Case Studies
Applying Counterbores to a Wind Mill Blade Hub
Challenge:
This customer in the energy industry became aware of HEULE products at a major trade show. In the course of the following discussion he explained the details of his application. Soon was it obvious that the present process using a manually pluggable back spot facer offered some optimization potential.
Application details:
- Production volume: 1 to 2 hubs per week (198 counterbores/hub)
- Bore diameter: Ø39.0 mm
- Diameter back counterbore: Ø75.0 mm
- Counterbore depth: up to 15.0 mm (interrupted cut due to casting variance)
- Material: Cast iron
- Machine: large vertical boring mill
Solution:
Due to the large bore diameter and the diameter of the back counterbore, HEULE's GH-E tool was used. The GH-E tool traverses the bore from the front, extends the blade and then applies the counterbore. It retracts the blade into the bladehousing again and moves out of the bore.
Tool: GH-E 50
Blade: Indexable insert
Machining parameters:
- Speed: 390 rev/min
- Feed: 0.1 mm/rev
Results:
The customer saves over 12 hours per part over the previous operation.
Interested in a GH-E tool? Visit the GH-E product page for more info.
Need help selecting a tool? Visit our online Tool Selector and go to the Locate Agent page on our website to find your local technical sales representative. For more assistance, contact us at info@heuletool.com or 513-860-9900 and we'll be happy to point you in the right direction.