Castrol lands Messier-Dowty coolant contract

Castrol lands Messier-Dowty coolant contract

Keywords: Castrol, Coolants

Messier-Dowty Limited, a world leader in aircraft landing gear (see Plate 5),has converted more than a hundred machine tools to new Castrol Hysol XF after initial trials resulted in a doubling of coolant life and a significant reduction in waste disposal costs.

Gloucester-based Messier-Dowty Limited has three machine shops and more than 120 machines and operators devoted to the production of landing gear for commercial and military aircraft – including the latest Airbus and the European Fighter Aircraft.

The machines – a mix of large NC/CNCs and conventional machines –are used to produce a range of components in ultra high tensile steels,aluminium alloys, phosphor bronze and titanium.

 Plate 5 Messier-Dowty’s landing gear on the Airbus A340

Messier-Dowty’s Manufacturing Engineering team commented: “We had been using a well-known coolant brand for about 15 years but in the last few years were experiencing poor sump life, due mainly to the emulsification of tramp oils. As well as the cost and inconvenience of having to clean sumps and change the coolant every 5 weeks, there was also the high cost of treating and disposing of the sump waste.”

“Operators also complained about the smell and had some concerns with slide oil causing slippery floors.”

Castrol recommended its new Hysol XF and Messier-Dowty agreed to a trial in three NC machines, which Messier-Dowty admits were three of the most problematic in the machine shop.

They explain: “These machines were three of the most difficult in the shop, so this was a really tough test for Castrol and the new fluid, and both performed beyond our expectations.”

Within 10 weeks of changing to Hysol XF there was no sign that the coolant in the trial machines needed changing and Messier-Dowty were sufficiently impressed to extend its use to the general machines in all three machine shops. The company is now realising significant savings on coolant usage and waste disposal costs. And machines are cleaner, operators are happier and the working environment is much improved.

For further information, contact Cliff Thrussell, Castrol (UK) Ltd, Wakefield House, Pipers Way, Swindon, SN3 IRE, UK. Tel: +44 1793 452356; Fax: +44 1793 486083; E-mail: thrussc@castrol.com;Web site: www.castrol.com