The installation of a Harrison Alpha Plus 550S manual/CNC lathe, supplied by Derek Robinson Machine Tools of Leicester, has led to a dramatic reduction in product cycle times for Stoke-based sub-contractor, Alton Precision Engineering. The Harrison's state-of-the-art Alpha System software is playing a crucial part in the lathe's remarkable productivity and has won the unreserved approval of its operators. Alton Precision Engineering required an affordable, versatile and user-friendly high-performance lathe for turning a wide range of components with diameters of 100-400mm, in carbon and stainless steel, super-duplex and brass.

Precision-made parts manufactured by Alton include hydraulic pistons and cylinders, grinding wheel centres and components for use in machinery supplied to the bakery and pottery industries.

Already familiar with products from 600 Lathes' highly acclaimed product range, the Alpha Plus 550S was chosen by Alton for its combination of performance and versatility, which together have contributed to a reduction in product cycle times of between 15% and 20%.

The Alpha Plus 550S supplied to Alton features a 2m bed, 550mm swing, and a spindle speed of up to 1800 rpm, and is used particularly for one-off and small batch production.

Company Director, John Salt, explained, 'We looked at a number of different lathes but only the Alpha offered the combination of accuracy, ease-of-use and flexibility required by the wide range of precision applications undertaken at Alton.

The fact that we've been impressed by the performance and reliability of other machine tools from 600 Lathes only added to the Alpha's appeal'.

Crucially, the Alpha's all-round ability has also enabled Alton to win a long-running contract to supply a precision-made hydraulic component whose internal shape could not have been produced cost effectively using a traditional centre lathe.

John Salt explained, 'The sheer versatility of the Alpha provides us with scope for taking on new business while helping to streamline our existing operations and maximize the company's overall productivity'.

A key factor in the Alpha's success at Alton is its innovative software control system, developed by Harrison to provide highly flexible yet remarkably user-friendly programming and operation, ideal for the fulfillment of one-off orders, prototypes and both small and large batches.

Two fundamental aspects of this system are the lathe's AlphaLink CAD/CAM system and AlphaSystem semi-automatic, autocycling and electronic handwheel (manual) modes of operation.

These systems are accessed through a twin keypad configuration, providing the operator with the choice of ISO CNC operation from the right-hand keypad and AlphaLink and AlphaSystem interactive operation from the left-hand keypad.

The right-hand ISO keypad has full CNC facilities, utilising canned cycles G70 to G76, tool nose radius and wear offsets, tool path graphics, inch/metric conversion and background editing.

Programs can be entered and/or edited directly at the machine.

The left-hand keypad generates on-screen programmed sequential operations in simple question/answer page format for parallel turning, chamfer, radius, taper and multi-start threads.

Another powerful 'user-friendly' feature of the Alpha Plus 550S is that graphical representation and CNC control is through the super compact GE Fanuc 21i-T controller, featuring a grey-scale TFT (thin film transistor) flat screen.

The 21i-T has a powerful memory, providing instantaneous response to program commands through ultra high-speed serial communications (single optic fibre).

Troubleshooting and data input/output are accommodated with a PCMCIA modem slot.

The Alpha's accuracy is another important factor in its overall appeal and has enabled Alton to manufacture components within tolerances ofñ 0.01mm.

John Salt explained, 'The Alpha has obviously been engineered for highly accurate machining, delivering a level of repeatability which guarantees the consistent quality of every component we produce.

The Alpha's combination of build quality and state-of-the-art control means we can manufacture identical batches of components to tight tolerances, over and over again, irrespective of which machinist operates the lathe'.

Summing up the wide-ranging appeal of the Alpha Plus 550S at Alton, John Salt commented, 'The Alpha's combination of ease-of-use, accuracy and remarkable versatility belies its competitive price and accounts for its enormous contribution to our productivity and manufacturing capacity.

Not only has the Alpha Plus 550S enabled us to speed-up our production cycle times without compromising the quality of our products, the lathe's all-round ability has opened up a number of opportunities for us to win additional business and increase our profitability'.