Manufacturers supplying the automotive industry – and in particular the motorsport sector – must balance exacting quality requirement with increasingly stringent regulatory standards. Metalworking fluids from Hangsterfer’s Laboratories are one way they are meeting those demands.
Picture a machine shop that is free from dangerous chemicals and harsh odours, while also enjoying increased productivity and high levels of employee health & safety. Now imagine parts fresh off the machine with a finish that looks like they have been polished. One might wonder how this can be achieved. The answer is simple: Hangsterfer’s.
Since 1937 US-based company Hangsterfer’s Laboratories has been committed to producing high-performance metalworking lubricants that are environmentally friendly and operator-safe. Hangsterfer’s coolants are certified with the top international safety standards pertaining to hazardous substances and chemicals – REACH, RoHS, VOC and Globally Harmonised System (GHS) – and have additionally gained approval for use in industries such as medical, defence and aerospace.
GHS regulations require products to have the appropriate safety data sheets and pictograms for all hazardous materials. However, Hangsterfer’s coolants are free of hazardous ingredients and as such, do not require pictograms depicting any potentially harmful substances.
“The manufacturing industry has increasingly come under scrutiny by regulatory agencies around the world for the use of hazardous chemicals,” explains Edward Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Hangsterfer’s Laboratories. “Strict bans and regulations are growing, and many raw materials – including boric acid formaldehyde condensates, secondary amines, and hazardous forms of chlorine – may be made redundant.
“Many metalworking fluids using such chemicals will eventually face drastic formula changes, if not total elimination. Formulation changes in specialty coolants may render them redundant in certain applications that require such approvals as aerospace industry.”
The absence of harsh chemicals in its coolants does not mean Hangsterfer’s has had to compromise on performance. Quite the opposite. Its coolants still provide superior lubricity and consistently deliver extended tool life, as well as lower RA (Roughness Average) surface finishes. The latter factor is of particular importance to those manufacturing parts for the automotive and motorsport industries where aesthetics holds equal importance to part-functionality.
Among those who can attest to this are the teams at NSW businesses Concept Machine Works, Custom Plenum Creations, and MSC Products Australia, who manufacture aftermarket parts for the automotive and motorsport industries.
Concept Machine Works – Streamlining processes
For smaller business owners such as Brenton Sgro, owner-operator of Concept Machine Works, the quality of the product can make or break a business. Although the Laverton-based machine shop recently celebrated its second year in business, Sgro won’t rest on his laurels.
“You have to be the best you can be, otherwise you’d have to shut up shop,” he explains. “It’s what you do to survive. People are spending a lot of money on these products, so they want it to look good. No one wants to put something subpar in pride of place.”
Although you will often see parts for motorcycles, such as Royal Enfield and Harley-Davidson, being created at Concept Machine Works, this is not all they produce, making their choice of coolant all the more important. As Hangsterfer’s 5080 semi-synthetic coolant is approved for both aerospace and medical applications, Concept Machine Works is able to run the same coolant for all their products, including medical prototypes.
When asked how switching to Hangsterfer’s 5080 semi-synthetic coolant has aided the production process, Sgro notes it has helped streamline the process and extended tool life. However, it was the finish that first impressed him the most.
“The first thing I noticed when I switched to Hangsterfer’s was the finish, especially on aluminium,” says Sgro. “I’ve had people ask where I get the parts polished when it’s just been finished straight off the machine.”
Sgro goes on to describe his experience using Hangsterfer’s 5080 semi-synthetic coolant while face milling: “It left a mirror finish and you could see rainbows from the light reflecting off it. It was amazing.”
While Sgro goes to lengths to make sure his products are dimensionally accurate, he has garnered plenty of attention based on the appearance of his products, even receiving international interest.
“Having people in other countries recognise the quality and the finish of them, and then asking me to quote jobs for them,” Sgro adds. “It’s a surreal feeling.”
Custom Plenum Creations – Time to shine
Another machinist who sets a high personal benchmark for quality is Ariel Banco, Director of Wollongong-based Custom Plenum Creations, which primarily manufactures billet intake manifolds and carbon-fibre plenums. When switching to Hangsterfer’s, Banco also noticed an increase in tool life but saw instant results in the finish, which is paramount when machining parts for the automotive industry.
“People think that if it looks good, it must be good,” says Banco. “The customers we do work for are competing to stand out and they want something shinier than the rest, and they want it to be better than the last thing they saw. We’re always pushing the standards because this industry relies a lot on how things look.”
MSC Products Australia – Increased productivity
The emphasis on the appearance of a product is also echoed by Vaughan Cumming, Director of MSC Products Australia. As Cumming puts it, “The eye eats first.”
Located in Mangrove Mountain on NSW’s Central Coast, MSC Products Australia makes CNC-machined parts for dirt, adventure, and road bikes, specialising in steering dampers. Unlike Sgro and Banco, Cumming was actively seeking to change coolant.
“Supply was the main reason for switching coolant,” he explains. “Running five machines, we needed a reliable supply.”
In addition to source reliability, the team at MSC Products Australia found there were more advantages to using Hangsterfer’s, including increased productivity.
“Before switching coolants, we were also having issues with drilling and tapping M4 threads in aluminium,” Cumming recalls. “We were often breaking taps randomly; it was totally unpredictable. Our only solution was to coat the tap in oil and hope for the best.
“After we switched to Hangsterfer’s the problem was solved, which when you’re making 120 holes per hour, makes a huge difference.”
The improvements continued for the team, who do all their anodising on site.
“Hangsterfer’s 5040 doesn’t leave a film all over everything, so we can run the machine into the night and leave it sitting for 10 hours after finishing,” says Cumming. “It still washes off super easily and we don’t have to hit it with a degreaser.
“We haven’t had any issues with Hangsterfer’s. No rust problems; we’ve reduced man-hours, and we can achieve a good finish more quickly.”
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Livetools – Making the connections
Their profession is not the only thing that links Sgro, Banco and Cumming. When asked how they came to make the switch to Hangsterfer’s coolant, the universal response was, ‘Arthur’.
As the Director of Livetools, Arthur Alexiou has been the driving force behind these customers trialling Hangsterfer’s coolant in their machines, but it was ultimately the results it provided that converted them.
“These guys were already using top-of-the-line coolants, and for all intents and purposes weren’t having the major dramas you’d expect someone would have in order to switch,” Alexiou explains. “As anyone who’s ever been through the process will tell you, it’s a massive undertaking to swap out your coolant. It’s time-consuming and not fun, but it’s worth the effort when you’re getting incredible results without the hazards.
“And it’s not just limited to the automotive and motorsport industries,” Alexiou adds. “We’ve seen customers who specialise in a host of different industries have exactly the same response when they switch to Hangsterfer’s.”
Hangsterfer’s Australian line-up, distributed by Livetools from its base in Carrington, NSW, offers a wide range of metalworking fluids for a range of manufacturing sectors and operations – foremost being automotive, aerospace, medical and machine shops.
In a world where quality is paramount, the need for high-performance lubricants no longer means operator health and environmental sustainability need to be compromised. Hangsterfer’s top-of-the-line coolants deliver proven superior performance while allowing manufacturers to make smart strategic decisions, future-proofing their coolant, and delivering on improved health & safety for employees.