To meet projected growth for the second generation of its press brake tooling system, Rolla-V bought a new horizontal machining centre.

Some 10 years ago, the Halesowen-based company patented its tooling concept, which incorporates rollers in the dies, thereby making it possible to bend very small flanges near the edge of a component; the tooling also eliminates distortion of holes near the bend line and produces a mark-free finish on the component.

In the early days, Rolla-V’s system was seen as a niche product, but with the second-generation design, it has rapidly become a mainstream choice for fabricating companies, as each die can cover a wide range of thicknesses (up to 30mm), reducing setting operations and tool inventory — and it is available with tangs to suit all makes of press brake.

Previously, the company produced its tooling on pre-owned vertical machining centres, but with 75% of its products exported and turnover expected to double by the end of next year, that was unsustainable.

Working with Coventry-based DMG Mori UK Ltd (www.uk.dmgmori.com), Rolla-V selected the NHX 5000 horizontal machining centre with twin pallets; and by using tombstone fixtures, the company can load parts on each fixture and machine them through the night with unattended operation.

General manager Chris Lawlor says: “With vertical machining, we were getting a build-up of swarf and associated problems with broken tools. Horizontal machining solves both of these problems; and because we have
Renishaw probes for the in-process checking of part geometry and tool-breakage detection, we avoid any problems during unmanned working.

“The DMG Mori NHX 5000 will make a massive difference to our productivity and will enable us to make our expansion plans a reality. In the longer term, we will be looking at further automation options from DMG Mori to reduce costs and speed up production even further.”