High pressure coolant works

Allied Specialty Precision Inc., one of American Machinist’s Top 10 Shops for 2008, has used high pressure cooling for parts it machines since 2004.

It took the shop about 18 months of experiments and gaining experience to perfect the technique, but it kept at it.

The shop now uses a five-axis CNC machine to drill a 5-in. hole in Inconel for one part it makes.

By adding a high-pressure cooling unit to the machine, the shop now makes holes in 10 parts with one drill. Previously, the shop was using one drill to make one hole in one part.

In addition, the shop now drills that hole in about 28 min. Previously, it was drilling a hole in about 180 min. — 3 hrs.