Steel press machine

In the field of stainless steel machining, the customer produces for various industrial sectors such as measuring and control technology. The steel chips which accrue in the continuous 3-shift operation are reduced to small pieces directly at the processing machine and briquetted at once. This way, the different alloys can be cleanly separated, in order to achieve the highest possible marketing revenue. In addition, pressed out cooling lubricants are directly returned to the cooling lubricant circuit of the processing machine and chip logistics is significantly minimized right at the point of chip accrual. The customer now uses 18 individual RUF briquetting systems. The first one has already been in operation since 2009 and still impresses with its high uptime.

Christ & Heiri produce fine gearing parts of the highest precision. In this process, brass as well as steel alloys are processed. In the past, centrifuges and also competitor briquetting systems were used for chip processing. Two RUF systems replaced these in 2018, one for briquetting brass chips, the other one is used for steel chips. The machines convince with their low space requirements, high oil recovery rates and reliable operation combined with locally provided high-quality service.

With now two briquetting systems Lauble GmbH is enormously simplifying the handling of steel chips which accrue during the production of precision-turned parts. By switching from centrifuging to pressing, space is saved, large skip containers are not needed and at the same time forklift traffic is reduced considerably. The steel chips which are compacted into briquettes are largely dry, because pressing the chips reduces the amount of adhering cutting oil from 10-15 to three percent. The pressed out cutting oil is treated in order to be reused in the company's turning centres.

At the production plant the time needed in every shift to handle loose chips with about 16 chip trolleys was exactly analysed. It was very long. Briquetting significantly reduces the effort required for chip logistics. This is achieved with a machine equipped with a lift and tilt device and a slat-band chain conveyor for discharging the briquettes into a container. Thus 100-120 tons of steel chips per month are processed automatically, saving 60 man-hours monthly (which were previously needed for internal chip logistics). Furthermore, an additional revenue of 10 EUR per ton of briquettes is achieved. In order to prevent premature wear, high quality wear parts are used. Since its commissioning 2.5 years ago, the plant has run for about 7,000 hours.