Hull-based
Rubitec Engineering Ltd, established in 2008, has invested over the years in a variety of machine tools to undertake everything from CNC milling and turning to 3-D modelling, gear cutting and anodising.
To meet the ever-diversifying demands of the industry sectors its serves, the sub-contract manufacturer has recently purchased a Victor Vturn NP20 CNC turning centre supplied by UK sole agent
GM CNC Ltd which is based in Oldham.
With a facility near the centre of Hull, Rubitec has 28 machine tools, but the new Vturn NP20 CNC is the first Victor machine the company has acquired.
Andy Shores, Rubitec Engineering managing director, said: “We are very pleased with the new machine which has significantly reduced our machining times and it is a nice feeling to have a level of support that ensures with just one telephone call, we can have everything we need.”
The new Victor Vturn NP20 machine may be the first machine of this brand on the shopfloor at Rubitec Engineering, but it is not the first machine purchased from GM CNC. Mr Shores continued: “We have a history of buying used machines from GM CNC and this influenced our decision to buy the new Victor machine.
“GM CNC offers brilliant support and they are a great company to deal with. The maintenance costs with most machine tool brands are excessively high and there are very few that provide a good level of service, with GM CNC we have a company that provides this at a justifiable cost and this makes them a supplier we can truly trust.”
Mr Shores continued: “We started the business with only a 600ft
2 unit, a CNC mill and a lathe, but within five to six years we had four units on the industrial estate. In 2015, we looked to bring it all under one roof and we acquired our current facility where we now have a complete machine shop that enables us to service the needs of customers in the oil and gas, military and white goods sectors.
Machining exotic and difficult materials“As a sub-contract manufacturer, we do a lot of work for the offshore sector and this means we machine a lot of exotic and difficult materials, we do not like to say ‘no’ to customers.”
Discussing why the company decided to upgrade to the new machine, he said: “We had an ageing turning centre of similar capacity and capability to the Victor, but it was unreliable and even though we service a lot of our own machines, the maintenance costs were escalating. We needed a machine with a compact footprint and the Victor machine fitted the bill.”
The Victor Vturn NP20 has a 52mm through spindle bar capacity, but with an innovative design and slant bed construction, the machine offers a 650mm swing over the bed and this provides 320mm maximum turning diameter.
When combined with the 520mm distance between centres, the compact NP20 packs a punch, especially with a main spindle that generates 7.5/11/15kW of spindle power. This compact machine with a spacious envelope is perfect for manufacturers that are challenged by floor area issues.
Mr Shores explained: “It is difficult to believe, but the Victor Vturn NP20 is 1.5m shorter in length than the old machine but has the same work envelope. The previous machine had a lot of wasted space on the Z axis and a bulky spindle head — the NP20 has the same Z axis and more power from a smaller footprint.
“While we didn’t purchase the machine with a bar feed, we have just won several contracts that require batch quantities high enough to justify one and the floor space saved by the NP20 means that we can easily add one.”
Despite the compact area, the Victor NP20 has a total weight of 4 tonnes with a single piece meehanite casting that demonstrates its potential for improving precision levels and surface finishes for end users.
Furthermore, this platform provides the opportunity for heavy material removal rates that can further enhance productivity levels while retaining the impeccable level of precision and quality that the Victor brand is renowned for.
Small footprintMr Shores added: “This Victor machine has a lot of torque and it is very well constructed. We push our machines to the limit and we run them as hard as we can. We are machining a lot of duplex, stainless steel, inconel and hastelloy - the machine can take everything we throw at it, and for a machine with such a small footprint, this is impressive.”
Considering the attributes of the machine that influenced the selection, the compact footprint of just 1,930mm wide particularly appealed to Rubitec. Within this area is a single spindle design with C axis capability and driven tools on a robust BMT tool turret.
The sturdy tool turret has 12 mounted tooling stations that can index in less than a second to reduce non-cutting times. The driven tooling has a spindle speed of 4,200rev/min as standard with up to 6,000rev/min as an option with up to 2kW of power.
With regards to the milling capabilities on the new Victor Vturn NP20 machine, Mr Shores explained: “We mill a lot of flats, hexagons, PCDs and standard milling operations - and the machine is ideal for this type of work.
“The stability and kinematics of the Victor Vturn NP20 have increased productivity by at least 20% compared to our other machines. A major benefit is the improved tool life. The rigid tool turret and powerful coolant supply have improved the tool life on our milling tools by over 30%.
“The overall machine construction has also helped to increase tool life for the turning tools by 30%. We have 13 lathes of numerous brands and aside from one machine that is a lot bigger than the Victor Vturn NP20, none of our other machines compete with the NP20 on rigidity and tool life improvements.”
Featuring a Fanuc CNC control with a manual guide for intuitive use, the Victor NP20 was supplied as standard with the three-step warning light, hydraulic chuck and soft jaws, chip conveyor, tool holders, coolant flush on the Z axis with fully enclosed splash guarding.
From an optional perspective, the Victor NP20 featueres a manual tailstock with power quill, manual or automatic tool presetter, parts catcher, power chuck, air conditioning for electrical cabinets, high-pressure coolant, oil skimmer and oil mist collector.
Mr Shores concluded: “We trust GM CNC, its staff, and levels of service implicitly and this has been built up through many years of working together and seeing a level of support that has not yet been met by other brands.
“Furthermore, the reputation of the Victor brand is outstanding and in the short period that we have owned the Vturn NP20, we can appreciate why.”