Demo area opens

David Mold, MD of Blum Novotest UK, says: "This new facility will enable us to provide our customers with a comfortable environment to conduct training, re-fresher courses and product testing and component trials. The new site has plentiful office space and most importantly a demonstration area to highlight why our products are far superior to on-machine measurement products from alternate vendors."

In the immediate term, the Bridgeport GX710 will be loaded with Blum metrology equipment such as the TC50 workpiece touch probe, the TC54 tool-setting probe, the Laser-Control NT and the TMAC Tool Monitoring System. The TC50 workpiece probe has an innovative opto-electronic measuring unit that is said to deliver exceptional measuring results when probing the component in various directions whilst the TC54 probe sits within a machine tool to provide in-cycle measurements of the cutting tool to maximise tool usage and machine utilisation.

Working in synergy with the probes will be the LaserControl NT-H 3D. This non-contact tool setting technology measures rotating tools as well as the mechanical measurement of non-rotating tools in five approach directions. With the increasing use of mill/turn centres, Blum Novotest developed the LaserControl NT-H 3D to cater for the demands of these machine types. 

For the elimination of broken cutting tools and the resultant damage or scrapping of components, the new Tool Monitor Adaptive Control (TMAC) system will protect the CNC machine while providing valuable information regarding the cutting process.

The TMAC reduces the high cost of replacement tools, lost production and rejected parts by effectively measuring tool wear in real time. It operates on the principle that the horsepower required to cut a part increases as the condition of the cutting edges of the tool deteriorates. This has already been implemented by many of the world's leading aerospace OEMs and by having this on the Bridgeport machine at its new UK headquarters, Blum is keen to invite manufacturers to explore the potential of this technology. 

The German metrology specialist will be tooling the machine with cutting tools from Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC), which will include high precision boring tools from BIG KAISER. The bores created by these tools will be measured by the Blum BG60 bore gauge. 

Mold continues: "By taking our floor space from 100 to 234sq/m, we have sufficient room to conduct product tests and trials. As we have recently become a 'technical partner' to the ETG Group, we quickly realised that the Bridgeport VMC was an ideal fit for our new demonstration area."