Product category:
Cutting lubricants, coolants, systems and treatment
News Release from: Castrol UK | Subject: Carecut synthetic cutting fluid
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 18 October 2002
Overheats on automatics led to coolant
change
Running two new sliding-head CNC machines at speed with a conventional chlorine-free mineral oil caused serious overheating problems until the user changed to a synthetic cutting fluid.
Running two new sliding-head CNC machines at speed with a conventional chlorine-free mineral oil caused PDP Engineering serious overheating problems, leading to shorter tool life and lower productivity Then a fire in one of the machines prompted a change of fluid to Castrol Carecut! The machine shop at Birmingham-based PDP Engineering operates twelve fixed-head and two new sliding-head CNC machines and employs sixty people
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 10 Jun 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Says machine shop manager Scott Wills commenting on the change to a Castrol synthetic fluid: "Running the two new sliding-head CNC machines with a conventional neat oil caused problems from the start - overheating significantly reduced tool life, generated a lot of smoke and we even had a small fire in one machine! "Productivity was also affected as both tools and machines were designed for high speed operation and the cutting fluid wasn't." With the cheaper coolant limiting machine performance and productivity, Scott called in Castrol.
Says Castrol's Midland sales manager Carl Sault: "We recommended one of our high-performance synthetic fluids - Carecut ES2 - to improve machine performance.
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And we suggested that PDP use Carelube 68 slide oil which, unlike conventional slide oils doesn't contaminate the sump as a tramp oil." Using Carecut ES2 certainly transformed the performance of the new CNC machines.
Says Scott: "Tools and machines are now able to work at optimum speeds, tool life has tripled on drilling operations and our coolant consumption has reduced by 50% - more than covering the difference in cost of the Carecut and promising considerable long-term savings." He adds that further savings on the machines' bag filters, which are now lasting three months compared to one week with the previous coolant, have already paid for the new coolant! Other improvements include better visibility for operators, who also prefer its handleability, and better performance in the machines' Cool-Blast delivery system - all points that Carl Sault puts down to Carecut's ability to maintain its consistency and clarity under pressure.
And Scott estimates that the combination of Carecut and Carelube slide oil is providing a much longer sump life for the coolant, which could reduce a six-monthly cleaning operation to an annual one.
Summing up the change to Carecut and Carelube, Scott says Castrol's experience really has proved that it's possible to buy more expensive oils and still save money.
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