When approached by one of the UK’s leading thermoforming toolmakers with a request to increase the Z axis on one of its vertical machining centres by 1,000mm, XYZ Machine Tools (www.xyzmachinetools.com) engineers sprung into action.

The modified machine left XYZ’s Devon factory on 24 April ready for commissioning.

While renowned for its standard range of machine tools developing one-off configurations for customers is something that XYZ Machine Tools and its engineering team are happy to respond to.

In this case the customer needed the X and Y axis capability of one of its XYZ 1000LR vertical machining centres, but the height of the component required an additional 1,050mm between spindle and table.

By reconfiguring the machine using a specially designed riser block, XYZ modified the machine to increase the standard minimum spindle nose to table dimension of 100mm, while maintaining the standard Z-axis travel to give a range of 1.050-1,550mm from spindle to table.

These changes were achieved in a short period of time, with the modification being accommodated within new guarding and sheet metal work.

With the build complete the machine was put through the standard testing procedure that every XYZ machine undergoes before despatch, this includes extensive machine running and checks, including the Renishaw Ballbar test to ensure that any machine shipped meets stringent quality and accuracy requirements.

With this complete the customer was keen to take delivery. testing complete the customer was happy to take delivery straightaway.

Nigel Atherton, XYZ Machine Tools managing director, said: “While virtually every machine we deliver is to a standard specification, we are always happy to discuss with customers modifications and adaptions to suit their specific requirements.

“In this case we believe what we have created is, from a standard vertical machining centre, a machine with a Z-axis capacity that would have been difficult to find anywhere else, or be prohibitive financially.”