Large, precise, reliable

The oil and gas industry has been in an ongoing crisis for several years, which is pushing prices for suppliers to the limits of economic viability. "Maintaining one's market position at a time when production of simple components is increasingly being moved to countries with lower labour costs means focussing on complex production processes which require comprehensive solutions," states Pavel Krpec, who appreciates the multifunctionality provided by the Millturn machine. When the project began, this wasn't the machine they actually had in mind.

Originally, the customer wanted a single vertical turning machine and a single horizontal turning machine. He was also thinking of a 5-axis machine for milling operations for the future. At the time, the WFL machine was available, which combined all current and future requirements.

It was not a good time for large investments, so it was not easy for V-NASS to convince its parent company. However, the system's parameters and the combination of functionality and performance proved to be a strong argument. Representatives from V-NASS took the opportunity to see the machine in operation at T-Machinery last year, where WFL had recently installed a medium-sized M80-G Millturn. "Seeing what a machine can do in practice is of course the best option for any engineer. We were able to do this here," says Krpec of the visit to Ratíškovicích which included a practical demonstration of the technology. 

THE BIGGEST IN THE REGION

It's worth noting that this machine was from stock, was fully retrofitted by manufacturer WFL Millturn Technologies and was equipped with an automatic U-axis at the customer's request. The U-axis enables face plates and D’Andrea heads to be applied for precision drilling and turning operations outside the axis. The company is adding to its machine park with a complex machining centre for turning, milling, drilling, counter boring and, thanks to special support, further special technologies such as five-axis-milling, shaping and deep hole drilling. Besides these benefits of the machine, also the exchange system for milling and other adapters using the prismatic tool interface is worth emphasising here.

At 16.5 metres long, the M150 Millturn machine is the second-largest model from Austrian manufacturer WFL in the CEE region. The machine can process workpieces up to 6.5 metres long, 1.5 metres in diameter and 15 tonnes in weight. This enables the company from Ostrava to offer bigger product lines and to take on more challenging machining projects. "Put simply, we can produce bigger and more complex parts with greater added value," summarises Krpec in regard to their plans for the future and explains why the machine enjoys a prominent position in production: "Our machine park didn't allow for production of large parts, but now that's changing. Together with our operators' skills, we are now able to produce technically challenging parts with complicated moulded parts, gear teeth and deep holes on a single machine."

FOCUS ON PRECISION

During the preliminary acceptance of the machine at the WFL Millturn Technologies manufacturing plant in Linz, a completeness check was carried out by machining a sample part and then carrying out deviation measurements. "The machine fulfilled both the geometric and all other requirements. The performance values are at the level of a new machine," summarises Ludačka, Managing Director of Ludačka Machine Tools s.r.o., in regard to the test results, adding some data from the performance log: "When machining the sample part, all exact deviations in size and position were in the range of 3-6 micrometres for the 36 measurements." The machine thus meets all expectations and underpins the value of retrofitted Millturn models.

There's not many used machines with this level of quality and technology. They rarely come onto the market and the systems are generally 20 to 25 years old. Which is why the manufacturer's strategic decision to now focus more on used machines is very welcome. “This allows us to offer customers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia an attractively priced, reliable machine with the full support of our service team and a manufacturer's guarantee, which sets us apart from dealers with used machines," explains Ludačka.

READY FOR NEW CHALLENGES

The size of the machine meant that part of the route had to be cleared for its 500 kilometre journey. Pavel Krpec has also already assigned the new machine its first task: "We have an interesting order from General Electric, which was a challenge for both our programmers and operators – as well as for the WFL teams, I believe." Zbyněk Ludačka is also pleased about the machining tasks that the machine is now fulfilling and believes that the client appreciates the complexity of the machining: "To put it very simply, now all the customer has to do is ensure that the workpiece fits in the machine. He can be sure that the machining quality will always be perfect."