Graham Harris’ quest to replace an ageing bar-fed lathe with a like-for-like replacement took a new twist when he saw a gantry-loaded Takisawa Japan turning centre being demonstrated by T W Ward CNC Machinery (Ward CNC).

While he was suitably impressed with the machine’s billet handling capabilities, he didn’t want to forego bar-fed work since around 85 per cent of the throughput is derived from bar at his company, precision machinist Harris RCS.  So, Ward CNC simply modified the machine so that it could process both bar and billet work – with the result that the Takisawa Japan TCC-2000GAL3 single-spindle turning centre is now successfully machining a range of parts at the long-established company based in Coventry.

Mr Harris explains: “With a number of other Ward CNC-supplied/supported machines onsite – Hyundai Kia lathes and vertical drilling and tapping centres – I am, of course, fully conversant with Ward CNC’s service and back up, and when looking to update one of our older bar-fed lathes I obviously opened discussions with Ward CNC. “I was impressed with the Takisawa Japan machine and its automatic billet loading but, because much of our work is from bar, I hesitated about investing a machine which on that basis, might have stood idle for much of the time. That dilemma was immediately resolved when Ward CNC offered to modify the machine, using a Hydrafeed MV65 short magazine system, and adapt it for bar work, too.”

Tel: 0114 276 5411
Email: lwilson@wardcnc.com
www.wardcnc.com