“We needed extra turning capacity to meet a rise in demand so I began to look at suitable machines,” he continues. “I wanted a long-bed machine as many of our components are of extreme length, so this narrowed the field to a few potential suppliers".
“I selected the Hankook Protec 9NC for three principal reasons: I liked the look of the machine and was impressed with its build quality; I liked its level of user-friendliness; and I liked its price.” The Hankook is now producing a variety of components for Oiltools, including oilfield accessories such as casing hangers, tubing hangers and cementing swages. The diameters of these premium connectors range from 100 mm upwards and 30-off is a large batch.
“Most of the time the machine is deployed on complex threading tasks,” explains Alan Ledingham. “The premium threads we produce demand very, very high tolerances, so much so that only licensed companies are permitted to manufacture these features.”
Oiltools maintains close working relationships with its OEM customers and is proud to have been awarded premium thread licenses from API, Vallourec, Tenaris, JFE, NSCT, Hydril and Hunting. All products manufactured by Oiltools are genuine threadings and traceable to the original material mill test report, which ensures product integrity.
“One of the advantages of the Hankook is that it features a steady rest facility,” he continues, “which helps us achieve high levels of accuracy. None of our other machines have this.”
The Protec 9NC lathe is based on a double-walled and ribbed one-piece meehanite cast iron bed with induction hardened and ground precision slideways for maximum stability and accuracy. The large spindle bore (up to 254 mm) twin chuck 9NC has a 950 mm swing over bed, 630 mm over carriage and 4,000 mm between centres (options up to 8,000 mm available). It features a Fanuc 21i-T CNC, which offers semi-CNC manual guidance and teach facility.
Even though some urgent requirements can be met within 24 hours if required, quality assurance is an essential ingredient to Oiltools’ success. The company maintains a stringent QA/QC programme and was the first company in its area to be approved to ISO 9002-1994.
“One of the principles of good management embedded in this accreditation is criteria for good workmanship,” says Alan Ledingham, “so whatever machine we bought had high expectations to fulfil. I’m pleased to report that the Hankook has more than satisfied these demands.”
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