @ 05:38 AM CST [read full article here]

AUSTECH 2007

600 Machine Tools will be exhibiting in Austech 2007.

Melbourne Exhibition Centre-Southbank, Melbourne

Held 22 - 25 May, 2007

Open Tues 22nd 10am - 6pm

Wed 23rd 10am - 6pm

Thu 24th 10am - 8pm

Fri 25th 10am - 4pm

Come and visit us in Stand E20.
Webmaster on 05.11.07 @ 08:34 PM CST [read full article here]