When it comes to creating a wow factor in the manufacturing sector and engaging the masses; few names stand out like Robo Challenge. As a creative company that brings ideas to life, Birmingham-based Robo Challenge are the innovators and manufacturers behind TV shows like Robot Wars and they are famed for work on prestigious TV shows like Blue Peter, Guy Martin’s shows, The Gadget Show and many more.
For Robo Challenge, meeting deadlines is critical. If a new jet-powered vehicle, robot or kinetic sculpture is not ‘on-set’ and fully functional on deadline day, the filming crew, set, cast and support staff are all delayed which is why the company relies upon Guhring as its cutting tool partner.
Bringing engineering creativity to the world of TV, new media, the gaming and entertainment sectors requires innovative technology – and delivering this to stringent deadlines is critical. Operating within this framework, the regular day-to-day for Robo Challenge is to design a concept based upon a brief and take it through full production, assembly and testing to ensure that the final project, however whacky it may be, meets not only the aesthetic requirements but also the functional demands too. This mass undertaking is usually turned around in just a couple of weeks. To achieve this, the Aston-based company works closely with Guhring for the provision of both standard and special cutting tool solutions.
Discussing the company background, Robo Challenge Co-Owner and Creative Engineer, Grant Cooper says: “The company was set up 15 years ago by my brother and I, and we started building fighting robots when we were in school and we were watching Robot Wars as kids. We started with remote control cars and strapping knives and spatulas to them and eventually, we got better and better and the robots got more dangerous. That eventually led to TV show work where we found Guhring.”
“We may be a small business, but we are a fast-paced and fast-turnaround company. Very often we will only have a few weeks from the design concept through to the complete product, so the technology and machinery we have here is critical to our operation. We don’t know what we will be making from one day to the next, so we need a tooling supplier that can provide us with products either the same day or the next day. This is why we work closely with Guhring, as they will manufacture tools to suit the jobs that we do. The turnaround time on tools is critical.
To ensure the company can meet its tight deadlines, it has also invested in a GROB G350 machining centre and a Quaser MV184EH machining centre from ETG. Discussing the relationship with Robo Challenge, Guhring UK’s Dave Hudson says: “Working with Robo Challenge has been superb over the years. The first time we encountered Robo Challenge was when they came to our trade counter at our old Castle Bromwich site and asked for a few drills. This has evolved, and now we are heavily involved in their industrial projects from day one. Robo Challenge now buy a complete array of tools from us and this includes everything from the shrink fit machine and respective tool holders, drills, taps, reamers, milling cutters and bespoke tooling.”
“The latest I have had a phone call from Grant is probably around 10 o’clock at night, as these guys work 24 hours. As we hold a lot of stock and are located around the corner from Robo Challenge – it’s a very beneficial service for both them and us. When companies like Robo Challenge need a drill that is 300 to 400mm long at 4, 5 or 6mm diameter – we always have something on the shelf in Birmingham to accommodate their needs.”
Looking at a crushing jaw part being machined on the Quaser MV184EH machining centre for a new fighting robot, Guhring UK’s Chris Bush says: “To get an impressive surface finish on this 7075 aluminium component, we are applying a PCD ball nose cutter that is manufactured at our facility in Birmingham. This HPC tool holder provides high runout accuracy and deals extremely well with the radial forces during machining.”
Adding to this, Grant Cooper says: “For this robot, we need at least two custom tools. One is a 6mm ball nose PCD. As we are running this with a 4th-axis rotary unit, we are running 3+1 toolpaths, so we are cutting a lot of the part with the centre of the tool. The tool is custom-made, so we do not get swarf clogging on the tip of the tool. We have through coolant on the tool to make sure the cutting edge is clear at all times – this gives us stunning surface finishes. Another critical factor that we found, is the toolholders. We found a massive difference between running ER holders and side locks. Our favourite is the Guhring HPC toolholder, the versatility is excellent. We use a lot of shrink fit in various areas. However, this gives us amazing versatility of different collet sizes, so we don’t need to have 20 or 30 of these toolholders. We can have just five or six and we can still run most of our tooling. Most importantly, the runout is very low – it’s around 3µm on these toolholders. They have excellent repeatability and the clamping force is exceptional. They are better than anything we have ever had, and that includes hydraulic holders. That is why they are used for virtually every milling process.”
Known for building fighting robots, Robo Challenge also undertakes a lot of fast-paced rapid turnaround work as well as a lot of one-off work for all sorts of weird and wacky projects. As Grant continues: “One of those recent projects is a very high-end piece of jewellery machined from a solid billet of tungsten on the Quaser MV184EH machining centre. We found this very difficult to machine, as we are normally working with aluminium, but this is a whole different beast and a material we have never worked with before. Guhring specified some Signum-coated tooling and the difference in cycle time was incredible. We were running some standard coated tools that were lasting between five and 10 minutes on this material, we then ran some Signum-coated tools and they were running up to 30 hours on tungsten. The finish we got was absolutely phenominal.”
In conclusion, Grant says: “We have worked with Guhring for over 11 years and we have never had any issues. So, when one of our biggest clients came to us and supplied us with their 5-axis GROB machine and trusted us with the manufacturing of all of their products – we went straight to Guhring to make sure that machine was kitted out with all the latest tooling. That includes the slimline shrink fit holders, PCD tooling, a range of through coolant drills and all sorts of other tools – but whatever is in that machine it is fully kitted out with Guhring products. That is because when we have a failure from our own doing, we know that we can get support from Guhring instantly without having to down production. We certainly put all of our trust in Guhring, their support and products.”
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