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Partnering with Mazak, Brown & Holmes, Nikken, Iscar, SolidCAM and VERICUT the team encountered many challenges along the way, the greatest of these being to have the ability to completely machine the runner without the need to finish off hard to reach elements with sub-contract spark erosion. With an overall project investment of £1.3million, approved by the Board of Gilkes, Mazak installed & commissioned an INTEGREX E-1250V/8S 5-axis machine tool in early March 2020 with the project team wholly committed to delivering a fully machined Pelton runner to a Hydro scheme by January 2021. The challenge set by Rebecca Sandham, Gilkes’ Head of Operations, was to install the capacity to fully machine a hydropower turbine runner from a solid billet of material. Hydropower turbine runners are traditionally cast and polished by hand and recent years has seen Gilkes purchase these runners from specialist machine shops adding high precision and repeatability but at significant cost. Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd has released details of its latest investment in next-generation machining capability.
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