When Thatcham-based
Procut needed to resolve a
bottleneck in its production
process that delayed cut steel
blanks from being delivered
to customers, Surface
Technology Products
provided a solution.

Procut won a long term
order for 2000 blanks per
month and, although its four
oxy-propane CNC profiling
machines could meet
demand, the hard slag that
remained on the blanks as a
result of the cutting process
was difficult to eradicate. A
friction deburring machine
from Surtech enables Procut
to process components at a
rate similar to the cutting
cycle, eliminating bottlenecks.

Chris Brown, general
manager, says: “Our processes
have always created a limited
bottleneck that was
manageable. However, our
increased business levels
highlighted the issue and we
had to invest in new plant.

The friction deburrer and
linisher from Surtech will pay
for themselves in 18 months.

“Prior to the arrival of our
new plant, we would have
one man working with a
chisel and hammer and
another using a handheld
grinder. To give a perspective
of the manual labour
involved, we process up to
130t of steel each month.”
The friction deburrer is
fully enclosed with in-built
extraction unit. Respiratory
issues have been eradicated.

It can be loaded with up to
800kg of parts per cycle.

Each cycle takes up to 30min;
parts are then removed and,
if required by the customer,
processed on the new belt
linishing machine.