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4 Mar 2013

Pushing the Boundaries of Technology in the Motorsport Arena

Pushing the boundaries of technology is always an exciting event, and there is no better place to be able to do it than within the Formula one Motorsport arena. The McLaren Group is one of the leading motorsport engineering companies, and at their engineering works in Woking, Surrey, they are constantly on the lookout for any technological advancements that can get them onto that winner’s podium.

Pushing the Boundaries on Inspection

Formula 1 is one of the highest, fastest innovators in the hi-tech engineering sector. Within the span of one racing season, over 90% of a car’s engine is redesigned by the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 racing team. Anything that can help them in pushing the boundaries of the technology is always pounced on and scrutinised with great alacrity. Just lately, the focus has been turned onto the inspection function.

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12 Feb 2013

New Milling Technology Courtesy of Edgecam Waveform Roughing Strategy

New milling technology, that advances the traditional milling capability, has recently been announced. It comes courtesy of a new advancement from Vero UK in their Edgecam software range, and has been christened “Waveform Roughing Strategy”.

The New Milling Technology Deserves a few Plaudits
It’s a rare event when something new comes along in the engineering world, so this new milling technology deserves a few plaudits. Edgecam software is cutting edge stuff, if you’ll excuse the play on words. These software programs are specifically targeted at the high precision machining sector within the engineering industry. It’s state of the art CAM/CAD application which takes advanced tool-path engineering and seamlessly melds it with CAD output. The growing library of Edgecam software packages is intent on improving productivity through the manufacturing cycle.

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25 Jan 2013

Multi-Tasking the Deep Hole Drilling Process

Multi-tasking is the “in” phrase in engineering circles these days. It makes eminent sense. Why use a variety of machines to fabricate a component if you don’t have to? Every time you have to break a machine down and re-set it, it results in down time, and down time is unproductive time. The longer that any piece of kit remains idle, the less efficient any company’s production process will be.

The Advantages of Multi-tasking

In addition to the actual down time of the machine, there’s also the physical act of moving components around the shop floor to be considered. It’s not only labour intensive. You also run the risk of losing or miscounting items within a batch, or of course misplacing the batch altogether. With a multi-tasking machine, (where all of the various operations are done on the same piece of kit), there’s far less down time. The risk of losing or misplacing items is completely eliminated.

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21 Jan 2013

3D Modelling and Computerised Simulation Software Plunge to the Deepest Depths

3D Modelling and Computerised Simulation Software Plunge to the Deepest Depths

3D modelling and computerised simulation are still relatively new concepts in the engineering world. Their arrival has enabled the modelling and prototyping of components that have amazingly complex profiles. But in the greater scheme of things, they have also played a fundamental part in enabling man to land at the deepest place on Earth – the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the ravine that scores the sea bed of the western Pacific Ocean, stretching for some 1,500 miles off the coasts of Japan and China.

First Man at the Earth’s Nadir
Movie blockbuster director James Cameron made the historic dive last year, the first man ever to have made the dive to the deepest reaches on the planet. He seems to have an obsession with our oceans. In 1989 he directed “The Abyss”, the movie that revealed an alien civilisation living in the Cayman Trough, the deepest point of the Caribbean Ocean. Then in 1997 he directed movie blockbuster “Titanic”. The move in which Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio starred, dramatising the sinking of the White Line liner on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic from Southampton to New York in 1912. In 2005 Cameron part directed “Aliens of the Deep”, a documentary which explored the life-forms that dwelt around hydrothermal vents in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

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4 Jan 2013

New Rapid Prototyping Development will Cut Costs and Lead Times

New Rapid Prototyping Development will Cut Costs and Lead Times

A new rapid prototyping development has been announced that could make the so called “rapid prototyping” process even faster. The new methodology revolves around making prototypes using vacuum forming technology. Vacuum forming is a way of thermoforming plastic. It involves manufacturing a tool, around which a heated sheet of plastic is draped. A vacuum is then created between the mould tool and the draped, preheated plastic. This vacuum sucks the heated plastic forcibly onto the tool, and holds in place whilst it is rapidly cooled by engaging the fans built into the vacuum forming machine. As it cools, the plastic conforms to the exact shape of the mould tool.

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26 Nov 2012

Secret Behind Continued Success Revealed by PRV Engineering

Secret Behind Continued Success Revealed by PRV Engineering

The secret behind continued success, no matter what the subject matter, is staying ahead of the game. It’s the difference between being mediocre, and being a leader. It’s also what keeps PRV Engineering at the top of the tree as one of Europe’s top high precision machining and engineering service providers.


Be Proactive not Reactive

But the secret behind continued success is not just keeping up with the latest developments; it’s all about being proactive. The majority of businesses tend to be reactive. When a new demand becomes evident, they respond by adding their services to other suppliers also adding theirs. But forward thinking companies like PRV Engineering, use their proactive ability not simply to respond to demand, but to actually create that demand in the first place. How do they do that you may ask? – And the answer is, through their policy of Kaizen.

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19 Nov 2012

Engineering Challenges are PRV Engineering’s Bread and Butter

Engineering Challenges are PRV Engineering’s Bread and Butter

Engineering challenges come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. For the ordinary man and woman on the street, engineering may not be the most exciting topic for many ordinary everyday folk, but when it takes place within an environment such as space exploration, it takes on a whole new persona.

Space – Engineering’s Final Frontier
Designing and engineering precision parts for space vehicles is an awesome responsibility. It’s quite disturbing to think that one tiny flaw in design and/or manufacture could scuttle a mission. It could result in the obliteration of millions of pounds worth of satellite hardware, and the ruination of the anticipation, the hopes and the dreams of millions of people.

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5 Nov 2012

Biological Crude – Potentially the New Power-Lubrication Source for Engineering

Biological Crude – Potentially the New Power-Lubrication Source for Engineering

Biological crude oil from Algae may soon become a commercial reality. So say engineering researchers from Michigan University in the US. Recent research seems to indicate the possibility of converting 65% of Green Marine Micro Algae into what is being called Biological Crude or “Biocrude” for short. This in itself is not new news. But being able to create the Biological Crude in one minute is! Results of the research have just been published at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

We Can’t Wait a Million Years
With traditional crude taking as long as 1 million years to form from marine organisms, it won’t be very long before existing known sources that are financially viable to extract, become totally depleted. Waiting another million years for naturally occurring stocks to regenerate just isn’t an option. Solar power looks like being a real possibility as an alternative energy source, but now too – so does Biocrude.

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19 Oct 2012

PRV Engineering Watch with Keen Interest as New Energy Flowers Blossom Forth

PRV Engineering Keenly Observe as New Energy Flowers Blossom Forth

PRV Engineering are very conscious of the amount of energy that many of their engineering machining processes consume. With energy being a precious and limited resource, recent news of the blossoming of a new man made GeS energy storing flower has aroused great interest, not only in engineering circles, but in the world at large.

The new GeS nanoflowers are the result of recent research undertaken by the North Carolina State University, and they could have a significant impact of the shape of future energy storage. The greatest energy source is of course the sun. It’s a virtually limitless source of supercharged power. The only problem is in harnessing it, which is where these new ‘flowers’ come into the equation.

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5 Oct 2012

CAD System Development – A New Breed is on the Way

CAD System Development – A New Breed is on the Way

CAD system history was made when AutoCAD first hit the market back in 1982. It revolutionised the design and drawing industry. A complex drawing that would have taken a top draftsman many hours to piece together could suddenly be completed in a fraction of the time, and with far greater accuracy too. All design draftsmen in all industries now use CAD systems, including the designers at PRV Engineering, the phenomenally successful engineering high precision machining specialist based in Pontypool, South Wales.

Research teams at both the Open University and Leeds University, who are studying CAD system development, have been looking at the way designers read their drawings, with particular emphasis in the reader’s eye movements. It seems that by tracking these eye movements via a built-in camera, future CAD systems could then be designed to suggest shapes for the designer to incorporate within the drawing.

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