Machined cases enable land mine detonation

Precision Engineering firm, Acro Precision Technology, has recently undertaken one their strangest projects to date - machining cartridge cases for robots detonating land mines.

East Anglian Engineering Contributes to A Safer World Precision Engineering firm, Acro Precision Technology, has recently undertaken one their strangest projects to date.

The project was to machine precision cartridge cases for robots that are used to intentionally detonate land mines.

These robots are used around the world, making war torn areas safe for peacetime habitation.

Acro have undertaken this work for Norfolk firm Richmond Engineering, who provide the firing technology that damages and disrupts the landmines.

The robots are remotely controlled to move them close to potentially live landmines and then remotely instructed to fire the cartridges at the landmines in order to destroy them.

Around the world, this type of technology is saving thousands of lives from death or injury.

"It is not very often that our work is so directly linked to saving lives, so we are very proud to be contributing to this type of technology," said Fred Pain of Acro.

"Richmond Engineering called on us because they needed a responsive and experienced precision engineering subcontractor - we were very pleased to offer our services." With a broad range of computer controlled machine tools and 24 hour unmanned machines, Acro consider themselves to be at the leading edge of machining technology.

Their investment in this technology is enabling them to compete on the world market and has enabled them to double their turnover in the past two years.

Mr Downs, Engineering Manager at Richmond Engineering stated, "These robots work in the most hazardous and dangerous of environments, so they need to be very accurate and very reliable, every component is a critical design.

We chose Acro because they have a reputation for providing very high quality precision engineering services and for being very responsive as a supplier.

It is good to know that the UK can still provide this quality of engineering." * About Acro - Acro Precision Technology has over 30 years experience in the machining of precision engineering components, Acro represents one of Europe's leading suppliers to the engineering and technology sector.

Acro offers specialist low volume prototype development as well as high volume manufacturing and is equipped with a broad range of modern CNC [Computer Numerically Controlled] machinery: * CNC lathes with live tooling and 24 hour unmanned production.

* Swiss type sliding head automatics.

* CNC milling.

* Conventional turning/milling/finishing.

Customer projects have included components for sport cars suspensions, bomb disposal robots, hospital beds, forecourt petrol pumps, the London Underground, equipment for off-shore oil exploration and production and components for the construction industry.

http://www.acro-eng.co.uk About Richmond Engineering Richmond has both design and manufacturing facilities for precision engineered and electronic products.

The company specialises in the design and manufacture of products for EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and IEDD (Improvised Explosive Device Disposal).

The company offers a large range of up-to-date EOD and IEDD products, including several new advanced systems such as Recoilless Stand-Off Disrupters and ROV Interfaces.

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