The Challenge: To provide the largest possible scope for machining demanding deeper holes in the most efficient way.
The Solution: A new Global Application Center for Deep Hole Machining that offers leading cutting tool R&D and local specialist back-up.
Deep holes in components are on the rise, as are the demands in terms of the quality and complexity of the holes. With this development have come challenges in machining. Deep hole drilling has been around as an efficient practice for decades in various ways: small diameters with traditional gun drilling, the self-contained ejector system and the versatile single-tube system for more demanding applications. Holes have conventionally been finished, usually on additional machine tools, through counterboring, boring, reaming, honing, burnishing and additional operations such as threading and grooving.
Today’s demands are seeing the need for a different approach with new technology to achieve the component specifications and to maintain the growing rates of production that are anticipated within many industries. The need for complex deep holes has been mainly driven by the aerospace and energy industries, where weight reduction and process development have added to designs. But in addition machine tool and setup development are making demands for new ways to machine deep holes. Multi-task machinery will be performing more machining of deeper holes, and there is a general drive towards finishing holes in a minimal number of setups.
This has meant that knowledge sharing between manufacturers of components and the supplier of deep hole machining solutions has become increasingly vital for success. To live up to expectations, deep hole machining has to take on a new meaning with new technology.
To that end, well-established deep hole drilling solutions and new solution-engineering skills have been combined to create the new Sandvik Coromant Global Application Center for Deep Hole Machining in the UK. Based on today’s need for knowledge sharing to achieve customer projections, the main functions of the center are tooling and application engineering as well as testing and trial activities.
Deep hole machining successes are founded on the continued development of processes and tools and cutting-edge geometries and grades, along with efficient coolant and chip management, to achieve the required results at the highest penetration rates and machining security. When components require deep holes with added features such as very close bore finishes, chambers, hole-diameter variations, profiles, grooves, threads and varying center-line directions, experience, R&D resources, engineering capability and customer involvement are what make the difference.
Summary
Extended opportunities for component design and production output are available with a newly formed combination of a large tooling programme, proven engineering capability and an application center for developing and testing solutions with a widespread network of specialists for deep hole machining. The new center, the Sandvik Coromant Global Application Center for Deep Hole Machining in the UK, also has facilities available for customers to perform tests on their own components.
Sandvik Coromant Deep Hole Machining Application Center
The Sandvik Coromant Global Center for Deep Hole Machining in the UK makes available considerable resources for industry to develop processes for components. As a center for developing solutions with a network of local specialists and the R&D of Sandvik Coromant, it offers unique opportunities.
Sandvik Coromant is also working with industries that are now experiencing the need for higher output of components with high-quality holes in large volumes, such as in heat exchanger and billet production.
Originally published in Metalworking World 1.2011, a business magazine published by Sandvik Coromant.
Advanced solution to challenging application
The Sandvik Coromant Global Center for Deep Hole Machining in the UK has a proven track record in efficient tool and method solutions for making complex holes within aerospace, energy and general engineering areas.
An example of the type of application is an 8.2-foot-long component used in oil exploration. Manufacturing the component required that a complex hole be drilled and machined. This involved a process whereby a 3.5-inch-diameter hole was drilled and finished with a floating reamer, using close tolerances and surface finishes. Then a 4.5-inch-diameter hole was counterbored and reamed to a depth of 4.9 feet. Another shorter part deep within the hole was then counterbored and reamed and a chamfer was formed. As an extension to this, boring and counterboring took place to form two chambers with chamfers, which were also reamed to their finished dimensions.
With conventional machining, the time on machines for this component was more than 30 hours. The deep hole machining engineered by the center reduced this time to 7.5 hours.
In addition to deep hole drilling through single- or double-tube systems, the center makes available tool concepts for machining holes with various complexity and limits. It specializes in planning the operations needed and designing the support and expansion tool concepts that will provide the highest performance and security, then proving these and lending technical support.
Originally published in Metalworking World 1.2011, a business magazine published by Sandvik Coromant.
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