5 Star Cases has installed new machinery at its Cambridgeshire, UK HQ. The investment will help deal with the increased production demands following the winning of numerous new accounts and projects in recent weeks.

The first machine is used to pre-punch aluminium profiles prior to their being fixed on to the cases. The system is based around a ‘stock' machine manufactured and supplied by Penn-Elcom Limited, leading case hardware specialist with plants in the UK, China and USA. A powerful pneumatic cylinder forms the basis of the system together with heavy duty machined linkages and pivot points. The base machine can be used for multiple applications including punching, cropping and notching.

Once the machines are delivered from Penn-Elcom, they are heavily customised by 5 Star's engineering department headed by Phil Bailey.

This includes the addition of extra guarding and safety features to comply with current H & S regulations. The profile punching machine features a 5 position punch and die at a pre-set pitch which can accommodate all of 5 Star's aluminium angle sections. The machine also benefits the addition of a 5 Star designed PC-based measurement display software system. This software enables the user to set the necessary starting position that is required to be punched in the extrusion, as opposed to just having ‘factory set' pre-punched holes from the supplier.

Simon Bromley from retained software partner BNM I.T. of Spalding wrote the software after initial designs from 5 Star's technical department. The system includes a rack-mounted PC with a touch-screen control, so operators can simply enter dimensions from the production worksheets. The display will update with the required ‘start point', giving equally spaced punched holes in the extrusion.

The second machine installed, was again supplied by Penn-Elcom. It is an extrusion profile crimp, specially designed for 5 Star's new LX Range of lightweight cases.

This machine has the same pneumatic mechanics as the punch, but again has been heavily modified to 5 Star's requirements. These include additional safety and guarding facilities together with profile supports and clamping. This machine quickly assembles the LX Range cases by crimping aluminium profiles to the plastic corner nodes.

"We have been using Penn-Elcom to supply case hardware for over 25 years, but only more recently have we been taking advantage of their superb engineering and tooling experience," explains 5 Star's General Manager, Justin Locks. "Bespoke machinery and tooling can be supplied quickly, with all the resources at Penn's disposal, and with this in mind, 5 Star is continuing its small machinery investments".