Subcontractor builds up motor sports expertise

In just two years, sales of sub-contract machined components to the UK motor sport industry has grown from zero to over GBP 100,000 a Nottingham, UK-based subcontractor.

In just two years, sales of sub-contract machined components to the UK motor sport industry has grown from zero to over GBP 100,000 for Stapleford, Nottingham-based Hemlock Engineering.

While many of the contracts involve highly precise machined components produced on the company's Citizen CNC sliding head automatic lathes, Haas vertical and Kitamura horizontal machining centres, more often than not today, maintains managing director Paul Cobb: "We get very involved with development projects.

These include design for manufacture consultancy and prototype assemblies which then lead to small batch production and even fully tested sub assemblies." Prime examples include a paddle gear change system conversion, including the steering wheel frame, a special reverse gear mechanism to meet race car scruitineering, water pump systems and special air box and filter arrangements.

Hemlock has also been heavily involved in producing sub assemblies and parts for a new road-going sports car fitted with a high performance motorcycle engine.

Utilising its milling capability, Hemlock produces special baffled low-profile sumps that are just 45mm high for the Honda Fireblade motorcycle, which is able to retain its original design specification for oil capacity.

Produced out of solid aluminium blocks, these highly profiled components include machined-in baffles to prevent oil surge and all relevant machining for direct fitment to the engine.

Other special sumps are produced for racing motorcycle and sidecars with ultra-low profiles in order to minimise ground clearance as well as special small capacity aluminium sump cases for race cars.

The Citizen M32 is used for a wide range of small fittings, bolts and gearbox components required to high orders of surface finish and tight tolerances out of a wide range of materials.

As Cobb maintains: "Many of these parts are small but very intricate, need a lot of tools and are required in frequent small batches.

To produce these conventionally would be a total nightmare but with 'one-hit' mill/turning techniques we know the strict geometric relationships of the various features will be correct." He follows on to explain that because of the ability of the Citizen to make almost any configuration of milled and turned features up to its 32 mm capacity, it gives the component designer the freedom to concentrate on fitness for purpose rather than worrying about pricing the part out of court because it is so difficult and complex to produce.

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