December 2007 Edition
CUTTING TOOLS
Greasing the Skids for Oil Exploration Production
An oil-industry supplier was wasting time and not meeting its speed or material-removal roughing demands until it found the right insert
ReedHycalog, a company producing oil exploration equipment, sought improvements that would speed its roughing capabilities as well as provide less work for its finishing operations. It found the Feedmill from Iscar Metals solved these problems.
As the cost of oil rises, there's been a boom in almost all aspects of energy exploration. Accompanying that rise has been an increase in machining the equipment used in that industry. Not only has demand for machining petroleum-related equipment grown, but customers are demanding faster delivery and shorter lead times.
ReedHycalog, with locations in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and around the world, is a major player in oil exploration products such as drilling bits, hole openers, and roller cones. But, it needed the right cutting tools for extended tool life, faster roughing, and greater stock removal.
While the company's roughing operations removed large amounts of stock, there was still more stock left for the finishing tools to remove. With extra work left for the finishing operations to handle, production wasn't meeting projected targets and cycle times were too long. The company needed a tool that would speed roughing while removing as much stock as possible, so finishing tools would not have to plow through as much steel.
High Hopes
The particular project ReedHycalog hoped to improve was a part that required more than 184 minutes of roughing time. Not only was a lot of time involved in the process, but it consumed more resources than expected.
The first production run attempted involved spending hours, and in some cases days, roughing out large pieces of iron with standard end mills. Originally, a 1" end mill was used for the roughing process. The end mill lasted, on average, about 30 minutes per rotation; far below what ReedHycalog needed.
The project required roughing a piece 7.875"×17.50" in diameter, but the end mill had a large corner radius.
The company looked for a tool to suit its needs and turned to Greg White, of Iscar Metals Inc., Arlington, TX. White suggested the indexable carbide Feedmill for testing. The tool has a trigon shaped insert specially designed for fast metal removal.
White told ReedHycalog that the tool offered a combination of minimal setup time, increased tool life, and the ability to run at high feeds for roughing projects.
The oil exploration manufacturer tried a 1" Feedmill using IC928 grade inserts. With the tool, it achieved a 500 sfm 0.030" depth of cut, at a feed rate of 157 ipm. Also, tool insert life was four times greater, increasing from the 30 minutes the company had experienced with a different insert to at least 90 minutes of rotation per tool.
The Feedmill family of tools uses a trigon-shaped insert that lets it carry up to a 0.138"-per-tooth load. The trigon shape has a large radius, cutting edge configuration, letting the tool run at high feeds while carrying a large amount per tooth.
The “trigon” shape of the Feedmill insert provides cutting advantages required by ReedHycalog, an oil exploration equipment company
The insert is designed with a cylinder on the bottom that is seated in a matching hole in the pocket, letting the inserts bear higher cutting forces for higher feedrates.
Rigidity
The design provides rigid clamping of the insert and helps relieve stresses placed on the clamping screw. The cutting forces are directed axially toward the spindle helping to provide stability even when machining with a long overhang.
Deep cavity milling is possible when the Feedmill is used with long-reach tapered shanks designed for fast feed tools in deep applications. These shanks allow for increased stability and improved chip evacuation.
This setup let ReedHycalog increase productivity roughing efficiency. The insert reduced roughing cycle time from 184 to 131 minutes with the Feedmill, a savings of 42 percent.
James Wallace, a ReedHycalog programmer, said he was able to run two parts and not change the inserts, meeting the company's production demands. Iscar Metals Inc.
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