Cutting a clean profile

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.