Gear, pump and precision component manufacturer Slack & Parr has installed its twenty-first CNC machine tool from Mills Manufacturing Technology. The Doosan NM 410 3-axis vertical machining centre is making high-value aerospace and motorsport components from barstock, castings and forgings in exotics material and superalloys.

Richard Hallsworth, Slack & Parr’s managing director, said: “We are clearly no stranger to Doosan machine tools or to Mills for that matter. In recent years we have made significant investment in a number of CNC milling machines, lathes and multi-axis mill-turn centres from Mills – and have always been impressed by the performance of the machines and the level of support we receive.

The new Doosan machine was supplied with a 15kW 8,000rpm BT 40 spindle, 24-tool ATC, high-efficiency and, increased productivity and flexibility, a 4th-axis rotary table. This allows Slack and Parr to reduceg cycle times and machine parts in fewer set-ups – which the company sees as essential for the CNC milling of complex parts.

Slack & Parr was established in 1917 and was first involved in the manufacture of parts for the growing UK motorcycle industry. Over the last 90 years the company has re-invented itself and diversified its business activities considerably. Today Slack & Parr its three manufacturing areas not only include high precision components for aerospace and the motorsport sector, but also its own high precision gear metering pumps and hydraulic rotary flow dividers.

In addition to its CNC lathes, milling machines and mill-turn centres machines the company also has an extensive grinding capability, including gear grinding, jig grinding, cylindrical grinding and ceramic grinding. This is used by  Slack & Parr to produce exceptionally close tolerances on heat treated parts and components (typically +/- 0.0025), and to deliver surface finishes of Ra 0.1µm – Ra 0.2µm.

http://www.engineeringcapacity.com/archive101/2008/november/precision_engineering/