Product category:
Miscellaneous machine tool equipment (fixtures, rotary tables etc.)
News Release from: Kitagawa Europe | Subject: Kitagawa indexing equipment
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 29 May 2001
Indexers offer repeatability under heavy
cuts
When Pacson came to evaluate rotary indexing units to enable valve bodies to be machined in a single cycle it should choose Kitagawa equipment; not just once, but twice!
The production of large diameter surface or sub-sea valves and pressure control equipment for the oil, gas, petro-chemical and process industries calls for specialist skills; supported by high capability manufacturing facilities So, when Carnoustie-based Pacson came to evaluate rotary indexing units to enable valve bodies to be machined in a single cycle, no surprise that it should choose Kitagawa equipment; not just once, but twice! Based near the heart of Scotland's oil industry, Pacson has established a world-wide reputation for designing and producing valves for the most hostile operating environments on earth
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 17 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The company's range spans everything from needle valves to check, gate and ball variants up to 24in bore, in a wide variety of configurations and specifications.
The single common factor is that each is manufactured to uncompromising standards - normally from tough-to-machine materials, such as stainless steel, Inconel or other high temperature alloys.
According to Workshop Supervisor Peter Dolan, most valves start life as forged billets measuring 10in or more in diameter, which are processed on the company's Mori Seiki and Mazak vertical machining centres.
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"Valve body cycle times are typically in the order of three hours - although can be as long as five hours on larger types," he explains.
"In all cases, the machining of the four valve faces represents a critical operation.
Clearly, rotary indexing units had the potential to streamline our operations and maximise throughput.
Yet, the close dimensional and angular limits involved meant that equipment to meet our specific requirements would need to meet some stringent performance criteria." Not surprisingly, positional accuracy and repeatability were high on Pacson' s wish list.
But, so too was rigidity, in order to accommodate the heavy machining cuts employed.
Subsequently, the company decided to equip three machining centres with indexers - two with Kitagawa type TBM320 units and another from a competitive supplier's range.
"These were installed almost four years ago," notes Mr Dolan.
"Under production conditions, the Kitagawa equipment has subsequently proved to be far more rigid, accurate and durable than the other unit.
As a result, we have recently replaced it with a third Kitagawa indexer, this time an Autodex RS250." "Valve bodies are high value components, which are manufactured to order, rather than in batches.
It is therefore essential that we can rely on the performance of our manufacturing equipment to produce 'right first time' parts," he adds.
All Kitagawa indexer units are robustly constructed to provide higher clamping forces and greater machining torques than comparable units.
In addition, they incorporate a large double-lead worm gear module, which ensures extreme positional accuracy and virtually eliminates backlash.
According to Mr Dolan, it means that the company can run its Kitagawa TBM320 and RS250 equipped machines up to the limit of their cutting tools' capabilities; enabling metal removal rates to be maximised, while still maintaining face accuracies to better than 0.002in.
Further benefits of the Kitagawa indexers are the flexibility it adds to Pacson's machining operations, as well as the increased interchangeability of parts and programmes.
"The indexers' ability to interface seamlessly with our CNC machine controllers also allows extended un-attended running," he adds.
Pacson currently operates a two-shift system from Monday to Friday - supplemented by week-end working in order to keep up with demand.
Clearly, any downtime in the critical valve body machining area would cause major disruption.
"In this respect, we have only ever suffered one problem with our Kitagawa units and that was resolved within 24 hours," reports Dolan.
"We therefore have the confidence of knowing that the equipment's reliability is backed by excellent after sales support as well. Request a free brochure from Kitagawa Europe ...
"Overall, I believe our Kitagawa indexers are a significant factor in enabling us to meet customer demands for top quality products on short lead times.".
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