Peerless Gas Control (www.peerlesscontrols.com) has a history that dates back to the late 19th century, when the company was formed as M Howlett and Co Ltd in Birmingham. Now part of the Peerless Group of companies, it is located in Flintshire (North Wales), where it produces some 1.5 million components a year, including gas solenoid valves and regulators. Indeed, the company is recognised as the UK’s leading manufacturer in its field.

Continuing growth in sales — both in the UK and overseas — saw the need for further investment in machining capacity, and a Haas Minimill with a fourth axis was bought. As this machine would be used to produce components similar to those that were already being machined, the work-holding solution required was going to be a simple replication of the existing set-ups. That was until a timely visit by Matt Darbyshire, who is a technical sales engineer at Sheffield-based WNT (UK) Ltd (www.wnt.com).

Peerless’s existing set-up consisted of four vices on a horizontal tombstone, which were then rotated by the fourth axis. The company had been happy with this set-up, as it produced 16 parts per cycle, and WNT was asked to quote like-for-like. While happy to look at that option, Mr Darbyshire’s experience told him that there was a better way — one that would reduce the number of vices while increasing the number of parts per cycle and reducing the cycle time.

One of the key challenges was designing this new three-vice set-up to fit within the limited machining envelope, as longer cutters would be required. “Switching to three vices instead of four gave much better access to the parts for machining and allowed the cycle to be completed in one hit, rather than the parts being rotated in mid-cycle. The design did require the use of tools with longer reach, so the design of the fixturing and some programming changes were introduced to compensate for this, with no loss of productivity.”


The vices used are from WNT’s DSG series, and they are located on a triangular tower held horizontally in the fourth-axis unit. WNT also designed sub-plates, with precise and specific location points that allow rapid change-over from one component type to another. DSG-series vices were ideal for the set-up due to a number of their features, including a very low profile — a height of just 60mm from the vice base to the location surface where the part will sit. Moreover, they can — as in this case — be set up as a centric vice with a central third jaw, making load/unload easier; this system also makes use of a ‘third hand’ facility that allows one side to be clamped while the second side is being loaded. The vices can also be supplied with lengths from 270 to 650mm, to suit the specific application.

Peerless engineering manager Tom Thomas says: “Initially, we were a bit sceptical when Mr Darbyshire suggested that we could increase productivity by reducing the number of vices, as we thought we were being efficient with our existing set-up. However, when he explained the set-up to us, it became obvious that savings could be made. The proof is that using the old system, we could finish 16 valve blocks in 65min; with the new three-vice arrangement, we can finish 18 parts in 45min — and we do not have to interrupt the cycle to turn parts over. The set-up is so much easier with the modular system, and the service we received was excellent. Within a week of placing the order, the complete work-holding package was delivered and on the machine.

“Because at the time we did only a small amount of business with WNT (UK), we weren’t fully aware of both the range of work-holding that they had or the engineering support that they could provide for companies such as ours. The work that Mr Darbyshire has done to pull this project together has opened our eyes to the benefits that can be had by re-assessing the work-holding and tooling used for a variety of applications. The benefits that we are seeing fully justify the time and investment made.”