Not only has the installation of a semi-CNC lathe enabled Yacht Tec to reduce its bought-in turned parts machining, but the level of flexibility now afforded by the machine and its powerful yet easy-to-use control system has also given the company a new-found freedom in component design and manufacture. Supplied by Semco Machine Tools, the Masterturn 530 two-axis lathe is fitted with an Anilam 4200T CNC, a system that allows the machine to operate under full CNC or, alternatively, in teach mode via single or dual handwheel operation with dual axis interpolation. The resulting ability to easily switch the machine between prototype/one-off and small batch work is proving key to maintaining the Southampton-based company's world lead in the design and manufacture of cranes and passerelles, as well as side and pontoon gangways for super yachts costing 20 million plus (pounds sterling)! In addition, an unexpected benefit of the powerful functionality - and versatility - of the Anilam CNC is that Yacht Tec can now prototype and quickly assimilate components of more complex design.

'A lot of turned work has been outsourced during the five years since Peter Morrell and I established the company,' says co-director Peter Sands, 'and in recent years the size of the equipment being manufactured has increased in line with the length of the yachts.' Five years ago, he says, a 50m long yacht was big; now builders talk about yachts of 80m plus long.

'We found there was no problem in getting small parts turned but, for example, moving large crane arms around was proving impracticable,' he continues.

'This led to our initial investment in in-house machining (a manual lathe and a large mill fitted with an Anilam Wizard digital readout).

The resulting success of this spurred us to evaluate exactly what turned parts we were outsourcing and how much they were costing, prompting the installation of the Masterturn.' Since the business is based around one-offs and very small batches, the partners decided that a full-blown CNC lathe wasn't required.

'So, not only did the Masterturn-Anilam combination allow us to easily switch between CNC and manual operation, which suited our production schedules perfectly,' states Peter Sands, 'but the machine was also competitively priced and, importantly, was well supported locally.' Since this was Yacht Tec's first foray into CNC machining, it was crucial that both Semco and Anilam were 'close at hand' in terms of service back-up.

In the event, says Peter Sands, the machine operator (who had some CNC experience) 'picked up the Anilam system very quickly' after the standard tuition covering basic system operation.

With G code input with full text editor for cut, paste, search and replace, for example, plus interactive conversational G code help graphics and CAM programming, all Yacht Tec's programming of the Anilam 4200T CNC is performed on the shopfloor.

The control also features constant surface speed as standard, to help guarantee consistent surface finish and extended tool life, while program utilities include create, delete/undelete, list, copy, rename and print.

In addition, the system's user-friendliness is prompted by full-screen editing and a conversational help menu.

All small parts machining that falls within the Masterturn's capacity of 1520mm between centres, 530mm swing over the bed and 265mm centre height is now performed on a machine that has an oil-cooled spindle providing speeds of 90 to 1,600 revs/min.

Working mainly marine grade aluminium and 316 stainless steel, as well as phosphor and aluminium bronzes, Yacht Tec is now very much self-sufficient in terms of component manufacture, only buying-in proprietary components and electrics, for the equipment it supplies to yacht builders throughout the world, from Europe to Australia.

PLC control is a feature of most equipment, and Yacht Tec fully assembles and tests every item in sophisticated mock-up rigs before they are commissioned at the yacht builder's yard.

Many of the components machined on the Masterturn - ie gangway roller units, hydraulic cylinder pistons, cylinder gland nuts and gangway wheel units - are processed in batches.

The Semco-Anilam combination has brought particular benefits in terms of design and production flexibility.

'For example, we can quickly program and machine potential new styles of spherical ends - saving a lot of time and expense compared with the previous way of producing prototypes.' 'Since the machine is just as effective as producing one-offs as it is batches, we can quickly and easily 'tweak' a design at the machine, to effectively produce a prototype.

'Today, we can decide exactly what we want and produce it in-house - and at a much lower rate than sub-contracting it.'