LUBRICANT COMPANY EXTENDS TECHNOLOGY CENTER

Recently, lubricant company Blaser Swisslube (Goshen, NY) has extended its ultra-modern Technology Center which now occupies about 3200 sq ft of floor space at its head office site in Hasle-Rüegsau (Switzerland). For the last four years, this is where the latest metalworking fluids to be developed are tested, and where the versatile machining operations of its customers and partners are recreated in a realistic way.

The Technology Center enables the machining specialists from Blaser to provide customers with cutting and grinding fluids that deliver an effective form of added value and which help to optimize their productivity, economic efficiency as well as the quality of their machining operations. Test results provide convincing evidence.

Two 5-axis machining centers, one turning and milling center, a 5-axis tool grinding machine and two new CAD/CAM workplaces: Blaser Swisslube has now created optimum conditions for simulating and testing the latest machining technologies in its Technology Center, founded at the end of 2008.

“That enables us to provide our customers with even better levels of support, and to help them improve their productivity and economic efficiency, as well as to optimize the quality of their machining operations”, explains chief executive officer Marc Blaser.

In addition to the tests conducted on recently developed metalworking fluids for the machining of an incredibly diverse range of materials, and the close-to-reality simulation of production situations, the infrastructure enables machining seminars to be delivered from the Blaser head office site in Hasle-Rüegsau.

In collaboration with customers, universities, colleges of advanced technology or trade associations, innovative machining technologies and the latest materials are tested with various metalworking fluids, after which the processes, as well as the cutting and grinding fluids, can be optimized and developed yet further.

A recent project conducted with the Technical University (Technische Hochschule) in Aachen demonstrated this very clearly. The aim of the project was to reduce the machining time required to drill a deep hole in tempered steel, an operation that had taken three minutes, while endeavouring to retain the same standard of quality. Until its collaboration with Blaser Swisslube, the Technical University in Aachen had been using a conventional cutting oil for this machining operation.

To optimize these demanding drilling operations, a process of rigorous testing and adjustment was applied to tool, drilling strategy, machining parameters, metalworking fluid delivery and metalworking fluid. The water-miscible cutting and grinding fluid was pumped through the tool at high pressure (PSI 870) to evacuate any chips occurring and to prevent the downtime otherwise caused by chip removal.

The key thing here is to select a metalworking fluid with no tendency to foam, even at high pressures. Always prevent air bubbles from arising in the emulsion since these counteract the cooling action and also obstruct the flow rate that enables chips to be cleared effectively.

At the end of this project, the original time required of three minutes per hole was reduced to ten seconds for a depth of 7.8 in – an 18-fold improvement in efficiency.

Another successful project at the Technology Center dealt with the machining of a titanium component. Through the use of the optimum metalworking fluid, it was possible to improve the tool life by more than 30 percent in series production, compared to a conventional metalworking fluid.

The test project involved milling two identical titanium components. For this, the components were produced on the same Mazak machine, using the same tool, and with a milling program from 3D Concepts. The only difference was the kind of metalworking fluid employed.

With the conventional metalworking fluid, capabilities include manufacturing one and a half titanium components before tool wear made it necessary to stop production. The solid carbide milling tool had been subjected to extreme stress loadings and clear signs of breakage down its cutting edges were visible, alongside the normal signs of wear. With a new high-performance metalworking fluid specifically designed for the machining of titanium, it was possible to manufacture two complete workpieces without reaching the previously defined tool life criterion (wear of .008 in) – an impressive improvement in performance.

Blaser says, “Both projects demonstrate that the three factors of productivity, economic efficiency and machining quality depend in large part on the choice and quality of metalworking fluid and on the expertise of the machining specialists.” Accompanying that optimum choice of metalworking fluid is the technical expertise of Blaser specialists in Sales, in the R&D laboratory, in the Technology Center and in Customer Service that gives Blaser partners real tangible benefits. “This technological expertise transforms our cutting and grinding fluids into a liquid tool, and into a precisely engineered solution to meet the specific needs of each of our partners.”

www.blaser.com, [email protected]