Dimac Tooling: Caring for your environment at Austech 2011

02 June 2011 – CNC Machine Tool Accessories specialist, Dimac Tooling, recently returned from Austech 2011 where the company exhibited a series of exciting products, focussing on productivity and the environment. Many enthusiastic visitors experienced Dimac Tooling’s vast range of products firsthand from 24 to 27 April 2011, while the grass-covered environment section of the impressive stand attracted the bulk of visitors.

“This year we generated a huge amount of qualified leads over the four days of the show,” comments Dimac Director Paul Fowler. “Enquiries are more than 30% up on the previous Melbourne show and visitors were in a positive frame of mind. The general vibe at Austech was very good!”

Under the motto “Caring for your environment”, Dimac presented its environment section, in response to the trends in the advanced manufacturing sector. Apart from concentrating on becoming more efficient and lean, shops increasingly install products and accessories that are not only environmentally friendly, but also help them save some bucks.

One of those products is the so called EMC “Water Eater”, a coolant evaporator. It comes at no surprise this product attracted a lot of attention during the show because it saves companies a great amount of money they currently spend on expensive coolant disposal services. “Especially hard hit are SMEs, since they frequently lack the space, the capital or the technical personnel to utilise the exotic recycling or treatment capabilities which larger companies have turned to,” Mr Fowler explains. “Used coolants are normally 97% water. If the water is removed, the amount requiring disposal would be reduced to a mere 3% of the original volume.”

The waste fluids are heated through the floor of the unit. At the same time, a power exhaust system continuously draws air across the surface of the heated liquid to speed evaporation and carry the water vapour out of the unit's stack. “The massive reduction in the volume of liquids requiring disposal not only slashes disposal costs, but also economises by reducing storage area requirements, labour and time for handling, and frequency of disposals,” Mr Fowler says.

Moreover, to deal with the huge amount of oil used and swarf produced during machining processes, Dimac showcased a range of coolant maintenance products, including the Zebra range of oil separation systems to skim up the surface oil coming from a machine’s lubrication system. The Zebra Oasis portable coalesce, for instance, extends the life of coolants and tooling and prevents shop mist or any health issues, while the very handy and affordable Zebra Oxygenator/Aerator also extends coolant life, but also eliminates foul odours by maintaining high oxygen levels in the tank.

“Keeping your coolant in a good condition can prolong the life of your coolant for up to three years,” Mr Fowler says. “As a result, machine shops can save costs while at the same time increasing productivity and part quality.”

Naturally, Dimac also had its wide range of fixtures, vises and chucks on display, including the expanded range of the new Kitagawa DH Series collet chucks and the Kitagawa rotary table, which comes in three different sizes and has a great torque capability, making it very rigid and accurate with heavier cuts.

Another crowd puller was the live demonstration of the rotary wiper spin window. “Retrofitting a rotary wiper spin window to a CNC lathe or machining centre can deliver great productivity benefits,” Mr Fowler explains. “Spin windows are an essential part of making quick setups as you can see quite clearly what is going on, even in such a harsh environment as that of high-pressure coolant.”

For more information please visit www.dimac.com.au.