Meanwhile, the announcement of new agencies coming under the umbrella of Rainford Precision Ltd, St Helens (www.rainfordprecision.com), prior to MACH set the stage for the company’s most successful event to date.

The company — a leading supplier of micro-machining solutions with machine tools and cutting tools — had confirmed new agency agreements that primarily centre around hole-making, threading and milling products. For example, from Iwata Tool was a range of drills with diameters from 0.008 to 0.100mm and flute lengths of 3 x D, 6 x D and 12 x D.

There were also end mills in the same diameter range with flute lengths of 2 x D, 4 x D and 6 x D. Osawa gives Rainford customers access to an extensive range of drills from standard HSS and carbide to through-coolant drills with diameters from 1 to 30mm and some ranges offering diameter increments of 0.05mm or 0.1mm.

The drilling line is complemented by end mills and face mills with diameters from 1 to 160mm — plus application-specific end mills and coatings for machining graphite, abrasive materials and hard materials. Rainford also gave MACH debuts to tapping lines from the Japanese company Yamawa and the Swiss company Xactform.