Formula 1 specialist sub-contractor Hi-Tech EDM is on a winningstreak with its latest investment in a Sodick linear wire AQ535machine, purchased in January. The company has six Sodickmachines, and is the largest EDM subcontractor in Coventry, withmajor customers across the UK. MD Bob Duffin explains, 'Inmotor sport there are only two things that matter: rapid responseand top quality - Hi-Tech provides both.

We invest in the bestequipment and have the skills and capacity to turn jobs aroundvery quickly - quite often a job will arrive in the morning andneed to have been completed and shipped back to the customer bythat evening.

The new Sodick linear machine has given us not onlyadditional capacity but also the ability to handle largerworkpieces.' Hi-Tech has been doing work for Mercedes-Ilmor,which makes the engines for McLaren, for some 18 years now.

Twoexamples of the challenging wire edm tasks that the companytackle for these engine parts include cutting very fine splineson the ends of crankshafts and also creating crankshaft damperweights.

These latter items are manufactured in the same materialthat is used to make armour-piercing bullets, and so demand agreat deal from the machines that cut them.

Naturally, with suchrapid turn-around times, rock-solid reliability is crucial, asBob explains; 'We can't afford down time in our market.With Sodick machines the service is good, the back-up isexcellent and the running costs in terms of consumables, is verylow.

When it came to investing in a new wire machine, we wanted asolution that provided us with scope for the future as well asbenefits now.

We knew the technology was moving towards linearmachines - so the choice was obvious.'