FEATURE PARTS CLEANING & FINISHING
TIGHTER SPEC CALLS FOR higher level of parts cleaning
An aqueous parts washing system from MecWash has been key to helping suppliers to meet increasingly stringent cleaning requirements from heavy equipment manufacturers
A
s OEMs in the heavy equipment industry continue to demand ever
more stringent requirements from their suppliers, aqueous parts washing specialist MecWash Systems has been able to help US-based Stewart Manufacturing not only meet these higher standards but expand its production facility. Manufacturing and quality engineers at the machining house needed to take action after one of their best customers ratcheted up the cleanliness requirements for cast iron turbo bearing housings that Stewart manufactures for them. The tighter cleanliness specifications
meant that particles over 500 microns were no longer acceptable, gravimetric weight gain would be restricted to 25 milligrams and no amount of abrasive material (in this case residual honing grit) would be allowed. “Where 10 years ago particle sizes of 1,000 microns captured in a millipore patch test might have been acceptable, today it is not uncommon for heavy equipment OEMs to demand maximum particle sizes of 500 microns or even less as this customer required in addition to the new gravimetric limits on components that are critical to the fuel, oil, and airflow inside of engines, pumps and compressors,” explains Bill Westbrook, North American operations manager for MecWash. “Before the customer made these changes
to its cleanliness requirements Stewart had cleaned these turbo bearing housings after honing inside a spray cabinet washer in a 15-minute cleaning cycle. “However, this cycle time was inexact because often the spray washer did not successfully clean the parts in a single cycle. Thus, the bearing housings were often rewashed in a second 15-minute process.” Engineers at Stewart recognised that it frequently took two wash cycles to clean these housings in their spray cabinet and now faced with much more stringent cleanliness requirements they realised they needed a high performance cleaning system to keep pace with production demands. They were looking for a system that could flood every drilled passage of the various housings multiple times during a cleaning cycle and engage powerful ultrasonics to evacuate cast iron filings and all grit
18 SEPTEMBER 2016 | FACTORY EQUIPMENT
retained in the bearing housings after the honing process. Stewart Manufacturing’s own customer purchased a MecWash aqueous parts cleaning system in 2012 and was happy to recommend the UK-based company’s cleaning machines as offering a perfect solution to meet their changing and demanding requirements. “When an important customer is pleased enough with your finished product to give you increasingly more business you don’t hesitate to dedicate the resources necessary to create a winning situation for both parties,” says Randy McLeod, Stewart’s vice president of manufacturing. “As for the more rigorous cleanliness standards, our belief was that our customer was probably achieving them inside their own manufacturing operations so we inquired with our contacts there.”
IMPORTANCE OF VACUUM DRY FUNCTION “At first Stewart were interested in buying a MecWash Midi which they believed would achieve their cleaning throughput and meet the new cleanliness requirements,” comments Westbrook. “The Midi is a highly versatile, aqueous single chamber rotational cleaning system that features ultrasonic flood wash and rinse, immersion wash and rinse, spray wash and rinse, hot air dry and vacuum dry to evaporate any retained water in small blind holes of components with more complex geometries. Stewart’s cast iron bearing housings had blind holes so a vacuum dry function would be an important part of an
The MecWash Midi installed at Stewart’s factory and the purpose-built holding fixtures that securely retain bearing housings measuring several different diameters
effective cleaning process. As discussions about the MecWash Midi continued Stewart’s business with their customer continued to expand and this led them to instead purchase a Maxi.” The Maxi retains the high performance of the Midi but is constructed with a much larger cleaning chamber measuring 24”H x 24”W x 40”L. As the customer gave Stewart more and more business it was the MecWash Maxi that Stewart now needed in order to keep up with these expanding production requirements. Managing director of MecWash John Pattison explains: “Critical to successfully cleaning these cast iron bearing housings was a requirement to hold them firmly in place during the full rotation for the entire cleaning cycle. For this we designed four different purpose-built holding fixtures that would securely retain bearing housings measuring several different diameters. “For the smallest housing the Maxi
cleans 26 housings on two fixtures per 15- minute cleaning cycle. For the largest the Maxi cleans 12 housings on two fixtures per 15-minute cycle. “Across the different housings diameters the Maxi can clean an average of 84 turbo bearing housings per hour. Due to the Maxi’s high performance and huge cleaning capacity we were able to offer Stewart a system that could both achieve their customer’s cleanliness requirements and surpass Stewart’s desired goal to clean up to 80 turbo bearing housings per hour.” The Maxi was installed and
commissioned in Stewart’s manufacturing facility a year ago and since then it has been cleaning turbo bearing housings on every shift virtually non-stop. “MecWash has exported to the US for around 10 years and rapidly establishing itself across the Atlantic,” concludes Pattison. “I am delighted that Stewart Manufacturing came to us after our products were recommended by their own customer as this shows our machines are really delivering results while helping companies like Stewart to expand their manufacturing operations.”
MecWash Systems T: 01684 271600
www.mecwash.co.uk
/ FACTORYEQUIPMENT
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