Two fixed head CNC turning centres - to be shown at the UK's MACH 2006 exhibition - have already been sold, informs a UK supplier, which said the machines will bedelivered after the show.
Two fixed head CNC turning centres - to be shown at the UK's MACH 2006 exhibition - have already been sold, informs a UK supplier, which said the machines will bedelivered after the show. MACH 2006 is already guaranteed to be a success for Macro CNC. Two of the Miyano fixed head turning centres that will appear on stand 5538 have already been sold.

To be delivered to customers immediately after the exhibition, the largest machine, a Miyano ABX-51TH2 two spindle, 51mm capacity three-turret turning centre with two Y-axes is capable of processing high-end parts efficiently in a single set-up.

This machine will be delivered to Mann Engineering of County Wexford, Ireland.

The second machine, a Miyano BNJ-42SY will be delivered to HS Rowe and Partners.

The 42mm capacity two spindle, two turret compact turning centre with Y-axis will be delivered to the company's Kingswinford facility in the Midlands.

The orders for both machines highlight the market trend that sees subcontract manufacturers requiring rigid fixed head turning centres with exceptional capability and a capacity to manufacture larger workpieces.

Mann Engineering, a subcontractor, designer and manufacturer of bar feed systems and bespoke systems for special manufacturing applications has purchased its second Miyano ABX-51TH2 to improve its productivity and manufacturing capabilities.

The current Miyano ABX-51TH2 at Mann Engineering has enabled the company to complete components in one-hit.

The third turret on the machine has provided the company a productivity improvement of 20%.

With such impressive results, the company was intent upon buying yet another Miyano from its Irish agent Premier Machine Tools.

Whilst HS Rowe, a subcontract precision turned components manufacturer will acquire its Miyano BNJ-42SY machine to compliment its current range of fixed head turning centres.

Following the purchase of a Miyano BNJ-42S in 2005, Steven Tyler of HS Rowe commented: 'The BNJ-42S has been a tremendous machine and as part of our philosophy of 'value adding contributions per employee head', the introduction of Miyano machine tools to increase productivity has been instrumental.' At MACH 2006, HS Rowe will also be discussing with Macro CNC the possibilities of introducing automated machines from the LZ series.

Starting from a twin-spindle, twin-turret multi-axis lathe, an electric actuator company engineered a manufacturing system complete with tooling and programs for six components.
When Rotherham, UK-based Precision Magnetics launched an innovative electric actuator for the aerospace industry it took a bold decision. Even though it had no history of advanced machining it realised that it had to make these complex and sophisticated products in-house. Turning Technologies, the UK distributor for Nakamura-Tome and a member of the Engineering Technologies Group, provided the turnkey solution and support that made this possible.

Historically, Precision Magnetics had specialised in the manufacture of extremely powerful Neodymium Iron Boron (rare earth) magnets.

The materials had originally been developed for small powerful electric motors to be used in automotive components such as pumps and windscreen wipers and were also widely used in computer disk drives.

Until a couple of years ago, this was a significant part of the company's business, but the production route was becoming unsustainable in a global market.

The Neodymium ore from China was shipped to the US for refining into sintered bar that was sent to the UK for processing into magnets that were then sent to the disk drive manufacturers in Singapore.

The solution, a manufacturing joint venture in China, meant that Precision Magnetics had to look at new applications for the magnets.

Andrew Myers, managing director of Precision Magnetics, said that this move came as no surprise and the company was already looking to develop value-added applications that incorporated the magnets into more complex components, particularly for the aerospace sector.

Because these rare earth magnets are so powerful they can be used to make electric motors that, weight for weight, are much more powerful than hydraulic actuators.

This makes them particularly attractive for driving control surfaces such as ailerons, rudders and elevators.

But having sold the concept to its Tier One customers, Precision Magnetics then had to look at how it would be able to manufacture the actuators.

'We made the first ones ourselves by buying in the machined parts from a subcontractor,' said Myers.

'But when you sign long-term contracts, you get the benefit of long-term business, but you have to be able to offer year-on-year 'cost-downs.

To be able to maintain the business we had to take some of the cost out - and the biggest cost element was the bought-in components.

The only solution was to make the parts ourselves.' But these were complicated parts in difficult materials and there was no history of CNC machining within the company.

'We did not have any in-house skills so we had to find a partner who could offer us a complete solution,' said Myers.

'After researching the market and looking at a number of possible routes we decided that we wanted to work with Turning Technologies.' Turning Technologies was able to help because it had the right technology to produce the parts in one setting - which the required levels of accuracy demanded, but, perhaps more importantly, Precision Magnetics needed to be able to put its faith in a company that could take them on from basic toolroom machines to the latest multi-axis, 'one-hit' machining techniques.

Starting from a Nakamura-Tome WT-300 twin-spindle, twin-turret multi-axis lathe, it engineered a production-ready manufacturing system complete with tooling and programs for six components.

'They provided the best technical solution and it was based around a single machine.

That was important for us too.

For this application and with our lack of experience we were much happier having just one machine to concentrate on,' said Myers.

The machining requirements were extremely demanding.

The actuator shafts are manufactured from tough stainless steel and with a hollow internal diameter larger than the through bore, and the sleeves that go round them are even more difficult to make.

These are machined from solid inconel to a wall thickness of 0.5mm, so work-holding and handling are critical.

The slightest clamping problem could result in an expensive scrapped component.

As Richard Turner, managing director of Turning Technologies, explained, 'We had to develop a process using a hydraulic steady mounted on the lower turret, together with quick-release mandrels to suit various diameters of sleeve on the right-hand spindle so that we could finish machine the outside diameter to an extremely tight tolerance.

Because of the small batch sizes, changeover times are very important, so we put quick change chucks on both the spindles too.' With the system installed and in full production Myers said the whole project has been a great success.

'We have shown our customers we are investing in the supply chain and becoming a partner.

Switching to CNC milling has reduced the time needed to cut pool cue points and the female pockets they fit into by 75% to 80%, according to Bill McDaniel, President of McDaniel Custom Cues, a high-end cue manufacturer based in Jackson, Tennessee. “We used to produce inlays and the points themselves working from patterns on a pantograph-type mill,” McDaniel said. “Now we design the points in CAD and then cut out both the prongs and the inlay on the mill. The new method reduces cutting time, is more accurate and provides unlimited design flexibility.”

McDaniel Custom Cues is one of the best-known manufacturers of cues used by professionals and leading amateur pool players. They include: 1) Kun-Fang Lee, the reigning winner of Challenge of Champions 2) Ismael Paez, also known as Morro, who recently won the European World 9 Ball Championship 3) Nick Varner, winner of the Year 2000 WPA World 9 Ball Championship held in Spain and the Masters Senior Tour held in Florida 4) on the women’s side, Karen Corr, the upcoming number three ranked lady player in the World who recently won the Women’s Pool Billiards Association championship in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, beating Allison Fisher 7-1 in the finals. McDaniel travels the world seeking out the finest materials for his products, such as Gabon (a region of Africa) ebony, snakewood, tulip wood, birdseye maple, ivory, silver and gold. The firm’s cues sell for $1000 and up.

Challenging task

“There’s nothing about making pool cues that’s easy,” McDaniel says, “but one of the most challenging tasks is the inlay work.” The points, typically 7.5 inches in length, are inlaid around the circumference of the 29 inch long butt. In the past, McDaniel’s firm had to make a male pattern for the points themselves and a female pattern for the butt inlay, which took between one and three days depending on the complexity of the design. This process had to be repeated whenever McDaniel produced a new design, which occurred several times a month.

“Once the pattern was completed, McDaniel’s staff finally had the opportunity to check it against what they were trying to make. Because the process of making the templates provided no opportunity to check for errors, there were sometimes problems with the first one. Even after we were sure that the pattern was right, a considerable amount of tracing skill was required to achieve the required accuracy of a few thousandths. “Using the old method, producing points was a time-consuming task, one where something could easily go wrong and ruin an expensive piece of birdseye maple, ebony, ivory or even gold, “McDaniel said.”

Switching to CNC

“Then one day I visited a woodworking facility building furniture and saw a CNC mill at work,” McDaniel said. “It was an eye-opening experience. The company used an easy-to-operate CAD system to create their patterns on the computer. Then the router followed the CAD designs to produce the points and the pockets. This saved the time required to build the pattern and also made it possible to produce a much more accurate cut while eliminating the difficult task of following the pattern. Despite the fact that the parts being produced were nothing like pool cues, I felt certain that I could make this technology work in my business.”

“The company was using a CNC mill from Techno-Isel,” McDaniel said. “I took note of the fact that the ball nuts and ball screws on the machine were extremely accurate. I asked them how much it cost and when they told me about $20,000 I knew I had something that would pay for itself in a short period of time. I could have purchased a low-cost mill that uses racks and acme screws for less but it would have been limited to low speeds and shallow cuts and probably would have suffered from vibration that would give unsatisfactory parts. The furniture company also had nothing but good things to say about the service and support for the milling machine provided by its manufacturer. Then I began doing my homework. I made the contact with the factory and was invited to the World Woodworker show that was held in Anaheim, California to see a complete demonstration of their milling machine. I flew to California, met the staff of Techno-Isel, received a warm reception from their staff and the rest is history.”

New process for producing points

The new machine made it possible for McDaniel Custom Cues to adopt an entirely new approach to new product development. Now, the firm’s engineers begin the design process by using the computer aided design (CAD) capabilities of the CNC programming package that is provided with the Techno machine to sketch out their design on the computer in three dimensions. By manipulating their model on the screen, panning, zooming and rotating, they are usually able to validate all critical dimensional relationships before they even begin to cut wood. When the time comes to change an existing profile, a typical dimensional change can be made in seconds on the computer as compared to two days to build a new pattern. To provide a final validation step, McDaniel Custom Cues technicians watch a simulation of the toolpath on the computer before the part is cut.

With the design fully validated, the technicians are ready to produce a prototype. This just takes a few minutes, much less than what was needed to prove out a pattern. For each inlay pattern produced, the operator rotates the butt to put another section into position. The time required to produce a cue is about one fourth of what is needed on a pantograph mill. The Techno-Isel machine's .0004 inch resolution and repeatability and 0.003 inch absolute accuracy are considerably better than what craftspersons were able to achieve with power tools. The Techno machine's accuracy is the result of several features inherent to the table. For example, anti-backlash ball nuts permit play-free motion that makes it possible to produce accurate curves and inlays and a terrific finish. The Techno mill uses ballscrews that ensure longer life and greater rigidity during the life of the system because of the reduced wear as compared to ACME screws and nuts or rack and pinion systems.

Productivity improves

In approximately 8 years of operation, McDaniel Custom Cues has had no problems with the Techno machine and has never even needed to replace a single part. This is partly due to the strength and rigidity of the table, which is constructed from extruded aluminum profiles that provide easy clamping capability. The machine also has four ground and hardened steel shafts and eight recirculating bearings in each axis. This shaft and bearing system produces very smooth play-free motion and an extremely rigid system that produces high-quality cuts. “Overall this machine has been great for me,” McDaniel said. “I couldn’t have chosen a better machine from a price or accuracy standpoint and the staff at Techno has been great to work with. One of the technical engineers, Roy Valentine, has been absolutely great to work with as he has always been available to answer any questions I had pertaining to their machine’s capabilities. The machine has helped me improve the quality of our cues while saving money. Since then I have purchased a fourth rotary axis for the first machine and a second machine that is performing just as well as the first. I have already discussed purchasing a third machine for a certain specific operation in our factory.”

A Techno computer numeric controlled (CNC) router has increased sales at Josey Custom Cues (Savannah, GA) by 50 percent by making it possible to create inlays in any design a customer wants. Previously, when inlays and pockets were created using manual methods, inlay designs were limited to relatively simple shapes. Now, Josey can draw any shape in the software that controls the CNC router, and the machine reproduces that shape in the wood, cutting to a far higher level of accuracy than is possible with manual methods. The Techno CNC machine has freed both Josey and his customers from creative limits and they can let their imaginations run wild. This new freedom in the design of inlays on the cues has attracted new customers and has increased sales significantly in only one year.

Keith Josey was inspired to start Josey Custom Cues after taking one of his own cues to a shop for repair and being displeased with the results. Josey had learned the art of custom woodworking from his father, and enjoyed playing pool with his father and brothers when he was growing up. In 1992, he combined the two avocations into a business that now draws customers from all over the world. Some of the leading professional pool players, including 1999 Viking Tour winner Shawn Putnam, use Josey cues. Teruki Kobayashi of Okayama, Japan, another tour professional, also plays with a Josey cue.

With the exception of the tips, bumpers, and screws, Josey makes every component of his cues in his one-man shop. All ferrules, collars, and butt caps thread on for more secure construction. Josey prefers a forward balanced cue with a solid stiff hit and each Josey cue is crafted to ensure superior playability. But it is the appearance of the cues that really makes them stand out. Rare, beautifully patterned woods gleam under a painstakingly applied, mirror-like finish. Inlays, using precious material such as mother of pearl, exotic woods, turquoise, and malachite, further decorate each Josey cue in intricate one-of-a-kind designs. One Josey cue, which was featured on the cover of The American Cueist magazine, features a birdseye maple front with three long ebony points and three short ebony points with ebony diamonds. It also has six mother of pearl shields. Ebony, micarta and silver dash rings run throughout cue. The wrap is bocote wood with six ivory diamonds and six turquoise diamonds inlaid inside two black phenolic rings. The butt sleeve is ebony with sixteen ivory points and eight turquoise diamond inlays. The buttcap is black phenolic with eight mother of pearl diamonds. This cue is priced at $3,100. Josey's least expensive cue sells for $200 while some of the more elaborate ones are priced at more than $10,000.

Depending on the intricacy of the design, it could take several hours to put all the inlays into a cue. Before he even starts that process, however, Josey goes through a number of preliminary steps. First he must find the wood. He looks for highly figured woods and buys them from all over the world. Next he turns his shafts on a lathe six times over a six-month period, dipping them in a wood stabilizer after each turning to season the wood so it won't warp. Next comes the process of splicing the front to the handle, and gluing the two pieces together. Josey then lets the cue sit for a few more months to give the wood a chance to move and breathe. He turns it again, then adds the ringwork, the precision metals or wood rings that go around the cue. After that, he turns the cue one final time.

Producing inlays by hand

The next steps in making a cue involve carving the pockets for the inlays and cutting the inlays themselves. In the past, Josey performed these steps manually using an Exacto knife and a Dremel tool. A Dremel has a number of different cutting tools, making it possible to cut diamonds and other simple shapes. If Josey didn't have a Dremel tool for a certain shape, he worked freehand using the Exacto knife. Both methods were time consuming, and they limited inlays to fairly simple shapes. Later Josey started using a small pantograph machine to trace more complex shapes onto the wood and then cut them out by hand. This approach gave him a somewhat broader range of inlay shapes that he could produce, but it still limited him in terms of designs. If a customer wanted an inlay in a certain pattern that Josey didn't have, for example, he either had to turn down the job or hire somebody to make the pattern for him. Another drawback to the pantograph he was using was that, although it was fairly accurate, it was still not up to the standards of Josey, who strives for perfection on every cue.

At a woodworking trade show, Josey investigated CNC routers that could cut wood according to patterns stored in a computer. Although there were quite a few such routers on display, the Techno Series III PC-driven CNC wood router from Techno Inc., appealed to him for several reasons. This machine is designed for production routing and drilling on a wide variety of materials including wood, plastic, MDF, solid surfacing materials, and nonferrous metals. The price includes the Mastercam CNC programming software, which was originally designed for metalworking but is also well suited for woodworking because of its ability to generate the most complex contours with little programming effort. One of the things Josey liked about this system was that all the components--software, controller, router, and table--came from one vendor. Another plus was that this was a turnkey system, suitable for people such as Josey with no computer experience. Also, Techno's booth featured a pool cue with inlay work that had been produced by a Techno customer also manufacturing pool cues. This convinced Josey that this system was right for his needs. He purchased a three-axis Techno router with a 21-inch by 39-inch cutting area. The cost of the entire system was approximately $22,000.

New inlay process

Now, when it comes time to cut the pockets for inlays, the inlay designs are drawn in Mastercam. The software automatically creates the router toolpaths that will cut these shapes. After attaching the cue to the machine, he gives the command to start cutting and the machine takes over. One of the benefits of this system is that it can run unattended, cutting all the pockets on a cue before stopping. It does this by means of an indexing system that cuts the first set of inlays, then indexes and cuts the second set of inlays, and so on until the job is complete. Once the pockets have been cut, Josey cuts the inlay pieces on the router as well. The shapes of the pieces are already in Mastercam since they were used to program the cutting of the pockets. Josey has equipped the Techno table with a vacuum device that holds the inlay material. After the machine cuts the inlays, Josey cleans out the pockets, and assembles the inlays into the cue.

Josey has prepared a brochure that shows many of his popular inlay designs. Sometimes customers ask for variations on these designs. Since the shapes have already been drawn in Mastercam, Josey just modifies the computer model to match the customer's idea and he is ready to cut the inlay. The main advantage to cutting pockets and inlay pieces on the router, however, is that Josey can make inlays of any design that he or his customers can envision. The only requirement is drawing the design in Mastercam. No matter how complex a design is, once it has been drawn in the software, the router can cut it with a level of accuracy that .1± satisfies even Josey. The Techno machine features a positioning accuracy of mm in 300 mm. Its use of anti-backlash ball screws ensures play-free motion and makes it possible to produce extremely accurate inlay cavities in the wooden parts as well as the inlays themselves.

Josey is currently working on new cues for Shawn Putnam as well as Tommy Kennedy, both professional players who will showcase the abilities of his new technology. This cue, like all pool cues made by Josey Custom Cues, will be both highly functional and a work of art. Now that Josey has added a CNC router to his operation, the cue-making process is still a labor of love by a master craftsman. But now the range of design possibilities has expanded to include inlays that were previously impossible to create by hand.

TekSoft, an industry leader in developing advanced manufacturing software, has released CAMWorks 2006EX featuring a new module for Multiaxis Machining that allows a wide variety of shops and manufacturing facilities to take advantage of 4/5-Axis machines that provide greater productivity, equipment flexibility and quality.

CAMWorks 4/5-Axis simultaneous machining allows the user to create toolpaths across complex shapes that could not be machined on 3-Axis machines. This includes high-performance automotive port finishing, impellers, turbine blades, cutting tools, 5-Axis trimming, and undercut machining in mold and die making. CAMWorks 4-Axis simultaneous machining is designed for complex rotary applications such as camshafts, extrusion screws and blades.

After being acquired by Geometric Software Solutions Co. Ltd. (GSSL) in January 2005, TekSoft implemented an aggressive product development schedule that leverages GSSL's world leading CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM software expertise to enhance TekSoft's technology offerings. CAMWorks 2006EX, which is the third major release in less than a year, reflects the combined strengths of TekSoft and GSSL by delivering a powerful set of over 50 new performance enhancements, improvements to the intuitive user interface to make CAMWorks even easier to use, plus features and cutting strategies to meet the machining requirements of diverse applications.

Significant performance enhancements include:

• The file size has been reduced by more than 40% for parts with large volumes of Advanced 3-Axis toolpaths.


• For Advanced 3-Axis operations, improvements in the calculation speed from 20-50% have been measured in benchmark testing.


• The amount of memory required to display toolpaths has been reduced substantially.


• The time to start the simulation for parts containing large volumes of toolpaths has been decreased noticeably.

New features and cutting strategies in CAMWorks 2006EX include:

• Automatic creation of Perimeter features based on the boundary of the part model in Mill and Wire EDM.


• Rough Mill high speed machining options for generating toolpaths with round corners and S curve links.


• Finish Mill options for final cuts based on the final cut amount and spring passes, plus numerous new bottom finish options.


• New Mill toolpath method to optimize features in pocket in and pocket out patterns.


• Pencil Mill strategy for 3-Axis rest machining that machines steep and shallow areas in a single toolpath using a reference cutter to determine where to machine.

According to Mike Coleman, President and CEO of TekSoft, "CAMWorks 2006EX is the result of leveraging a strong, shared foundation in CAM technology that allows TekSoft to use the combined resources of TekSoft and GSSL to increase its innovative edge in delivering CAM solutions and compete more successfully in the expanding market for solids machining. We will continue to act aggressively to improve our product to meet the needs of the mold making and machining industries."

ION(TM) DC Brush Drive - this fully enclosed, compact module is the second in PMD's NEW family of high performance motion control drives providing network connectivity, power amplification and advanced motion control features in a rugged, easy to use package. ION is available for DC brush, brushless DC and microstepping motors, and is ideal for medical, scientific, semiconductor, industrial, robotic and general automation applications.

Based on PMD's high performance Magellan(TM) Motion Processor, the ION DC Brush Drive provides high-performance, low cost distributed control in an asynchronous serial network (RS485) version or a CANBus network version. Multiple ION modules (up to 127) can be connected on a single network. ION provides an output capability of up to 15 amps peak, and 500 W at 56 volts. Other features include hardware performance trace, on-the-fly profile changes, and PLC style inputs and outputs.

President and CEO, Chuck Lewin says, "The move toward distributed motion controllers has been driven by cost. A multi-axis motion card with separate amplifiers is substantially more expensive than multiple single-axis intelligent modules. The reduction in wiring in that sense actually comes for free, because it is absolutely not necessarily to justify the move to a serial network."

ION can be programmed using Pro-Motion®, a Windows(TM)-based exerciser which allows quick and easy drive set up or C-Motion® and VB-Motion(TM) software libraries which let users to develop their own applications in C/C++ or Visual Basic.

The ION Drive is CE marked and RoHS compliant. Prices start at $223 in OEM quantities.

Romax Technology Ltd has announced the launch of its latest software package, RomaxDesigner R12.3, a package that promises to save even more time and money for transmission and driveline design and development teams around the world - allowing them to take their products to market faster.

This new software modelling tool allows engineering teams to design systems and test them before they even leave the computer screen, negating the need for expensive 'physical' testing and allowing multiple virtual product tests to be conducted accurately and effectively in record time.

The software package comes with a host of upgrades and new features designed to improve flexibility for teams. It increases design control by incorporating analysis into the first stages of the design process, while at the same time boasting greater connectivity with packages such as Abaqus and Ansys - helping information exchange and the flow of data.

Also, for the first time, the software package has been localised, offering English and Chinese language options and allows users to work within a variety of international gearings and bearings standards.

"By allowing virtual testing, our new software modelling tool is helping to speed up the evolution of transmission and driveline systems, as well as reducing costs and increasing companies' competitive advantage in the market place," explains Andy Poon, Romax Technology software manager.

"This upgrade has created an 'all-in-one' tool for engineering teams that will allow them to realise their designs with increased ease and flexibility and enable them to stretch the boundaries of their R&D budgets."