West Midlands-based A&M EDM Ltd, an engineering solutions company, is always striving to enhance its operations and capabilities to maximise its service to customers in the aerospace, motorsport, automotive, marine, medical, rail, defence and general sub-contract sectors.

To achieve this, the company has invested in technology from three-, four- and five-axis machine tools, EDM wire and spark erosion and laser welding through to temperature-controlled metrology department.

When the company felt that it wasn’t getting the best out of its machine tools and cutting tools, it made the decison to call in MSC Industrial Supply Co UK (MSC) to instigate a change of cutting fluid supply — the result was a new relationship with the cutting fluid experts at www.rocol.com Rocol which is based in Leeds.

Playing a proud role in the Ventilator Challenge and having more than 57 CNC machines on the shopfloor as well as a host of accreditations and accolades, A&M EDM turned to MSC to deliver best practice engineering support. This involves frequent on-site visits by MSC engineers to the manufacturer’s base in Smethwick to proactively identify ways to help the company optimise its processes.

Like many sub-contract manufacturers, A&M EDM machines a variety of materials that include stainless steel, mild steel, aluminium, inconel, titanium and exotics with a variety of production demands from bespoke one-offs and short runs through to longer run batches.

This variety of materials poses a challenge for any cutting fluid supplier, but Rocol recommended its Ultrcut EVO 255 metal-working coolant, an extreme pressure (EP) soluble oil-water mix cutting fluid that replaced the previous coolant.

Rocol and MSC recommended this product as it is not only versatile and suitable for a wide variety of machining applications and materials, but it also delivers a significant saving in the volume of coolant required.

Gary Surman from A&M EDM said: “We had three fundamental issues. Firstly, we had operators that were complaining about irritated skin. There was also a smell in the workshop. Thirdly, our tool life seemed to be diminishing relatively quickly.”

“We are delighted that MSC and Rocol have come in and analysed our coolant consumption and recommended a solution that will reduce this to half the amount we were using previously.

“They invested time in understanding what our objectives were and demonstrated a commitment and determination to help us achieve them. We look forward to an ongoing relationship where MSC and Rocol will continue to assess and benchmark our machines regularly, helping us to achieve further efficiency and productivity gains.”

Rocol analysed A&M EDM’s coolant consumption, accounting for the materials and applications while taking samples from active machining operations. The tests at Rocol’s laboratory delivered a comprehensive report on the current fluid product, with details such as the wear ratio, dilution and consumption.

The analysis concluded that coolant usage was much higher than it should be and that A&M EDM needed a versatile, high-performance coolant that would deliver consistent usage and quality results on a range of different materials.

Mr Surman continued: “Once we got the product into the machines, we had no further concerns about skin irritation, the smell had dissipated and we also noticed that our tool life improved. We can only put that down to the EP (extreme pressure) additive that is in the coolant, this gave us that tool life improvement.”

Excellent cutting performance
The Rocol Ultracut EVO range of operator-friendly water-soluble cutting fluids are inherently resistant to degradation and contain no biocides or skin sensitisers and this makes the fluids pleasant and safe to use. These attributes demonstrate low foaming qualities and reject tramp oil as well to provide excellent cutting performance and residual corrosion protection.

Mr Surman added: “Our operators have had no noticeable effect on their hands where they were getting skin irritation before. Even looking inside the machines, they are much cleaner than they were before and we can only put that down to the old coolant congealing and sticking to the walls and surfaces of the machine.”

The analysis showed that with the Rocol Ultracut EVO 255 solution dilution levels improved from 19:1 to 40:1, halving A&M EDM’s consumption from 41,000 litres to 20,048 litres per annum.

Mr Surman continued: “We used to buy around 10 intermediate bulk containers (IBC) every year and we are now down to five. We are spending around £17,000 a year less on coolant. However, it is not just the cost of coolant we are measuring here.

“There has been a significant drop in the costs and purchasing of our cutting tools, which we can only put down to the cutting fluid and EP additives that are allowing the cutting tools to last longer.

“We have found that our tool life has significantly improved. I can confidently say that, as we have had a 40% reduction in our tooling spend where roughing operations were being carried out.”

Referring to the waste management of cutting fluid, Mr Surman says: “When the suds kept going-off, we had to dispose of it under our ISO:14001 environmental standard. Now, we are no longer disposing of 10 to 15,000 litres a year due to coolant that has perished.”

Discussing the service, the company has received from MSC and Rocol, Mr Surman said: “Initially when we were doing the changeover, Rocol engineers were here every day monitoring and checking vigorously and now, with the coolant fully implemented, this has been extended to a visit once a month. They come around and do all the checks, all the reports and all the laboratory testing. If we have a problem, Rocol is only a telephone call away and they will pop-in on the same afternoon or the following day. It is perfect.

“Moreover, the ease of changeover from the previous cutting fluid to Rocol was simple. Rocol did all of the laboratory work in the background. They came in investigated our work and found a product that was compatible with the materials and jobs we were machining, so we were able to mix. We didn’t need to empty the sumps, we just added it to what was already there, and over some time we are now fully EVO 255 compliant.”

Ultracut EVO 255 is formulated to give a long and predictable sump life and provides extra performance in medium and severe cutting operations on a wide variety of ferrous and non-ferrous materials.

This has proven ideal for the sub-contract manufacturer. In addition to providing the coolant solution, MSC works with Rocol to deliver specialist and ongoing maintenance and support to A&M EDM, which covers a range of services and periodic analysis to further reduce fluid consumption, extend tool life and reduce downtime.

This will help A&M EDM ensure the product continues to perform to its optimum level, no matter what materials are machined.