Product category:
Machinery and Production Equipment
News Release from: Citizen Machinery UK | Subject: Unicut Precision
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 02 April 2002
Coolant system transforms small part
turning
By retrofitting a Cool Blaster high-pressure coolant system to its new Citizen M32 CNC sliding head automatic lathe, Unicut Precision has reduced cycle time and improved tool life.
By retrofitting a Cool Blaster high-pressure coolant system to its new Citizen M32 CNC sliding head automatic lathe, Unicut Precision has been able to reduce the cycle time on a complex 31mm diameter stainless-steel hydraulic component by some 12% It has also increased feeds and speeds, and improved tool life by up to 300% and reduced swarf problems resulting in a totally clean, finished component from the machine ready for packing and despatch to the customer
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 21 Feb 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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So successful has the retrofit been by NC Engineering of Watford, that Unicut has ordered a second Citizen M32 with the Cool Blaster already installed.
Codirector Jason Nicholson has also been able to discuss with his customer a more competitive price in exchange for increased business.
Unicut has nine Citizen machines engaged in aerospace, automotive, elect ronic, medical and telecommunication work producing batches between 50 and 1,000,000 parts.
Many are produced from stainless steel or similar difficult to turn materials but to meet the fast changing UK subcontract market for more complex mill/turn parts, the L and M Series Citizens have proven key to a steadily mounting order book and highly successful 'just in time' deliveries.
The Cool Blaster system has four programmable line outputs which deliver coolant at 140bar.
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Offline programming software not only improves productivity through reduced changeover times, it allows machining cycles to be optimised while the machine is still in production.
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The jets can be operated simultaneously from a central manifold installed on the machine and delivered at up to 20 litre/min.
Each line is selectable, directly from the machining program, to provide high pressure coolant through a five micron filter to different areas of the machine such as the gang tool slide, turret and subspindle.
There is also a through subspindle wash that ensures the collet is effectively cleaned between cycles and coolant can be fed directly through the tool on end-working positions.
As codirector Charles Kenny describes: "We saw the Cool Blaster at the NC Open House and were immediately impressed at the potential to help us reduce swarf problems from the type of materials we machine.
It is very difficult on certain grades of stainless and aluminium to get the material to chip properly and really exploit the tooling.
Also, the latest tooling can accommodate through the tool coolant feed and the only way to maximise machine utilisation and keep tool costs down is to machine as efficiently as possible".
The installation took a day and Jason Nicholson describes the benefit as 'immediate'.
The initial trial hydraulic component on the M32 used 22 mill/turning tools to perform a single operation.
However, due to the nature of the material, swarf would 'birdsnest' around the tooling and clog the subspindle collet to such an extent that the machine had to be stopped every four hours and cleaned.
Also, each component had to be manually checked for swarf damage and there was a lot of concern over rejects.
"Since the Cool Blaster has been operational with a programmed cycle to flush out the subspindle collet, these problems have just disappeared", he insists.
He also describes how they had a problem on a hole which is 16mm diameter by 50mm deep which is later crossdrilled using a 7mm driven drill in the cycle.
To break the swarf and get coolant to the cutting area of the tool, the machine used to be set to peck drill at 750rev/min and 0.12mm/rev feed.
"Now with Cool Blaster we dive straight through at 1100rev/min and 0.15mm/rev feed rate and while insert life used to be a maximum of 1500 parts, it is still running with no signs of wear.
Improvements have also been fed across to the finish boring tool which is now completing its cycle 20% faster than before.
Insert life has also increased from 150 to 500 per corner and we only change then, for security of quality", he says.
The Cool Blaster installation on the M32 has four programmable coolant outlets through M code function with one each on the turret and tool platen, tool block and through the subspindle.
As the machine has the capability to carry up to 80 tools it is able to perform extended running without interruption which significantly increases machine utilisation, productivity and lowers cost.
Indeed, estimates Charles Kenny: "We reckon on the current early performance of Cool Blaster we should get payback on the investment within three to four months but, most important we have greater confidence in the machining cycle especially when running unmanned at night".
So satisfied are the two codirectors that they are already planning work for the next M32 with Cool Blaster and looking to retrofit the system on the other M20 and L-Series Citizens. Request a free brochure from Citizen Machinery UK ...
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