Arcot Engineering has upgraded its capabilities by investing in a new Yamazaki Mazak CV5-500 5-axis machining centre. Established in 1986, Arcot Engineering now employs 13 people at its Cramlington site in Northumberland, primarily producing parts for the oil and gas, torque tension tools and hydraulics sectors.
Kevin Graham, Machine Shop Manager at Arcot Engineering, says that the investment will help the company break into new sectors requiring more complex machining work and it will also help to make Arcot more productive. “The company has a long history of working with VMCs, but we’ve had ambitions to move into more complex and lucrative 5-axis work for some time. The CV5-500 is priced at a very competitive level for subcontract manufacturers like ourselves but still has the usual Mazak build quality. The machine will help us take on more complex work and get more jobs through the machine shop,” says Kevin.
“Our new 5-axis capabilities mean we can perform multiple tasks on one machine, which in turn reduces setup times,” says Steve Mason, Machine Shop Manager at Arcot Engineering. “We’re now doing three, four or five phases of a job in one setup and reducing cycle times by a minimum of 30% thanks to the 12,000rpm spindle.”
The move to more complex 5-axis work was aided by Mazak, who provided a full week of off-site training. “The CV5-500 is programmed using Mazak’s SmoothX control. I’ve never run a Mazak before but I’ve found the programming to be really easy and very user-friendly,” says Steve.
