Swarf Centrifugal System Upgrade

Recovering and re-using the cutting oil from the turning operations on our Automatic Lathes is one of the many ways Guy-Raymond limits it’s impact on the environment.

As part of a program of improvements in the Auto Turning department it was decided to look at replacing our old swarf processing system for a more modern and reliable system.

The old system, installed in the mid 1970s was suffering increased downtime and invasive repairs so having spun swarf for the best part of 50 years the time had come for it to be retired off.

After investigating a number of different options we decided to proceed with an system manufactured by the Italian company FAMA, installed and commissioned by J&S Engineering from Cheltenham.

The removal of the old system proved challenging and the skills of a specialist machine removal firm was required. A particular highlight was discovering a machine mount we had expected to “just unbolt” was in fact back filled with reinforced concrete and buried a foot into the floor- big toys and a late night were necessary!

Installation of the new system also posed some challenges due to the size and scale of the system. The main system came in on a machine bed that was very snug fit through the door and the elevator had to be lifted upright once inside the building.

The new system has a number of features compared to the old system including fully automatic operation, swarf shredder, bar end / component separation mechanism, oil settling / sludge removal tank and a magnetic filter.

The benefit of these features is that we are reclaiming around 30% more oil and the reclaimed oil is significantly cleaner than what was previously reclaimed. The improved quality of the oil will help with the longevity of the lathes and the increased reclamation reduces spending on replacement oil.

The new system recently featured on the Front cover of Production Engineering Solutions Magazine May 2023