Quickits has developed a market-leading position in the manufacture and supply of valve mounting kits and fabricated brackets for customers across the valve and actuator industry. The capabilities of the Sutton in Ashfield-based company cover laser profiling, press brakes, fabrication, welding, powder coating and there’s a machine shop almost exclusively supplied with machines from XYZ Machine Tools.
That machining capacity was recently added to when Quickits became the first customer to take delivery of an XYZ SS 65 sub-spindle turning centre. The machine was introduced to the XYZ Machine Tools range following input from customers, who were looking for increased productivity and reduced spindle downtime, customers such as Quickits. As Group Managing Director Rob Smith explains: “The decision to purchase the XYZ SS 65 was driven by the need to eliminate some of the double handling of our components, mainly the couplings that we produce. With the XYZ SS 65, we can now produce components complete without the need to finish machine them on another machine. With the bar feed, we can run this machine continuously day and night with components fully machined once they drop into the parts catcher. In the short space of time that we have had the machine we are already seeing an increase in productivity.”
The ability to maximise spindle run time and eliminate expensive and time consuming set-ups will be a major focus for businesses as they look to maximise productivity in the face of increased competition and also rising energy costs. The XYZ SS 65 is ideally placed to meet these for companies such as Quickits that are looking to make that move to sub-spindle turning thanks to its high specification and competitive price.
The XYZ SS 65 comes as standard with a 16.5kW, 4000rpm main spindle with a 200mm chuck and 65mm bar capacity, this is complemented by the 150mm chuck on the 11kW, 5000rpm sub-spindle, which has a 52mm bore. Both spindles feature a braked C-axis that allows substantial milling cuts for contouring, with each of the 12-positions on the German-built Sauter turret unit with live tooling at every station, with 100mm (+/-50mm) Y-axis travel. Maximum turned diameter is 380mm and the Z-axis travel is 520mm, providing a significant working envelope. Control is provided by the Siemens 828D ShopTurn 15 inch touchscreen control, which can be enhanced with the optional Siemens offline programming and CAD reader software if required. All of this is built around a 30 degree slant-bed design with linear ways for faster positioning speeds, it is a solid cast construction meaning the XYZ SS 65 weighs in at 5000kg, a solid base from which to maximise performance.
As Rob Smith and his team at Quickits is finding out, utilisation of the sub-spindle streamlines production by eliminating delays by removing the need to transfer work from machine to machine for second operations, work in progress is reduced and costs eliminated. “We have been utilising XYZ machines since we started the business 17 years ago and have always found them to be the best choice with regards to price and functionality. They suit our business and the after sales service demonstrated by XYZ is excellent compared to other machine tool providers. The addition of the XYZ SS 65 has seen that continue and with the productivity benefits that we have seen, we are certainly planning to invest in another XYZ SS 65 soon to further improve our efficiency.”