Manufacturing

Our manufacturing facilities support projects by procuring, fabricating and assembling mechanical components.

Our extensively equipped workshops include a range of precision CNC machines together with conventional machines. We have CAM capability, components can be machined from CAD models, and the majority of CNC work is programmed off-line. New machines have been added to our repertoire such as a state of the art 3 metre brake press for forming sheet metal.

Recently manufactured items include the double helix former for the 4K helical undulator project stretch the ingenuity of our team, and enhance our capability. This project required 4-axis machining to cut the very long 1.8m double-start leadscrew, and the length meant that the workpiece had to be supported in several places. The former positions the superconducting filament ribbon within the magnet and hence the uniformity of the final field depends upon the accuracy of machining. Prototyping was required to perfect the tool shape and accurately cut the most effective profile for the ribbon. The undulator has been very successful with an extremely uniform field.