ENERGY SECTOR KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
such as Hastelloy and Incoloy.
Numac’s managing director Andy McLaren
says: “We have 4-axis horizontal and vertical
machining centres, but we were keen to add
full 5-axis milling and drilling, both to
increase the complexity of parts that we can
produce and reduce the number of set-ups
needed for 3+2 axis work.
“The torque table on the Hermle will cut
the number of separate operations even
further on some of our mill-turned
components, as we’ll be able to avoid a
separate clamping on a lathe,” he
continues. “We have a number of oil and
gas parts earmarked for such a process
improvement and estimate that the number
of set-ups will be halved in most instances,
resulting in major ef ciency and productivity
increases.”
THOROUGH RESEARCH
McLaren spent 18 months researching
5-axis mill-turn centres and says he opted
for the Hermle primarily for its superior
turning capability, the table having a
maximum speed of 800 rpm and the ability
to turn components with the trunnion
positioned at any angle. The machine offers
travels of 800 by 800 by 550 mm in the
three linear axes.
Moving to additive manufacturing (AM) for
energy-related applications, Renishaw
(https://is.gd/hehaka) has supplied four
RenAM 500Q metal AM machines to Knust-
Godwin, a precision machining company
located in Katy, Texas, where it has reduced
lead times.
The RenAM 500Q offers four lasers in the
most commonly used platform size (250 by
250 by 350 mm build volume), increasing
productivity by up to four times, with no
compromise in quality, says the company.
Knust-Godwin rst introduced AM to help
improve the ef ciency and productivity of
tools in the oil and gas industry.
“A project that previously required a
24-month wait from concept to
commercialisation can now be reduced to
eight months,” states Mike Corliss, VP of
technology at Knust-Godwin. “The cyclical
nature of the oil and gas industry means
that providing parts quickly is extremely
important.
“We’ve not only bene tted from the huge
productivity gains of the machines, but from
The working area of a Hermle
C42UMT of the type supplied by
Kingsbury to Numac
Lapping gel for ball valves
Engis UK has worked closely with ball valve manufacturers to develop a lapping gel
speci cally for use in severe service ball valve lapping applications, such as those found
in oil and gas production and petrochemical re ning (https://is.gd/dodizo).
Severe service ball valves are often installed in remote and dif cult-to-access
locations, and must withstand the harshest conditions, including high pressures, high
temperatures and caustic materials, while providing tight tolerances and zero-leak
characteristics.
A principal bene t of Engis LD diamond gel is said to be a reduction in overall lapping
times by up to 30-40%. In addition, less pressure is required using the LD gel, reducing
scratching and operator fatigue in manual operations. This attribute results in less
component scrappage, while test stand failures are signi cantly reduced – to near zero in
some instances, reports the company.
Engis lapping gels contain specially controlled diamond particles that are micronised in
Engis laboratories. In contrast, some conventional lapping compounds, particularly those
not manufactured to the most exacting standards, incorporate rogue abrasive particles
and can suffer from particle agglomeration or excessive ‘dry out’ during processing,
resulting in surface scratches that compromise the zero-leak goal.
www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets November 2019 37
/hehaka)
/dodizo)
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