Oil & gas component producers are demanding increased productivity and goods output while maintaining a high degree of quality, reliability and safety in the manufacturing process with a low rate of reject parts. To meet these requirements, Iscar has developed a wide range of innovative tooling solutions that are designed to simplify production, reduce costs and maximise productivity in this challenging sector.
The oil & gas industry has suffered considerably over the past years, due to the global economic crisis that left the major manufacturing players – in both the upstream and downstream sectors – having to meet low market requirements for new reserves, while making severe cuts to their workforce, machinery output and further development.
A positive shift in 2017 set new demands from well-known offshore deep-water oil & gas exploration companies for rig components such as pressure heads and valves, Xmas-tree and wellhead valves, and manifolds. Components of these kinds are all made from or with nickel base exotic materials that can resist extreme conditions such as high-low temperatures, high pressure, and most if not all abrasion and corrosion side-effects.
Parting off Jet-Cut technology
The Jet-Cut line provides advanced cut-off machining technology for welded and seamless steel pipes at the OCTG (Oil Country Tubular Goods) industry. Jet-Cut is utilised for grooving and parting operations, applying high-pressure coolant directly to the insert cutting edge. The Jet-Cut high-pressure coolant nozzle outlet is pin-pointed to the cutting zone, to extend insert edge life and eliminate built-up edge while cutting heat resistant alloys as well as stainless steels. In addition to improving chip control at higher cutting speed rate, the self-clamping parting off system reduces setup and machine downtime with favorable improvement in machining time.
Whisperline – Anti-vibration boring bars with exchangeable heads
Iscar’s Whisperline anti-vibration boring bars were designed to significantly reduce and even eliminate chattering – vibrations – when working with extended overhangs in turning, boring and grooving operations with length ratios of seven to 14 times diameter.
The anti-vibration boring bar system integrates with several types of indexable head configurations, with a “live” inner dampening mechanism that can be applied on standard lathes, vertical turret lathes (VTLs) and multi-tasking mill-turn or turn-mill machines for large-scale parts including manifolds, valves, and wellhead, coupling and tubing components.
The use of Whisperline anti-vibration tools considerably improves machining stability and enhances insert tool life. These factors enable increased productivity and improved surface quality, while using pin-pointed internal coolant technology at the insert’s cutting edge, with improved chip control and edge life for high-quality finishing operations.
SumoCham ICG chip-splitting drilling heads
Key factors for successful drilling operations involve a combination of drill body design, optimised cutting-edge geometry and the use of appropriate grades for the selective material being machined, while taking into consideration external environmental conditions and limitations. Iscar’s comprehensive range of hole making tools represents a complete line solution from the smallest drill size up to the largest deep drilling or reaming operations used on components, like valve bodies, valve blocks, fluid ends, rock bits heads and heat exchanger plates.
SumoCham ICG geometry is mostly recommended for deep drilling operations when chip evacuation represents a problematic issue that needs to be solved. The drilling heads are designed with a chip splitting notch technology to create short and narrow chip segments of chips, which can easily be extracted out of the hole through the drill spiral flute and the use of internal coolant.
The ICG drilling heads can be mounted on any SumoCham standard drill body with the appropriate pocket size, at diameters range from 14mm to 25.9mm, ensuring IT9-IT10 hole tolerance. ICG Sumo heads are made with nano-coated grade, featuring high wear resistance and hole surface quality and accuracy in steels, stainless steel and high nickel base materials.
Tang4Feed for high feed milling
Producers of oil & gas exploration equipment such as frac pump fluid ends used in hydraulic fracturing procedures, blow-out preventers (BOPs) and valve blocks, have shown great interest in the high-feed milling solutions offered by Iscar.
The latest addition to a wide range of feed mill technologies, Tang4Feed is a family of high-feed shell mill cutters carrying tangentially clamped rhombic inserts with four cutting edges. Tang4Feed cutters are designed for milling rough/semi-finish and sculptured surfaces, in diameters ranging from 40mm to 100mm, with up to 1.5mm depth of cut. These unique features provide a good ramp-down and side-plunging capability with excellent chip flow, and a high metal removal rate due to a small entrance angle that enables high table feed at shallow depth of cut with materials that are machined on oil & gas exploration equipment.
Customised tooling for seal ring grooves
The most common operations on valve bodies, valve blocks, valve seats and bolt holes, fluid ends and manifolds are seal ring grooves, which are typically produced on challenging materials such as duplex, stainless steels and Inconel-based components.
Seal-ring grooves are an example of a component featuring precise dimensions and high-quality surface finish. The sealing areas in American Petroleum Institute (API) threads are comparatively small with limited contact areas that need to hold the required sealing pressure. Secure and stable machining is essential to ensure a smooth, flexible and efficient process; Iscar has responded to this need by developing tailor-made seal ring grooves for different profiles that meet the required tight tolerances and surface finishes.
The oil & gas market faces many challenges from the producers, the consumable market and the pursuit of a greener environment. To withstand the unknown variables that affect the global oil & gas market, Iscar works closely with its leading oil & gas customers to continue to develop innovative, efficient, productive and cost-effective solutions.