Sub CNC Precision Ltd has recently moved to a new 15,000sq/ft manufacturing facility, purchasing the building in November 2020 and drip-feeding the machines into the new facility and becoming fully operational in February 2021. MTDCNC visited the new facility in Luton to take a look at how Iemca barfeeding equipment from 1st MTA has supported the company’s growth ambitions with automated production.
Giving an overview of the business, Sub CNC Co-Founder Yian Stavrou says: “We started the business back in 2008 and the business is growing rapidly and we now have 15 CNC machines and we are expanding year on year. The business started with a single Citizen sliding head machine and an Iemca barfeed and now we have 15 machines fully automated. We run a lot of unattended manufacturing and this is supported by the Iemca barfeed machines. This helps us with process stability, as we need to know that we can arrive in the morning and the machines have made a quantity of parts and used all of the bars that we have loaded into the Iemca barfeeders.”
Looking at how the relationship has developed with 1st MTA, the supplier of the Iemca barfeeders, Yian says: “Because of Iemca, we have been partners with 1st MTA for the last 13 years and we don’t have to contact them too often as the machines don’t go wrong. We have had excellent service throughout.”
Taking a closer look at the barfeed technology and the flexibility to run both low and high volume work, fellow Co-Founder of Sub CNC George Dingley says: “It is quite unusual for a sliding head machine to be running on a low-volume batch, but we negate the setup of the barfeeder altogether. For us, it’s all about the skill set on the machine. For the barfeeder, it is all about the simple selection of the bar diameter – and you are done in minutes with the setup. So, it may be a barfed machine designed for high-volume work, but equally, low-volume work is no problem at all.”
Looking at the changeover process, George continues: “It really can be just a few minutes. The Siemens control system is great. There may be different sets of controls over the years, but the knowledge required and the input involved is very little.” Referring to the programming of the barfeed units, George says: “We consider it as a fit and forget process. The barfeed machine is installed and bolted down and we have a couple of parameters to put in for what we need, and then it is just a couple of changes on each bar size and we are away.”
“As for the sliding head machines, they will run at 10,000 to 15,000rpm and the barfeeders are built to accommodate that. So, it’s another thing we don’t have to worry about. Additionally, we do run high volumes and it is critical that the barfeed is running throughout the night, so it is essential that the Iemca’s will change bar all through the night and you get that quantity of parts that you have quoted to do. We have a number of machines here from 12mm to 51mm capacity and each one of those machines runs with an Iemca barfeed that is suited to that machine. What we have seen down the years as the machine tools are getting faster, is that the barfeed has kept pace with the machine tools. When the machine tools have increased in spindle speeds and required a faster change of components and bar stock, the barfeeders have evolved in line with the machine tool technology.”
