Due to the success of the operation, the customer has now ordered a second machine. Mollart’s sales director Ian Petitt said: “The enquiry initially came from the IMTS exhibition in Chicago last year with the order won because Mollart’s application team was able to double existing drill penetration rates the company had been using.”
Once the machine was built, Mollart’s application team then carried out further process development for the customer in conjunction with specialist tooling partner Botek. As a result, the penetration rates of the drills were increased from two to five times the original method used by the moulding company.
The series of cooling holes range in diameter between 4mm and 9mm by 400mm deep in each mould. These are now drilled at 600mm/minute feed rate. Mr Petitt added: “Even at these enhanced penetration rates, our developed process is holding the straightness of holes within 0.2mm which is critical in the mould as certain holes are very close to outer surfaces and other features.”
The knee-type Omnisprint deep hole drilling machine range has off-centre hole drilling capability with a drilling range between 2mm and 22mm diameter and up to 1,000mm in depth. Its flexible module design means it is available in one, two or four spindle versions with 3-, 4- or 5-axes.
In Mexico, the new machine is drilling four moulds per cycle which further increases the productivity levels achieved. Due to the inherent rigidity in the construction and power available, tool penetration rates and straightness of holes were able to be maintained with improved levels of tool life.
Mollart Engineering www.mollart.com
