The first of the new Breton NC300 workcentres that were launched at the Marmomacc exhibition in Verona in September was installed at Prostone Interiors in Ammanford, South Wales, this month (February).

It was due to be followed just a week later by a second machine going to Cambrian Granite (Howden) in East Yorkshire and shortly afterward by three more currently on their way to the UK.

The NC300 is a remodelled version of the withdrawn NC260, which was the most popular of Breton’s workcentres in the UK. 

The 300 has been beefed up with a 16kW spindle and it is heavier – the K26 (one of three versions of the machine) that has gone to Prostone weighs in at 8tonnes.

Prostone already has an NC260 and Managing Director Bryan Gilmartin says that although he did look around at alternatives he chose the NC300 because he thought his operators would be familiar with the way it works.

The operating system has been upgraded to the latest Siemens 840 technology that automatically adjusts the speed according to the resistance of the stone being cut, but Bryan says it has not taken his operators long to work it out.

Another modification is that the pumps for the vacuum cups have been changed to use water rather than oil, so if water gets sucked into them there is no longer any oil to pollute.

Asked if he had any reservations about having the first of a new model off the production line, Bryan Gilmartin said: “It’s Breton. I wouldn’t mind having the first of a new model of Mercedes.”