energy sector
A major contributor to
productivity and tool
life is the high pressure
through-coolant facility,
which delivers fluid
directly to the contact
point - this cools and
maintains the sharp cutting
edge whilst removing
swarf from the work area
The rigidity and increased
spindle speeds of the FTV
have significantly
improved tool life and
cycle times. KKI offers the
example of a specific super
duplex stainless valve
component. It has 4,813
holes, all 3mm diameter
drilled through a a wall
thickness of 16.5mm. Time
saving is over 40%
compared to the
previous method.
New machining centre supports valve maker’s quality-led philosophy
while boosting productivity for difficult materials
Rigid and robust
KOSO Kent Introl (KKI) of Brighouse makes
valves and pumps: standard and severe service control
valves, chemical pumps and high technology surface
choke valves for oil field applications. The products are
destined for demanding service environments where
they are subject to high pressure, high and sub zero
temperatures, cavitation, flashing, erosion, solid
contaminated fluids and high velocity and vibration. So
KKI makes its components from Inconel, Hastelloy,
and Monel; duplex, super duplex and 316 stainless
steels. The company has acquired an FTV 840/1800
machining centre from Cincinnati Machine, a robust
machine that will help to enable it to process these
difficult materials.
KKI aims to maintain high standards of quality
throughout design, production and customer service,
and its plant is accredited in accordance with the ISO
9001 Quality Management System and ISO
14,001Environmental Management System. All valves
and parts, where applicable, conform to ATEX and PED
industry standards and are CE marked accordingly.
Safety is a key element, and KKI holds the ROSPA
silver award for occupational safety.
The new FTV840/1800 is compatible with the
overarching philosophy whilst also addressing demands
for high productivity, running mainly unmanned over
Lubricants for wind turbines
EXXONMOBIL Lubricants & Petroleum Specialties Company used the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) 29th Annual Conference and Exhibition as a
platform for its launch into the UK wind turbine power generation market. Its entry into the UK builds upon more than 15 years experience in the development
of high performance lubricant products and services for the European and worldwide wind turbine industry. Globally the company is responsible for the
lubricant needs of more than 10,000 wind turbines.
ExxonMobil’s lubricant product range is developed from basestocks to suit specific applications. Launched following extensive field trials, key products
include Mobilgear SHC XMP, a premium synthetic wind turbine gear oil used in turbines worldwide and Mobil SHC Grease 460 WT which is designed
specifically for wind turbine applications. All products also have OEM builder approvals.
www.mobilindustrial.com
34 MWP january 2008
two shifts. KKI generally produces components with a
maximum batch size of four, but parts are complex and
time consuming to manufacture and require extensive
drilling, milling, slotting, thread milling and 4th axis
drilling. Production engineer Paul Skitmore
comments: ‘Machining difficult materials we needed
something rigid, robust and above all reliable. We were
convinced by the build quality of the FTV and as we
already have a Cincinnati machine that has been
running without fault for over 12 years, reliability was
never a concern. As each component requires a lot of
machining we wanted to run our new machine
unmanned through the night and the FTV allows us to
do this.’
KKI uses the 1.8m bed of the FTV to set up two parts
simultaneously for unmanned lights out running. On
one side of the bed is a dividing head and on the other
side is a chuck that uses the 4th axis function to conduct
drilling operations on a PCD. The company operates a
morning and afternoon shift pattern and at the end of
the afternoon shift the FTV is set with two parts that
are machined overnight. The valves and additional parts
machined on the FTV often take up to 14 hours to
machine due to the extensive drilling that often sees any
one part require anything from 2000 to 4,500 holes.
Skitmore continues: ‘The cylindrical valves can be
anything from two to 16 inch diameter requiring
thousands of holes from 3 to 6mm diameter drilled on
the periphery. We work up to 5-axis on the dividing
head and this wasn’t possible on our previous machine.
The FTV has increased our capabilities but most
importantly it has given our productivity a major
boost.’ To be specific he reckons it has given the
company an average productivity gain of at least 30%,
mainly as a consequence of confident unmanned
running. ‘The FTV is a very rigid machine that
immediately eliminates any vibration when
machining and drilling, and this extends tool life
considerably.
www.cinmach.co.uk
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