When Wynand Le Grange established his company in 1988 when he got the opportunity to machine a few mining components for an international company the first machine he purchased was a Victor VT 20 CNC lathe and he has been loyal to the brand ever since.
“It was at a time when few machine shops and manufacturers had transcended the divide between manual and CNC machining. For WYSA it was the beginning of a specialisation in a high-mix production in which setup time is often a make-or-break factor in meeting deliveries and making profits,” said Le Grange.
“That first contract set me on the road to mainly concentrate on the mining sector because of South Africa’s involvement in the industry. Although, the mining industry is still the largest industry that we serve the mix of clients has diversified now as has the components that we machine. From general engineering to automotive. We are flexible and have enough Victor machines to adapt quickly,” explained Le Grange.
The latest machine to take its place on the production floor at WYSA Engineering Services is a Victor Taichung VTURN-40Y horizontal turning lathe. It is a heavy-duty cutting lathe with spindle nose A2-11 for turning length from 1 250mm to 2 200mm. It has a bar capacity of 91mm, spindle speed of 2 500rpm, spindle power of 17.5kW, BMT75 toolholder, live tooling, a manual steady, a programmable tailstock and has Y-axis and C-axis applications available with built-in spindle for contour milling
“For the type of work I was doing at the time it was a no brainer not to embrace the CNC world. Today I have seventeen of the Victor CNC machines on the floor performing turning and milling operations and this number is about to increase to 19, once I purchase a couple more from Victor Taichung to replace some older equipment,” continued Le Grange.
The latest machine to take its place on the production floor at WYSA Engineering Services is a Victor Taichung VTURN-40Y horizontal turning lathe. It is a heavy-duty cutting lathe with spindle nose A2-11 for turning length from 1 250mm to 2 200mm. It has a bar capacity of 91mm, spindle speed of 2 500rpm, spindle power of 17.5kW, which is very helpful according to Le Grange, and is manufactured with a single piece cast slant bed (45-degree) for minimum distance from ball screw to the tool tip.
It comes with an impressive BMT75 toolholder, live tooling, a manual steady, a programmable tailstock and has Y-axis and C-axis applications available with built-in spindle for contour milling.
A view of one section of the machine shop at WYSA Engineering Services from the mezzanine floor that the company had constructed to accommodate CNC machines
Gear skiving
“Besides being a loyal Victor Taichung fan one of the main reasons we have purchased this machine is to perform skiving operations. We have already done face milling functions on it – the machine was only installed in March 2025 – and we can’t wait to do the skiving and hobbing operations.”
“Power skiving is a continuous rotary cutting technique where the tool meshes with the gear under production. The intersecting angle between the tool and gear axis affects the revolution speed and greatly benefits productivity. As the process combines hobbing and shaping, power skiving enables machining of a whole component in a single, multi-tasking machine rather than several machines. A single set-up greatly improves machine utilisation and total profit. It has been said that a 20% increase in machine utilisation can provide a 10% higher gross profit margin. Manufacturers can also benefit from increased design precision and flexibility.”
“We have worked out that it will only take 10% of the time that we have been putting into the current way that we process the gears for our clients. This includes all the changing and setups on all the other machines that were used to perform the various operations.”
“The Fanuc hobbing function is an option, as is the skiving tool and the polygonal turning options.
Basically you have another axis with taking these options. The axis interlocks with the live tooling to do the hobbing or skiving.”
Inside the Victor Taichung VTURN-40Y horizontal turning lathe
“The majority of our work is machining castings supplied by local foundries. We do not source the castings – they are supplied by our clients. It is just as well because recently we had to reject 10 of the 12 castings supplied because of porosity issues. Over R120 000.00 put back in the furnace as scrap metal.”
“Machining castings into precision components can be quite a challenge. In addition to traditional machining and handling issues, global competition can put pressure on shops to keep prices down. Faced with these issues, I have developed a long-term strategy to develop and manufacture tight-tolerance parts and achieve aggressive cost targets,” explained Wynand.
The production floor the Highway Business Park, Rooihuiskraal, Gauteng-based company is a busy place, with more than 100 active projects at any given time. Mostly they are relatively small runs, but the company does have a few clients that require repetitive machining of components.
Wynand Le Grange on the right with his son Andro who has been with the company since 2010
A Victor Taichung V1000 CNC vertical lathe with a turning diameter 1 000mm by 820mm that was installed in 2023
“We do have other equipment on the floor that allows us to offer various ancillary operations but our main focus is on machining. This equipment includes band saws for the cutting of various size pipes, a 40 ton hydraulic press and various drilling and manual drilling and turning machines. We also offer limited welding.”
“We also have a slotter to do internal splining and currently we are installing a thread roller because of the call for it by certain clients.”
Victor Vcenter-P106 3-axis vertical machining center
WYSA Engineering Services has a Victor Vcenter-P106. Pitched at subcontractors serving a broad base of sectors the popular Vcenter-P106 includes rapid feeds of 48/48/32m/min, 12 000rpm, spindle output of 18.5kW, BBT 40 / 30 tools, roller guideways, bottom guarding flush and screw chip remover and automatic tool change time is 2.1 seconds.
Despite its emphasis on speed, the VCenter-P106 has a table capacity for parts weighing over 600kg on its 1 120mm by 520mm table. In addition, the machine features a BBT-40 spindle or SK40 configuration with an 18.5kW spindle motor that is said to deliver high torque levels across its 1 060mm by 600mm by 560mm work envelope.
The company has purchased the Victor Taichung VTURN-40Y horizontal turning lathe to perform skiving and hobbing operations, besides face milling and other operations. WYSA Engineering Services has worked out that it will only take 10% of the time that they have been putting into the current way that they process the gears for clients. As the process combines hobbing and shaping, power skiving enables machining of a whole component in a single, multi-tasking machine rather than several machines
The production floor of the Highway Business Park, Rooihuiskraal, Gauteng-based company is a busy place, with more than 100 active projects at any given time
Victor Vcenter G135 (4+1 axis) vertical machining center
Another machine on order is a Victor Vcenter G135 (4+1 axis) vertical machining center. The powerhouse 3-axis G-series is available in three size variants to meet the diverse demands of the industry. The machines incorporate a Meehanite casting with a wide base A-Frame design, a wide span column, four box ways and screw removers with a wide box way – all factors that enhance performance and stability.
The three G-series variants include the G105, G135 and G165. The G135 provides XYZ-axis travel of 1 350mm by 700mm by 600mm. This impressive freedom of movement is matched by the accommodating bed size of 1 400mm by 700mm. Furthermore, the robust nature of the range permits the loading of components up to 2 200kg on the machine.
Common features include a powerful gearhead spindle design that generates a power output of 18.5kW with a torque level of 498Nm. Developed, manufactured and built in-house by Victor Taichung, the 6 000rpm gearhead design spindle retains maximum torque levels throughout the speed range.
The majority of WYSA Engineering Services’ work is machining castings supplied by local foundries. They do not source the castings – they are supplied by their clients
The client mix is made up from mining to general engineering and automotive
This makes the Vcenter series particularly suitable for machining hard materials and exotic alloys with high material removal rates. Additionally, the G-series incorporates a Big-Plus BBT-50 spindle taper.
The Victor Vcenter G135 vertical machining center has an automatic tool change unit with 24 tool capacity that can accommodate tools with a maximum tool weight of up to 15kg. The axis feed motor on the Vcenter G135 generates 3kW of power on all axes with a rapid feed rate of 20m/min and axis acceleration of 0.28G, which is driven through extremely large 50mm diameter ballscrews to further enhance stability.
For further details contact Victor Fortune on TEL: 011 392 3800 or visit www.victor.co.za or WYSA Engineering Services on TEL: 012 6611 824 or visit www.wysa.co.za
