For the second time a leading producer of precision turned parts has installed a cleaning system manufactured by Firbimatic Spa, distributed and supported in the UK exclusively by Standard Industrial Cleaning Systems Ltd.

Muller England is one of Europe’s largest privately owned sub contract machinists with markets extending to the very highest technical applications including aerospace, defence, gas and hydraulics. Always at the forefront in embracing the latest technologies Muller has, for many years, been employing
Firbimatic turned parts cleaning technology at its facility in Cleobury Mortimer, Worcestershire.

Of course the doctrine of continuous improvement adopted by Muller requires that all aspects of a potential investment in turned parts cleaning are closely scrutinised before the all important decisions are made.

THE USE OF MODIFIED ALCOHOLS IN THE TURNED PARTS CLEANING

The rapid rise in the use of modified alcohols for high specification turned parts cleaning has been something that many leading manufacturers have not been able to ignore and when Muller decided to invest at their facility in South Wales it was only logical that this solvent species should be closely examined.

The demise of trichloroethylene  and the questions over alternatives has prompted many to consider the suitability of some products including expensive“designer” solvents which,whilst having favourable environmental and health and safety  attributes, are poor in solvency (with low Kauri Butanol values) and require the addition of other solvent species in order to offer an effective degreasing process.

Furthermore, such products are invariably utilised in “tank” type systems (albeit with improved cooling etc.) but the downside of massive ongoing consumable costs is often realised (and regretted) far too late.

Of course whilst perchloroethylene, being the “sister” solvent of trichloroethylene, is still very much a viable and effective alternative, its use in traditional tank systems (even with multiple lid arrangements) is considered to be a only a marginal improvement and such installations are redundant throughout the rest of Europe.

Perchloroethylene remains an excellent solution and, where chemistry demands, must be given full consideration when used in vacuum based hermetically sealed systems.

When Muller South Wales began to consider improving cleaning processes did not possess a vapour degreasing operation. This enabled managing director Stephen Lock to start with a clean sheet considering the best process for the facility with the emphasis being placed on the core business of producing high grade metal components playing to the strengths of the staff’s experience and abilities.

With many years experience of Firbimatic technology utilising perchloroethylene at the Cleobury Mortimer facility a repeat installation was clearly a viable option.

Stephen Lock commented “with repeatable high results and the robust process associated with hermetically sealed technology already proven, the only remaining question was the choice between perchloroethylene and modified alcohol Geiss RG63. ” Stephen continued “ with both solvents offering excellent degreasing, the guarantee of security with a sealed unit and closed loop solvent and waste delivery system, the final choice was simply the perceived advantage of the lower hazard classification of RG63”.