EBC Brakes has been manufacturing high-performance braking components at its Northampton headquarters for nearly 40 years (
www.ebcbrakes.com).
In addition to its brakes for various classes of racing motorcycles, it produces a comprehensive range for road cars, motorbikes and bicycles — both as a standard series built to OEM specifications and oversized brakes to improve performance.
Central to EBC’s production operation are its Haas machine tools (
www.haas.co.uk). Machine shop manager Vince Goosey said: “We chose Haas because we love the fact that all the machines are built in the USA.
“As a company that is built around manufacturing in the UK and the USA, we want to choose machine suppliers that align with our company’s ethos. Investing in Haas has allowed us to take full control of our manufacturing process, allowing us to machine all components in-house.”
EBC’s Haas DS-30 Super Speed dual-spindle lathe is used to machine the aluminium hubs of the steel two-piece road-car brake discs.
To solve the issue of the rotor fluctuating in size as it heats up or cools down, EBC uses a square drive system, allowing the rotor to slide against the hub as it expands or contracts, and thereby avoid warping.
The DS-30 is supported by two Haas vertical machining centres (a VF-2SS and a VF-4SS) purchased in April.
These are housed in the EBC Centre of Excellence — a new ‘state of the art’ workshop that will be used for R&D as well as the production of the company’s new range of high-performance brake calipers and two-piece discs.