Dugard Heavy Duty VMCs vital for success at Main Tool
As a subcontract manufacturer heavily involved in the oil & gas industry, Main Tool Company Ltd is more than familiar with machining complex components from difficult materials.
To efficiently manufacture such parts, the North Lanarkshire company has invested in heavy duty machine tools from Dugard.
MTDCNC.com went up to Scotland to take a look at the Main Tool factory, watch the video below…
For its heavy duty turning operations on any material from aluminium and mild steel through to cast iron, titanium, inconel and duplex, the Scottish company has put its stock in a Samsung PL60MC heavy duty turning centre for its large parts whilst a Samsung PL45 with live tooling has been procured for its smaller turning requirements.
The heavy duty PL60MC has a maximum diameter capacity of 900mm with a maximum turning length of between 1 and 3m depending upon the model selected. At Main Tool, the 45kW powerhouse machine is being used for turning, drilling and deep boring with astounding material removal rates whilst its driven tooling stations on the robust turret are maximising productivity and flexibility. Commenting upon the capabilities of the PL60MC and the smaller Samsung PL45 CNC turning centre, Tom McDougall, Manufacturing Engineer at Main Tool says: “We opted for the Samsung machines for their robust build quality and ability to rapidly remove material regardless of how difficult the material is to machine. In addition, the machines have rigid tool turrets with driven tools so we can complete more jobs in one-hit without secondary operations.”
The Samsung turning centres are ideal for the machining of large oil & gas components as they are supplied with a steady rest for supporting long and large diameter parts whilst the large front doors provide great access for the operator.
For the company’s milling department, the machine of choice has been the Dugard HD1886B with two machines recently being installed to replace less capable machine tools. Referring to these machines, Mr Mike Allan, the company’s Manufacturing Engineer in the milling department says: “The new Dugard machines are far more robust and solid than the previous machines, so we can take heavier cuts at faster feed rates. We machine anything from aluminium through to inconel and the Dugard machines handle everything with ease.”
The 4-axis CNC milling machines have an X, Y and Z axes of 1600 by 800 by 700mm, which makes these additions at Main Tool, ideal for the production of its small and medium sized milled components. With a BBT50 spindle taper and an 18.5kW motor, the HD1886B is proving a great addition for the Bellshill based manufacturer.