MechChem Africa May 2018

Cylinder production enhanced by new CNC machines Hytec Engineering, part of the Hytec Group, recently purchased an addi- tional four CNCmachines, bringing their number of productionmachines to seven. Replacing old, traditional machine tools, Hytec Engineering’s CNC machines are specifically used to manufacture hydraulic cylinder componentry andwill achievemajor quality improvements stemming from the repeatability produced by CNC machining. It is proven that, compared to manual machining for volume-based projects, CNC machining produces a much greater quantity of machined parts with a lot more accuracy in a fraction of the time. On the other hand, for once-offmilling or turning, themanual machining process outperforms aCNCmachine, purely because of the programming delay in setting up the machining requirements. However, once a component has beenprogrammed it is stored, sowhen a repeat item order is required, the process is simple and fast. Recalling the program and beginning the machining process is all that is required. “Now that we’ve programmed a database of components into the new machines they will significantly increase the production of machined componentry for hydraulic cylinder,” points out Pierre Goosen, general manager, Hytec Engineering. As a database of components has already been programmed into the new machines, production of the required hydraulic cylinder components will increase significantly. “The real impact,” Goosen emphasises, “is in new cylinder component manufacturing as the drawings required to program the machines are readily available.” Goosenexplains the importanceof personnel trainingon thesemachine types. “It is equivalent towriting a computer program,” he points out, “and so training, thenmore training and lots of on-the-job practice is required.” www.hytecgroup.co.za

Replacing old, traditional machine tools, Hytec Engineering’s new CNC machines will be used to manufacture components for hydraulic cylinders.

May 2018 • MechChem Africa ¦ 37