We build to tolerance
Peter A. Oglevie | TLT Shop Floor August 2011
Know your abilities, measure your progress, and play it safe with your metalworking fluids.
Wandering outside of tolerances with your lubricant additive can compromise its effectiveness and lead to microbacterial issues.
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We build to tolerance. Just ask my daughter.
This summer we are putting the finishing touches on our backyard based on a design I drew up two years ago. We have set rules for the work we do. These rules include two major points that carried over from my days in the field working with metalworking fluids.
The first rule is simple. The work to be performed must be within our abilities. We do not attempt work we are not capable of.
The second rule is only slightly more complicated. We build within our tolerances as measured by the instruments we have available.
How does this relate to MWF additives?
The first rule is to work within our abilities. When I designed the yard, I took into account the tools I had (level, laser, saws, drills, etc.) and my limited carpentry skills. The design is simple yet elegant and within our ability.
On the shop floor we get into trouble when we forget to work within our abilities or do not fully understand them. An example of this is when a new product comes out of the laboratory with glowing reviews from the performance test run in the lab. We have an idea as to what it will do, and we may have an idea as to how it relates in performance against the previous product, but we do not know. We have to field test the product to discover its abilities.
On the shop floor I used the information given to me by the laboratory to set starting points for a test. I never want to fail, so I tend to start at the high end of the concentration levels then cut back as the test progresses. For example, if the old product worked at 10% and the new product is supposed to have better performance, I would start at 10%. Then, as the test progressed, I would start cutting the concentration as measured by a refractometer.
During the planning phase for a test, I do a cost analysis to find what point the product has to run to be cost effective. If the new product is $1 a gallon more for the concentrate than the old product, then we would have to run at 8% vs. 10% to be cost effective. If my goal for a test was to save money on just the lubricant, I would be running the test reaching at least an 89% mixture.
Very seldom is the price of a MWF—the only determining factor in its selection. Other factors that work into any test are tool life, process compatibility, rust protection and safety. Adjustments made in the laboratory that improve any of these areas can easily overcome price considerations. So in your planning phase, make sure to get all the information regarding these areas as well.
That leads to the second rule: We measure our progress and control against our tolerances. My daughter and I identified our starting point and used the level to keep our pergola and fence leveled.
On the shop floor when a test is complete and a product goes into operation, it must be controlled at the levels that are successful. For this we have to provide a means simple enough for shop floor operators to use.
For instance, to control concentration use a refractometer or a titration kit. I prefer the refractometer because there is less room for miscounting drop or misreading color changes. Along with the refractometer, a simple chart to record the high and low concentration tolerances levels for each shift gives us a simple means for controlling the MWF.
In the yard or shop floor, we have to work within our abilities and set tolerances. In my yard, my daughter and I worked to a tolerance of a quarter to half an inch. Where we missed our tolerance, we made extra work for ourselves in the form of measurements to feather in discrepancies.
On the shop floor, matters are equally serious. If we wander outside our additive tolerances for rust protection, performance or biological control may become ineffective.
Follow these two rules and make life easy for yourself.
Pete Oglevie is president of International Production Technologies in Port Washington, Wis. You can reach him at poglevie@wi.rr.com.