Long-bed CNC lathe has steady rest facility

Attractive price, a steady rest facility and user-friendliness were among the requirements of an oil industry oil tubular goods repair facility when it sought a new 2-axis CNC long-bed lathe.

As part of the Scomi/Oiltools International group, which operates from 53 locations in 28 countries, KMC Oiltools, based in Aberdeen, has a huge corporate responsibility to both its owners and its high-profile oil industry customers.

Hence, when the company required extra turning capacity to meet buoyant market demand, only one machine met its rigorous standards at an attractive price: a Hankook Protec 9NC two-axis horizontal lathe from Ward CNC of Sheffield.

"Our core business is the provision of manufacturing services," says machine shop manager Alan Ledingham, "Of which 99.9% is for the oil industry.

KMC Oiltools is a leader in providing oil country tubular goods repair, manufacture and re-certification to the oil industry.

At Aberdeen, it uses industry-leading CNC lathes and milling machines to produce a broad range of oilfield accessories.

"We needed extra turning capacity to meet a rise in demand so I began to look at suitable machines," he continues.

"I wanted a long-bed machine as many of our components are of extreme length, so this narrowed the field to a few potential suppliers".

"I selected the Hankook Protec 9NC for three principal reasons: I liked the look of the machine and was impressed with its build quality; I liked its level of user-friendliness; and I liked its price.

The Hankook is now producing a variety of components for KMC Oiltools, including oilfield accessories such as casing hangers, tubing hangers and cementing swages.

The diameters of these premium connectors range from 100mm upwards and 30-off is a large batch.

"Most of the time the machine is deployed on complex threading tasks," explains Alan Ledingham.

"The premium threads we produce demand very, very high tolerances, so much so that only licensed companies are permitted to manufacture these features.

KMC Oiltools maintains close working relationships with its OEM customers and is proud to have been awarded premium thread licenses from API, Vallourec, and the Tenaris and NSPT product families.

All products manufactured by KMC Oiltools are genuine threadings and traceable to the original material mill test report, which ensures product integrity.

"One of the advantages of the Hankook is that it features a steady rest facility," he continues, "Which helps us achieve high levels of accuracy".

"None of our other machines have this.

The Protec 9NC lathe is based on a double-walled and ribbed one-piece meehanite cast iron bed with induction hardened and ground precision slideways for maximum stability and accuracy.

The large spindle bore (up to 254mm) twin chuck 9NC has a 950mm swing over bed, 630mm over carriage and 4000mm between centres (options up to 8000mm available).

It features a Fanuc 21i-T CNC, which offers semi-CNC manual guidance and teach facility.

Even though some urgent requirements can be met within 24 hours if required, quality assurance is an essential ingredient to KMC Oiltools' success.

The company maintains a stringent QA/QC programme and was the first company in its area to be approved to ISO 9002-1994".

""One of the principles of good management embedded in this accreditation is criteria for good workmanship," says Alan Ledingham, "So whatever machine we bought had high expectations to fulfil".

"I am pleased to report that the Hankook has more than satisfied these demands.

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