Vertical borer benefits customers
Over the past five years, since CEM moved into new premises the company has consistently invested in larger and larger turning capacity
Wakefield-based CEM Engineering has invested in a new HNK 14/16 vertical borer with C-axis that will give it increased capacity and allow large parts to be machined in one setup – reducing machining times and costs for customers.
The new machine has a chuck diameter of 1,400mm, a maximum turning diameter of 1,600mm and maximum height below the cross rail of 1,200mm.
CEM carries out a lot of work for the offshore industry and also for the construction sector, especially for bridges and stadium work where it produces the anchors for structural cables.
Managing director Richard Jones says that over the past five years, since CEM moved into new premises, the company has consistently invested in larger and larger turning capacity.
“We have bought new machines every year, increasing our capacity from 12” diameter to 24” diameter, and we have seen that capacity taken up immediately on those new machines. There gets a point where the parts you are machining are really too heavy to be lifting on and off a lathe, so we decided we wanted a vertical borer.”
He says that with the new machine CEM not only has the capacity to produce large cylindrical parts but can also carry out machining operations in the same setup.
“We are not necessarily looking to do jobs that are as big as we could do on that machine – we are looking to handle the ones that we do safely, properly and more accurately. If you do large components and then put them on another machine the milling and drilling has to be very accurate relative to the turning. You have to spend a lot of time and effort making sure that it is true and square before you can start machining it. On the vertical borer we already have it square and true in the chuck so if we can mill and drill it there and then we know that everything is accurately aligned.”
He cites an example where a job currently taking three days to machine will only require one. As well as the accuracy benefit this will give a significant reduction in lead time and machining cost for the customer.
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