As a supply chain partner to a variety of blue chip OEMs that are household names, Stoke-on-Trent-based Unilathe has been providing a complete engineering service to industry since it was founded in 1977.

Applying the latest generation of machine tools, the Tier One sub-contract manufacturer has recently invested in a Kitamura Mycenter HX500iG horizontal machining centre supplied by East Sussex-based Dugard to complement its three previously installed Kitamura machines.

As a company that specialises in the oil and gas, rail, construction equipment, IGT and aerospace industries, Unilathe made its first investment in a Kitamura machine more than 11 years ago.

Recalling the start of the Kitamura journey, Unilathe’s Andrew Sims said: “The first Kitamura was a second-hand machine. That dipped our toe in the water and familiarised us with the twin box way slides, the high speed and rigidity of the brand.

“In fairness, the performance and the reliability we got from that machine really started to pave the way for us to look at what we should be doing with our machine tool purchasing strategy.

“We started asking whether we should go down a one-brand machine purchasing process, not only with regards to brand but also the specifications and the right technology perspective.”

Advanced technology
Unilathe has since invested in two horizontal Mycenter 630iG machines sourced from Dugard in 2018 and 2019 respectively – with the latest Kitamura Mycenter HX500iG being commissioned at the start of 2021.

Mr Sims continued: “Generally speaking, we machine a lot of gearbox components and other parts from cast iron, cast steel and other exotic materials — so advanced technology is really crucial.

“When we are looking at new machines, the main consideration for us is reliability, speed, performance and accuracy - as we have to machine these components in the most competitive way possible while maintaining very high quality.

Mr Sim added: “At the moment, we are currently running 100 hours a week with a day and afternoon shift as well as weekend work – but if we need to get up to 24/7, the Kitamura machines will certainly do it.”

The latest Kitamura to land at Unilathe, the BT50 spindle taper Mycenter HX500iG has a 500 x 500mm table and axis travel of 870 x 930 x 500mm in the X, Y and Z axes. The accuracy and repeatability noted by Mr Sims is demonstrated in the 0.001deg indexing of the 4th axis, spindle and tool probing, zero backlash, built-in encoders, linear scale feedback and a host of other high-precision features that are guaranteed to perform.

This precision and repeatability assurance is provided by a patented twin ballscrew system that has ballscrew cooling, hand-scraped surfaces, induction hardened boxways and much more.

Incredible speed
Commenting on the twin pallet Mycenter HX500iG, Unilathe machine operator Louis Purchase said: “There are so many things I like about the Kitamura machines. The speed is incredible - the speed is actually scary, that is the best way to describe it!

“I have been at Unilathe for over three years and worked on a wide variety of machines, but I have never seen anything like the new Kitamura machines. I have also worked on the older Kitamura machines, but the speed of the rapids on the latest machines is amazing.”

Underpinning this testament to the speed of the Kitamura brand is class-leading 60m/min rapids and cutting feed rate with a B-axis rapid of 43,200 deg/min with an 8.8sec pallet change and 2.1sec tool change time.

The majority of the work on the new Kitamura machines at present is cast iron components for the agricultural industry. Mr Purchase added: “I work across the latest Kitamura machines we have here, and they just tear through cast-iron.

“We are machining a range of different parts and there is flexibility and interchangeability between the 630iG and 500iG machines. In addition, the tool carousel moves extremely quickly and when it comes to production jobs, you want accuracy, and you want speed - and you have both of them with the Kitamura Mycenter machines.”

The new additions also incorporate probing. Mr Purchase explained: “The probing ensures we have complete consistency — we know that the last job in a production run will be the same as the first-off because we are probing our datums on every single job.”

Regarding the precision turned parts machined at Unilathe that are then transferred to the Kitamura Mycenter machines, Mr Purchase said: “The turned parts are held to tight tolerances before loading on the Kitamura machines, so if we didn’t probe the jobs every single time, we would not be able to guarantee that the job will come off the machines the same every time.

“However, having the probing system means that we know the exact tolerances that the part has been turned to and its positioning on the Kitamura machine before we start machining.”

“Additionally, the Kitamuras have a ‘tool life calculation system’ incorporated into the machines and this is perfect for production jobs. Essentially, it counts how many jobs each tool has done.

“This is hugely helpful for production when you are using a lot of tools. We calculate a tool life parameter and once the tool has hit this parameter, we are notified to change the tool or inserts, reset the tool and start again.

“For example, we may calculate the tool life based on 10 production run components. While we know that anything can happen in engineering, the system is always right, and it helps with long-running parts. This is another feature that is all about speed and ease-of-use, which is the best way to describe the Kitamura machines.”

Mr Purchase explained: “The work envelope of the BT50 spindle Kitamura Mycenter HX500iG is very easy to access. Everything turns very easily, and we can access the part without problems, it is just a delightful machine to work on.”

From a productivity standpoint, the Kitamura Mycenter HX500iG is a twin-pallet machine – this minimises downtime for Unilathe. Mr Purchase said: “The twin pallet allows us to run two different jobs at the same time and this flexibility enables us to double our production output.”

He concluded: “The new Kitamura machines have probably been the easiest machines that I have worked with so far. The Arumatik control panel is intuitive and guides you through all the steps and this makes it easier for everyone, regardless of whether they are an engineer with 20 years of experience or a novice.

“The touchscreen configuration is also very easy to use, but one thing that I really like is that it has a PC keyboard — this means that if the user is inputting information it is so much faster to do.”