ADO-TRS 3-flute coolant-through carbide drill triples feed rate and doubles tool life in wind turbine part production
Peter Cramer Jensen | OSG Scandinavia
OSG products contribute to an array of manufacturing industries to drive better results and productivity. In addition to the automotive, die and mold and aerospace industries, OSG also supports power generation metal cutting of large parts and difficult-to-machine materials with precision cutting tools and optimal solutions.
ECM Industries A/S, a metalworking supplier, has recently leveraged OSG’s drilling solution in its production of cone bracket, which is a mounting part in wind turbine. Established since 1977, ECM Industries is located in Øster Starup near Egtved in Denmark. With decades of experience, ECM Industries has grown from a small forging company to a medium-sized company with approximately 100 employees, and continuously invests in the development of production to provide optimum solutions for its clients to fulfill evolving needs.
Established since 1977, ECM Industries A/S is located in Øster Starup near Egtved in Denmark.
A little over a year ago, ECM Industries underwent a significant expansion. Among the changes, a new Zoller tool presetter was installed to ensure that all tool solutions are measured and controlled. The ongoing optimization with the Zoller solution has given the company improved insights into its tooling usage, which is significant when it comes to large series production. OSG Scandinavia is long time business partner of ECM Industries, and dialogues pertaining tool performance optimization are frequently exchanged.
With the recent major order of cone brackets and increased parts to be machined, Kasper Sørensen, who is in charge of ECM Industries’ tool purchases, consulted with OSG Scandinavia’s sales engineer Morten Larsen to further accelerate productivity.
The cone brackets are made of ST52-3 (SS490 JIS) low carbon steel. The annual production volume is estimated to be around 5,000 pieces per part. Each workpiece requires the drilling of five 18 mm diameter through holes at a depth of 25 mm. The workpieces are machined using a Doosan VC510 vertical machining center (BT40) with 7.5-percent water-soluble coolant. ECM Industries was originally using a competitor 2-flute coolant-through carbide drill for the job. Upon a detail evaluation of the application, Larsen recommended OSG’s 18 mm diameter ADO-TRS-3D (EDP# 8721800) 3-flute coolant-through carbide drill.
The cone brackets are made of ST52-3 (SS490 JIS) low carbon steel. The annual production volume is estimated to be around 5,000 pieces per part. Each workpiece requires the drilling of five 18 mm diameter through holes at a depth of 25 mm.
The ADO-TRS 3-flute coolant-through carbide drill is one of OSG’s latest drilling innovations for ultra-machining efficiency in a wide range of materials. With capabilities to resolve common challenges of 3-flute drills such as high thrust force and poor chip evacuation, the ADO-TRS has been nicknamed as the ‘Triple Revolution’ drill, setting a new standard for 3-flute drills with reliable performance never witnessed before in the cutting tool sector.
The ADO-TRS 3-flute coolant-through carbide drill is one of OSG’s latest drilling innovations for ultra-machining efficiency in a wide range of materials.
The ADO-TRS’ 3-flute specification offers greater balance than 2-flute drills, which are more prone to chattering. Moreover, the ADO-TRS enables superior roundness and improved positioning in terms of hole precision. With capability to excel under high-feed condition, the ADO-TRS is able to minimize contact time with the workpiece material, which reduces the probability of work hardening. The ADO-TRS is available from diameter 3 mm up to 20 mm, in processing depth of 3xD and 5xD, and is suitable for applications in carbon steels, alloy steels, mild steels, cast iron and hardened steels.
OSG’s ADO-TRS 3-flute carbide drill is being presetted at a Zoller tool presetter.
The competitor 2-flute drill was used at a cutting speed of 120 m/min (2,122 min-1) and a feed of 460 mm/min (0.22 mm/rev). The ADO-TRS 3-flute drill, in comparison, can run at more than three times the feed, at a cutting speed of 120 m/min (2,122 min-1) and a feed of 1,485 mm/min (0.7 mm/rev). Moreover, the tool life has more than doubled.
“For mass production, the ADO-TRS 3-flute carbide drill is a good choice, as it has tripled the previous drill’s feed rate and more than doubled the tool life,” said Sørensen. “It is a much more productive solution, so it pays to pay a little more for the tool solution,” Sørensen adds.
After drilling a total distance of more than 100 meters, the ADO-TRS drill is sent for reconditioning. Sørensen is particularly enthusiastic about the precision regrinding services that OSG offers, where users can have the regrinding done at OSG’s plant in Japan over and over, with the used carbide drill being able to maintain the same geometry and coating to ensure consistent optimal performance over time.
“In addition to a significant reduction in downtime, there is also a quality increase, which our customer has also noticed,” Sørensen emphasizes.
ECM Industries’ client is a foreign producer of windmills, who previously had the parts manufactured elsewhere. After ECM Industries became involved, the client noticed an increase in quality. In addition, due to the increase in productivity by the ADO-TRS drill, ECM Industries is also able to take in additional jobs, enabling the client to reduce the number of subcontractors. What started as three possible parts has so far grown to 12 different parts and sizes, each in a fairly large number of pieces. ECM Industries expects the number of jobs to further increase in the future.
From left, OSG Scandinavia sales engineer Morten Larsen and ECM Industries apprentice Asker Jaedicke Christiansen pose for a photograph at the ECM Industries production facility in Egtved, Denmark.
New tooling solution for enhancing productivity is highly crucial to ECM Industries. OSG Scandinavia is scheduled to provide ECM Industries with in-house training courses in drilling in fall 2021, which will involve cutting demos on one of ECM Industries’ machines.
“This will enable our employees to evaluate the tool and cutting condition on the spot, and learn to optimize the drilling process first-hand,” said Sørensen. “New innovations from OSG are important to us and we highly value our partnership,” said Sørensen.
For more information on OSG’s ADO-TRS 3-flute coolant-through carbide drill, OSG Scandinavia and ECM Industries
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