distributor Koch Machine Tool Co. Inc. (Houston, TX), includ- ing two Matsuura MAM63Vs five-axis in a 34-pallet cell, a Nakamura NTJX nine-axis turning cell, and two four-axis Fanuc RoboDrills. The Matsuuras are equipped with BigPlus 40 taper 12,000-rpm spindles both in one cell, sharing 34 pallets with a cell controller, and two setup stations. Both machines have spindle and tool probes and tailstocks. Automation can be tricky in this
business, noted for small lot sizes. Brader noted that lot sizes vary from 10 to 30, with some orders up to a 100. This is a far cry from either aerospace or automotive. “We are not a manual shop, we are a CNC/automated shop with two 12-hour shifts,” he said. “The trade-off is that you cannot run one piece on a CNC, like you can on a manual machine.”
“If we make a mistake, we can kill someone.”
Drill bits are as important in sea drill- ing as land drilling, according to David Lucius, vice president of sales for North and Central America, Methods Machine Tools. “Failure is not an option for drill- heads that might need to go down two to three miles,” he said. “Even though machining is rigorous, part tolerances can be as tight as less than a thou- sandth of an inch." Machines should be versatile to facilitate processes such as complex contouring, required on many oil field components.
MAG IAS (Fond du Lac, WI) provides a full range of large horizontal bor- ing mills (HBM), vertical lathes, and horizontal machining centers (HMC) for the oil and gas industry. “The parts for oil and gas have heavy cutting require- ments because of the size and materials
involved,” said Peter Beyer, director of product strategy and product development for MAG IAS. “In addition to milled, bored, and tapped features, there are turned features, such as threads and interior/exterior profiles, or grooves that require