New Cucchi Bar Loaders

Over the last 12 months Guy-Raymond made the considerable investment in seven new Cucchi-BLT bar loaders which automatically feed the 3.6m long steel bars into the Wickman 1″-6 multi-spindle lathes.

The old loaders had been in service since 1984 and were nearing their retirement age having fed bars into the Wickmans for the best part of 40 years. In the end they were requiring increasingly frequent and invasive repairs so it was time to replace.

After research trips to see some different bar loaders in action the decision was made to go with the PB30 loader supplied and installed by Wickman UK.

As well as decommissioning the old bar loaders the swarf conveyors had to be removed from the machines for shortening and the opportunity was also taken to give the Wickmans a thorough clean down and undertake major service work.

The first two machines arrived in Jun 2022, followed by three in Oct 2022 with the final 2 arriving in April 2023.

The new loaders benefit from modern control with an LCD screen and a bar centering device which has significantly reduced the noise levels in the department. As well as being much quieter the new loaders are also more energy efficient and user friendly.

The investment in these loaders has put us in a solid position to continue to produce high quality, high volume metal turned parts for many years to come here in the UK.

Thanks go to everyone at Guy-Raymond, Wickman UK and Cucchi-BLT for supporting the project from order through to commissioning.