On the Shop Floor Te first new job was the refurbishment of explosion-proof
steel covers for transformers used in coal mines. Tey are cooled by water flowing through a hollow jacket, the inner surfaces of which need to be roughened to create turbulence and increase heat transfer to the water. Tese and other plates, up to 4-m long, are machined for the mining sector on the 50-taper DCX22. Te larger workpieces require two clampings on the 2100 × 1600-mm table.
Tanks for Storing Nuclear Waste Ayrshire Precision also won a contract to contribute to a
project to make 40-m-long distillation tanks for nuclear waste storage. Tese tanks require many large, high-tensile steel pan- els to be machined, and 25 such vessels are planned in the UK to cool and make safe spent radioactive material. Te project requires Ayrshire to not only mill the panels but also to drill large numbers of holes to accept temperature probes. More recently, 500-mm diameter flanges for the oil indus-
try have been machined cost-effectively on the DCX22, thanks in part to the ability to set up four at a time on the table. Each flange requires milling and drilling of 16 holes. Centers have to be within ±25 µm, while the tolerance held on a sealing groove must be 18 μm total. All four parts are completed at one time to minimize tool
changes and maximize production efficiency. Moving from one part to the next is achieved rapidly and automatically using the “work offset” feature of WinMax, the conversational program- ming soſtware in the proprietary Hurco control system. Te same feature can be used for multiple-part machining, even when setting up dissimilar jobs for untended machining.
and the VMX64 on their value for money and reliability,” said QED Managing Director Stuart Murray, who has 25 years’ experience in the oil industry. “We have a 1986-built MD3 machining center from the same supplier on the shop floor that is still in daily use. Its twin-screen UltiMax CNC system goes back to the cathode ray tube era, unlike Hurco’s modern flat- screen controls. However, we have been very impressed with the conversational system’s user-friendliness for programming and producing one-offs and small batches, which is the norm here. Tere is nothing wrong with the old machine mechanically and we still produce tight-tolerance work on it.” QED Sales recently installed the largest Hurco machining
center, the double column, bridge-type, 3-m DCX32 to help fulfill a new contract for producing large plate H-links. With a field life of more than 30 years, the large plate H-links form part of a 5-t steel assembly used to connect polyester rope to large chains used in deep-water mooring systems. QED has manufactured more than 100 similar products for the off- shore industry for use in the North Sea, off West Africa and in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2010, InterMoor developed the Inter-M-Swivel, a
multipurpose, deeper-water, longer-term mooring swivel that can join chains of the same or dissimilar sizes while allowing complete rotational freedom under tension. Approximately 50 have been sold in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and the North Sea. QED won a contract to manufacture parts for the device and needed the Hurco VMX64 with its 1625 × 864 × 762-mm capacity to accommodate them. A fourth axis was supplied to enable milling operations on these and other components that were previously turned on CNC lathes.
Ayrshire Precision also won a contract to contribute to a project to make 40-m-long distillation tanks for nuclear waste storage.
To maximize flexibility, Bradford bought a universal angle
head for use on the DCX22, which is proving especially useful for machining internal slots and angled holes. A separate WinMax module was written by Hurco to accommodate this extra facility. “We use the menu-driven, conversational programming
nearly all the time, as it is so quick and easy at generating cutting cycles for our jobs, which in most cases are relatively simple,” said Bradford. “Occasionally we will program off-line on our Edgecam system for more complex work. Te DCX is our first Hurco machine, but our lead programmer, David Torbet, had no trouble picking up WinMax and our other machine operators can use it as well.”
Deep-Water Mooring Systems Value rather than size was the consideration when QED
Sales (Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland) was contemplating new milling centers. “We based our selection of the Hurco DCX32
54 Energy Manufacturing 2013 Both the DCX32 and VMX64 have been purchased with
50-taper spindles to cope with QED’s tough machining requirements. Drawing tolerances are generally ±0.025 mm, which the Hurcos easily achieve. Established in 1995, QED has gained a global reputation for providing a complete sub- contract service to the oil & gas industry and more recently the renewable energy sector, including design, machining and fabrication at the top end of the capacity range. It also manufactures its own products, such as WAG Mill for grind- ing within cuttings’ slurrification systems, and the SRS swarf removal system for extracting metal swarf, large pieces of cement, pieces of casing and other debris from the circulating fluid used during casing milling operations.
Wanting to Keep Doing Things Well With a BP quality award hanging on the office wall along- side a platinum award from Cameron Subsea Systems con-
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