Founded only five years ago, Grayline Engineering Ltd is a sub-contract machine shop located in Suffolk that typically reflects the general sub-contract sector, manufacturing ‘anything and everything’ according to managing director Graham Chattenton.
The majority of work undertaken by the company, which has a facility in Woodbridge, generally comprises of small dimension batch and production runs of turned parts with a mix of larger parts in small quantities.
The plant list at Grayline includes several machining centres, sliding head turning centres and fixed head lathes. Central to the company’s growth is a strategy to invest in machine tools from East Sussex-based CNC machine tool specialist
Dugard.
Mr Chattenton said: “I had worked with Dugard machines for many years at other companies and the machine tool dealer has always been helpful. If there has ever been a service issue or a problem with any of the machines, Dugard has stepped up to the mark — I have always been really happy with the results.”
When Grayline was first set up, it initially invested in two Dugard 32 machines. As Dugard’s previous sliding headstock CNC offering with a twin spindle, twin-turret Y-axis configuration with 11 driven tools and nine turning tools, which have performed well over the years.
Leap in performanceDugard recently added the Hanwha range of high-performance sliding head lathes with guide bush capability and bar capacity from 6mm up to 45mm to its portfolio. Compared to the previous Dugard 32 series, the Hanwha machines are a ‘leap in performance, productivity, capability and technology’, all while retaining a cost-effective price point.
The latest addition to Grayline’s plant list is an SMEC SL2000ASY turning centre with a Hydrafeed 65 bar feed unit. Mr Chattenton said: “It is a great machine that never goes wrong – and as a small business, that is exactly what was needed. I have had it for two years now and it has never missed a beat.”
From a specification perspective, the SMEC SL2000ASY is a sub-spindle turning centre with Y-axis machining capabilities. With a swing over bed of 650mm, a maximum machining diameter of 395mm and a maximum machining length of 450mm. The 8in chuck machine has a Hydrafeed 65 bar feeding unit provides exceptional rigidity, performance, capability and flexibility.
The machine is the perfect complement to the existing Dugard 32 sliding head turning centres. With a larger machining capacity than the sliding head machines, the SMEC SL2000ASY has a powerful 11/18.5kW spindle motor with a maximum spindle speed of 4,500rpm and a 5.5/7.5kW spindle motor on the sub-spindle.
Offering impressive material removal rates with effective swarf removal from the slant bed design; this is complemented by the driven tooling unit on the SMEC which achieves a spindle speed of 5,000rpm from the 3.7/5.5kW continuous live tooling motor.
Mr Chattenton concluded: “The staff at Dugard are always quick to come out to see us to make sure that we are getting everything we need to do the job. We can simply pick up the telephone and get all the answers we need.”