Magnetic Filter drives efficiency on Gun Drilling machines | Eclipse Magnetics

Gundrilling and Precision Machining

Company Name: Mollart Engineering Ltd

Location: Chessington, Surrey

Eclipse Product Installed: Micromag MM20

Industry: Precision machining

Process Type: Gundrilling and general machining

Our Client

Mollart Engineering is a precision mechanical engineering business specialising in the design and manufacture of deep hole drilling machine tools, tooling, gundrills, deep hole boring and bore finishing. With headquarters, design and manufacturing operations in Chessington, Surrey, and a modern production facility in Resolven, South Wales, Mollart also has a high level of expertise as subcontract machinist and fabricator based on adding value to deep hole processing and general machining.As part of Mollart’s sub-contract machining of customer parts, the company has a PRB40 machine; an in-house gun drilling and general machining centre for work including drilling and milling. The PRB40 is capable of machining 40mm diameters in exotic materials down to 5mm, has a 120 litre pump and auxiliary pumps of 200+ litres. As the high pressure pump can cost up to £5000, prolonging its life and protecting it from damage is essential.

The Challenge

Even with a paper filter in place to go down to 20 microns, the amount of fine particulate produced by the machine would quickly settle on the bottom of the tank and impair the functioning of the pump once it had accumulated. Mollart were using strainer filters as a method of protection for the pump, but when they became thick with debris they quickly clogged. The build-up of debris required the pump to be washed manually, therefore causing down time. Not only was this method of protection ineffective, it was also time consuming.

The scavenge pump was in operation all the time, but Mollart needed to add in an effective means of removing the dust out of the oil before it had a chance to settle on the bottom of the clean tank.

The Solution

Mollart now employ a system that consists of 3 levels of filtration; a conveyor to take out the largest particles, a paper filter to go down to 20 microns , and a Micromag from Eclipse Magnetics to catch and collect the submicron particles. After the scavenge pump has been utilised, the oil passes through the Micromag, before reaching the heat exchanger in order to remove the particulate from the fluid and make the heat exchanger as efficient as possible in controlling the temperature of the fluid.

In this particular application, a single Micromag is fitted onto the machine to act as a polishing filter, which is in operation on a continuous basis. The Micromag basically acts as a clean-up filter that is employed after the base filtration methods have done their work, polishing the oil to a finer standard and removing submicron particles to achieve the highest levels of filtration.

The Micromag magnetic filter works by allowing contaminated fluid to enter the inlet port where it is dispersed by the unique tapered radial flow channels. As the fluid passes down the outside of the centrally mounted rare earth, high intensity magnetic core, it captures contamination particles along its length. The geometry of the magnetic flux circuit means that the contamination builds up in a controlled way. This ensures that the filter will not block, regardless of how much contamination it holds, as the channels remain open allowing the fluid to continue to flow freely through the unit.

     

Mollart clean the magnetic filter approximately every 4 to 6 weeks using the supplied cleaning tool, which is a quick and simple process. The magnetic particles can be removed from the filter and easily disposed of, with no dirty cartridges and no consumables. The device is not only compact; it has a clear bowl which allows machine operatives to see the level of contamination building up around the magnet and maintain an effective cleaning schedule to keep the process running at maximum efficiency.

Find out more about magnetic filtration or contact us for more details

"We were delighted with the service provided by Eclipse Magnetics; from the initial site survey through to delivery."

Adrian Seeley, Production Supervisor at AB MAURI UK & Ireland

"I cannot begin to tell you how much it has helped our operation, the magnetic filtration unit has been a real problem solver it has surpassed all our expectations. Its cured a 30 year plague!"

Maintenance Manager at EXL Tube (Steel Ventures)

"This technology is economical, reliable and efficient. I believe that magnetic filtration technology is the future."

John Smith, MMTCI

"Magnetic filtration has dramatically cleaned up our fluids and improved the surface finish we can offer. It extracts around 50Kg per day of ferrous waste."

Facilities Manager, Milacron Machines (Sub-Contract Machining)

"We chose Eclipse Magnetics to supply our housed grid because they are a respected and well-established brand. They offered us a very competitive price, and the process of ordering and installation was straightforward and reliable."

Pat Richards, Chief Engineer at Simpsons Malt

“We are delighted with the Automag installation; it’s solved all the problems we were having previously with downtime and maintenance costs. The filter means that we are able to use recycled water, which is saving us £1000 per week!”

Kenneth McRae, Principle Engineer at Vallourec

"Here at Qualflow, we base our business on a philosophy of make the product simple to use, reliable and cost-effective. Eclipse Magnetics’ neodymium magnets offer the strongest magnetic performance, and are nickel plated, making them a cost effective.."

Justin Lawler Ph.D. MBA, Chief Technology Officer at Qualflow Systems Ltd

"The Ultralift Plus magnetic lifter from Eclipse Magnetics is the perfect solution for the pick-up and transportation of the ultrasonic calibration blocks in our facility"

John Crossley, NDT Technology Lead at the Nuclear AMRC

"The result is an aesthetically pleasing system, which is effective in trapping metal contaminants and is easy to clean..."

Ian Aunger at Roquette