Industrial finishing equipment manufacturer Guyson International has recently installed a ‘Kerry’ branded Microsolve 350 Co-Solvent cleaning system, along with a Guyson Multiblast® T50 Tumblebasket system, both manufactured at their north of England factory, into one of the largest independent spring manufacturers in the world.
Both Guyson machines have been installed to perform a dual function of providing higher levels of automation, whilst also improving product quality, during the production of compression springs. With the Microsolve 350 solvent cleaner used to remove mineral drawing oil from the formed springs before heat treatment, and then subsequent descaling in the T50 Tumbleblaster to produce an improved surface finish.
Degreasing the springs
Guyson’s ‘Kerry’ Microsolve 350 Co-Solvent cleaning system provides two ultrasonic cleaning stages, both with filtration, followed by vapour rinsing and freeboard drying.
In the first cleaning tank a mixture of HFE (hydrofluoroether) and a hydrocarbon solvating agent removes the mineral oil from the compression springs. Large quantities of dirt and oils can be taken up by the solvating agent, and this makes the process particularly suitable for heavy duty cleaning.
In stage two, pure HFE distillate removes any residues left on the springs carried over from the primary cleaning tank. Both heated cleaning tanks include base mounted ultrasonic transducers powered by a Guysonic generator, coupled with Primewave controller; this combination delivers both a very robust cleaning activity with a flexible power delivery. Cleaning is followed by rinsing in the vapour zone, above the tanks, and then a dwell in the freeboard zone to dry the springs.
All Guyson’s Microsolve’s attain the highest cleaning standards yet keep running costs low. Solvent retention features unique to the Microsolve range include: triple coil reflux cooling, vapour break, 150% freeboard and optional auto top-up and solvent monitoring. Full automation of the cleaning process is achieved through usage of an Autotrans Mk5 automated basket handling system, coupled with roller load and unload conveyors.
Autotrans usage also enables reduced running costs by controlling speed of basket entry and withdrawal from the vapour zone, thus reducing solvent drag-out and losses to atmosphere caused by disturbance of the vapour blanket, so assuring consistent, repeatable quality, reducing reject rates and increasing throughput. These combined features also mean that Microsolve systems are able to operate with low solvent usage and customers enjoy low, predictable running costs.
A range of safety enclosures, designed to suit machine positioning and operational flow through of products is provided with all Microsolve machines, ensuring that systems are safe to operate and fully comply with the highest environmental and safety legislation.
Finishing the springs
After processing the springs in the Microsolve 350 the springs are now clean of mineral drawing oil, so when they go through the subsequent heat treatment process there is less underlying scale on them than was previously the case. Now batch descaling in the Guyson T50 tumbleblaster is undertaken in less time than previously and less scale results in a better finish, reduced production time and less blast media usage.
The installed Guyson Multiblast T50 tumbleblast machine, has been modified from the standard version to increase the height of the cabinet, allowing a delivery shute mechanism to be installed underneath. Now when the machine has finished its batch descaling a whole batch of springs can be despatched directly out of the internal basket into a container underneath the machine via a shute that is clipped in place for the purpose, thus reducing manual handling.
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