Chip breaking software makes turning copper as easy as brass
MACHINING & MACHINERY 100 % YIELD WITH LFV
C & M PRECISION
Chip breaking software makes turning copper as easy as brass
A large proportion of work going through subcontractor C & M Precision’ s Maldon factory involves machining copper bar fed into CNC mill-turn lathes. Five sliding-head models, and one Fixed Head out of the thirteen turning centres on the shop floor, all of which have been supplied by Citizen Machinery UK, have LFV( low frequency vibration) functionality in the operating system of their Mitsubishi controls. It results in much higher productivity and increased yield when converting malleable copper into high-end electronic components for OEMs in the medical, radar, satellite and broadcasting sectors.
Owner John Cable explained that for many of these jobs, a particular grade of copper known as OFHC( oxygen-free high conductivity) has to be used, which is more than 99 percent pure. One 60 mm long, tighttolerance component previously produced from 3 mm diameter bar on an early Citizen Cincom M16 slider without LFV had to be turned in one pass through the guide bush down to 1.20- 1.22 mm diameter along half its length. The continuous string of copper swarf frequently damaged the component and often became lodged in the counter spindle, preventing synchronous transfer after part-off
We now have a single point of contact for applications, backup and service and the supplier is very capable and responsive to our needs
and causing the machine to alarm out. Productivity was severely impacted and up to 20 percent of parts had to be scrapped.
Mr Cable enthused,“ Transferring the job to a Cincom L12-VIILFV we bought in 2019 was a real winner. With the LFV function turned on, the copper chips like brass. Yield is now 100 percent, throughput is high and we can even leave the machine to run unattended.”
2025 saw the arrival of another 32 mm sliding head. This being C & M Precision’ s 2nd L32 type XII with LFV. The first L32 being so successful that they had to buy another. This machine also has a fully programmable B axis gaining more use of live tools in cross, inline and angled positions as well manufacturing components more complete with minimal set up time. The L32’ s have only a gang and back end working tool posts, so are faster when manufacturing less complicated parts.
C & M Precision’ s latest Miyano acquisition are from Citizen’ s Miyano range of fixed-head lathes. Installed in December 2024, the twin-turret ANX- 42SYY model with Y-axis capability on both turrets Allowing C & M to gain capacity between 38mm and 65mm diameter components whilst also having another machine with LFV technology.
Mr Cable continued,“ It made sense to go the Miyano route in view of our good experience with the Cincom lathes. People say it is not good to have all your eggs in one basket, but in Citizen’ s case it is. We now have a single point of contact for applications, backup and service and the supplier is very capable and responsive to our needs.”
As to the future, Mr Cable sees continued purchase of LFV lathes inevitable. While high pressure coolant systems break swarf adequately on his current larger lathes, as they mainly process free-cutting materials, LFV is a must when it come smaller diameter components on hard to chip materials.
For further information, please visit www. onehitcnc. com
104 PECM Issue 79