The need to drive down material costs and eliminate distortion when machining off waste, led Ireland-based Smithstown Light Engineering to invest in 5-Axis workholding vices from Roemheld.

For years, Smithstown has been making precision instruments for orthopaedic manufacturing companies and engineering companies.  The family-run business also specialises in the supply of a wide range of moulds to companies involved in filtration, medical, aerospace, automotive and contract moulding.  Smithstown uses a wide range of materials and, in a move designed to both improve material costs by reducing wastage and eliminate distortion during the machining-off process, the company decided to invest in Roemheld 5-Axis vices, which offer the ability to grip on just 3mm.

Brian King, Managing Director and one of the founders of Smithstown, said:  “Before, when we held a big block of tungsten we would have to machine off 15-20mm and this would cause distortion.  Now, using the Roemheld vices we only need to take off 2mm-3mm so the distortion problems have gone.  We have also made significant savings on raw material costs, particularly when machining heat treated materials.”