Our services cater to a huge range of projects, from rapid prototyping and low volume production to complex milled parts. Wilco run over 30 CNC machines turning round and profile bars from 3 to 65mm diameter and chucking billets up to 250mm in diameter. The driven tooling options allow us to complete your parts in one hit including milling, cross drilling, tapping alongside the normal machine turning.
Vertical Machining Centres are now available to machine milled, drilled and tapped features to all materials including brass, nylons, steel and stainless steel.
In general sliding head machines are more suitable for smaller diameter, longer parts that take advantage of the guide bush to support the parts during the machining cycle. The term sliding head comes from the fact that the collet once gripping the bar moves toward the cutting tools which tend to be stationary. The machine type is often referred to as Swiss Type machines as they were particularly suited to the manufacture of small spindly parts that were used in watchmaking. Things have moved on considerably however and the powered tooling options available have increased the complexity of component parts that can be made in one hit.
Fixed head machines favour heavier cuts and shorter parts where deflection isn’t likely to be encountered due to geometry. As opposed to sliding head machines, the chuck holds the material in a fixed position whilst the tooling moves to complete the machining. Once again powered tooling options allow milling and drilling options to complete parts in one hit.
