WHAT A HARDINGE MACHINE CAN DO FOR YOU

X-L Engineering's Vice President, Paul Prikos, may just be Hardinge's biggest fan, and is most definitely one of their most loyal customers. Prikos' loyalty is proudly showcased through his ownership of more than 20 Hardinge machines. X-L uses these machines in their two Ohio plants (Niles and Elk Grove), each occupying about 2,000 square feet. With the help of their top choice machines, the 60 production employees process stainless and heat-treated steel. "Actually, there isn't a material that jumps out at me that we wouldn't tackle," remarks Prikos.

The backbone of X-L's operation is the medical field, which demands repeated perfection with each and every performance. According to Prikos, his company has to hit tolerances right on the nose and complete surface finishes that would make some companies shiver. One specific job that they rely on their Hardinge machines for is medical housing that holds transmission components for orthopedic instruments. The Hardinge Quest 8/51SP can do what other machines cannot: after one side of a part has been turned, drilled and bored, the machine transfers to the subspindle and then completes all of the back-end work. Without the subspindle, the part would have to be removed and manually turned the 180° in order to finish both sides.

X-L uses the Hardinge Quest GT275SP for some of its other medical jobs, including drives, shafts and again, housings for medical power tools. "What we particularly like about the GT is the unique gang-type tooling plate that holds all the tools. We can remove the entire plate, save the job with all the tool settings unmoved, put in a different pre-set tooling plate for the next job, touch off the new plate and we're up and running on our next job," explains Prikos. Being able to change the tooling in and out this quickly dramatically reduces set-up time.

By using these dependable Hardinge machines, X-L has made considerable advances in uptime. Prikos says that his machines are virtually always running. The uptime has fueled Prikos' idea behind purchasing his Hardinge Quest 8/51SP and his two Hardinge Quest GT27SPs. The idea was to invest in such a fashion as to strengthen, solidify and maintain X-L's current place. "These machines have kept us competitive and have allowed us to grow stronger in the medical field. Every piece of bar stock that comes into this building— anything that's going to be turned in any fashion starts off on a Hardinge machine; it's been that way since we've been in business, and I foresee it continuing just that way," explains Prikos.