Just two days before MACH 2016 opened in Birmingham, Sub-CNC Precision received a contract for a family of 30,000 parts destined to the nuclear industry so used the timely start of the exhibition for the two directors to decide which CNC sliding head turn-mill centre best suited their needs.  Key in the show machine order was the availability and installation that would allow them to meet the ultra-tight, eight week customer parts delivery deadline.

Said Director Yian Stavrou: “We had the enquiry, quoted and had to machine prototypes on existing Citizen machines then wait for conformance testing. This lead to the contract for the family of 22 parts in 316 stainless steel being received on the Thursday before the show but we needed extra capacity to meet the deadline imposed by the customer.”

George Dingley added: “We viewed all the sliding head machines at the show and found the specification of the latest Citizen Cincom L32-XII was perfect for these parts so we placed the order on the show stand and took delivery of the machine that was being demonstrated.”

The Citizen L32 is the seventh Citizen machine installed at the firm plus a Miyano BNA-42MSY fixed head turn-mill centre that was added to the machine shop in 2012.  However, even with a proven track record with Citizen Machinery UK and especially with past support and service, the firm needed the most flexible machine for the type of features incorporated in the design of the components.

Further comments from Mr Dingley on the level of flexibility now available from the new L-Series machine means they are now able to draw back in-house certain subcontracted components that involved considerable milling.   “These can now be produced in a single cycle out of round bar on the new machine,” he said.

The Citizen Cincom L32-Xll has a 7.5 kW, 8,000 revs/min main and 3.7 kW 8,000 revs/min back spindle with 1 kW, 6,000 revs/min driven tools.  While Sub-CNC took the 32 mm capacity machine from the exhibition, 35 mm and 38 mm bar size versions are options.  Rapid traverse speeds are quick at 32 m/min.

Said Mr Stavrou: “Access is also ideal for setting which enables us to achieve a fast change-over.  We also included high pressure coolant to improve tool life and help in swarf control as we often machine difficult materials such as Monel, Inconel, titanium, S80 stainless steels and nickel-alloy bronzes.”

Tel: 01923 691500
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