Microns Precision: made within microns
Microns Precision Engineering provides a first-class sub-contract engineering solution to customers across the UK and Europe. Founders James Campbell and Garry Mills met while working as machinists at another firm, but in 2008, with a recession looming, they began to visualise starting a company of their own. “We wanted more control.” says James, “We didn’t start with much but because of the economic downturn things were cheaper. We bought a second hand Haas mill and started to build up a customer base.”
Within a year the Cambridgeshire based company had invested in their first new Haas, a Mini Mill vertical machining centre, and were steadily building a reputation for accuracy, with a fast delivery. They soon outgrew their original premises, and after expanding into two larger units they began looking to see how they could fill their newly acquired space.
Today, nearly a decade later, Microns has installed ten Haas machines, the latest of which is a VF-2SS Super Speed mill. With customers in industries ranging from agricultural to motorsport, scientific to gas and oil, the VF-2SS needs to be adaptive. “If something can be machined; we have a customer who wants one,” explains James.
“We can use the Haas machine for everything. Right now we’re making DTS nano-positioning equipment, which is mounted to lasers and microscopes, so our parts have to be dead flat. The accuracy on the VF-2SS is incredible, and it’s undoubtedly the fastest machine we have. The tool changer is so speedy our jobs are noticeably quicker, which makes the whole process more efficient.”
The Haas VF-2SS features a 12,000 rpm, 30 hp spindle, has travels of 762 x 406 x 508 mm and rapids of 35.6 m/min. The machine’s 24+1 side-mount tool changer swaps tools in just 1.6 seconds.
“This is our second Haas with 4-axis capability and we’ve found that gives us a flexibility we hadn’t previously seen. Because the controls are the same on all of the machines we can switch from one to another in no time.”
“Our original Haas was easy to use and we were impressed with the way it dealt with everything we threw at it. We’ve come back time and again because we know we’ll always get quality. And our salesman and local engineer are both amazing; they can’t do enough for you.”
“The accuracy on the VF-2SS is incredible, and it’s undoubtedly the fastest machine we have. The tool changer is so speedy our jobs are noticeably quicker, which makes the whole process more efficient.”
James Campbell
