Peter Colton formed Colton Tooling having spent 25 years with Wadkin, 17 years as general manager of Wadkin Tooling. He was joined three months in by Craig Lockwood, the current managing director, who started his training with Wadkin in 1979 as an apprentice and worked for the company for just over 11 years.
In recent years, the company’s success has been the development of its range of tooling for Weinig Powerlock moulders and the development of the Megablock or Hydrowedge cutterhead.
With Weinig’s introduction of the Powermat moulder, a requirement developed for a new type of cutterhead with an HSK taper location as opposed to a conventional tool with bore location.
To help with the sourcing of quality tools to the new design, Weinig appointed selected European tooling manufacturers to become contract partners in the development and production of tooling for this new range of moulders. Colton Tooling is the only Weinig contract partner in the UK.
Colton was already developing its own range of HSK cutterheads but significant impetus was gained when the company was approached by Weinig and arrangements were made to visit Weinig’s tooling factory where Colton was afforded access to Weinig original tool specifications.
“Being chosen by Weinig to become a contract partner was a great boost for the company,” explains Craig, “and we are very proud to be associated with the world’s leading woodworking machinery manufacturer. It is a vindication of all of the effort that has gone into growing the company to where we are today.”
An investment in new CNC machinery and an HSK balancing machine quickly followed, along with a dedicated production cell for HSK tooling at Colton’s Leicester factory.
“Our HSK tooling is produced to the same exacting standards as Weinig OEM cutterheads and are of the monoblock design, in that the taper is integral to the tool body. This produces a more accurate cutterhead as all knife locations are machined whilst the tool is held on its own taper. This design along with accurate dynamic balancing (to G2.5 tolerance) allows rotational speeds of up to 12,000 revs/min.”
Sample tools, selected at random, were sent to Weinig HQ in Germany to be tested – needless to say they passed with flying colours.
The Colton range of HSK tools has undergone continuous development and now includes Centrolock planing heads and hydraulically clamped – for accuracy – tongue and groove cuttersets, all of which are rated to run at 12,000 revs/min. As a manufacturer, Colton is also able to offer special tooling to meet specific customer requirements. The other major string to Colton’s bow has been the development of the Megablock or Hydrowedge cutterhead.
The Megablock principle had its origins at Wadkin with Peter Colton being named as co-inventor on the original Wadkin Patent. The distinct feature of these tools is the absence of the time-consuming wedge screws that would be fitted in conventional hydraulic cutterheads. Instead, all blades are simultaneously and equally clamped hydraulically with one pressure application which also centralises the complete cutterhead.
The knives are clamped through hydraulic pressure which activates a series of pistons under the clamping wedges.
Since Colton began to manufacture the product range, further development has been carried out so that today Megablock cutterheads for planing and moulding are proving to be a major line for the company. With the addition to the range of a light alloy composite version of the tool, sales have taken off.
Craig comments: “Customers instantly recognise the three main benefits of using the lighter tools: firstly, ease of handling on machine and in the toolroom and the health and safety implications; secondly, the lower mass which is kinder to the machine spindles, bearings and braking system; and lastly, the huge time savings which are achieved when servicing the tools as there are no clamping screws.
“All of this means there is a short payback time and ongoing savings: the tools virtually sell themselves”
Colton’s success with both the Megablock and HSK systems has led to significant exports, being one of the few manufacturers in the field, and with considerable stocks to call upon.
Further investment has taken place, particularly in the 3D design software field, to ensure that Colton stays ahead of the game, and retains its status as the UK’s foremost supplier of moulder tooling, as well as being the only dedicated manufacturer.
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