Machine Tool Servicing

Engineering a competitive advantage is a vital component of successful machining industries. The key to advancing your enterprise: have reliable machine tools working for you, 24/7. This can often be achieved simply by optimising applications. With Skok servicing plans, application engineering and our highly trained service engineers, we partner with you to ensure that your machine tools stay in optimal condition for precision and repeatability. By streamlining your machine tool maintenance, you reduce unplanned downtime and improve cost savings dramatically. 

Machine Tool Servicing & Competitive Engineering

Unique challenges come standard with CNC machining. Without the right base and tools, anything produced might become a reworking nightmare, costing time and ultimately profits.

Machine tools are comprised of a large mechanical section. Making sure that the mechanical components receive regular servicing is the only sure way to best protect the longevity of your capital equipment investments for years to come. 

How can you ensure you’re getting the maximum return on investment for your machine tools, year after year? Here are Six Machining Must Do’s that we highly recommend. 

1. Schedule regular machine-tool servicing

Preventative maintenance is key to ensuring that you don’t get hit with an unforeseen mechanical, electric or CNC-control issue and unexpected downtime. Unforeseen breakdowns can cause major harm, as well extra machine tool repair costs to get them back up and running, just as the extra costs of slowed or stopped production begin to mount. Then there are component costs, elements that need repairing or replacement—most often at short notice. Add to this the hefty cost of requiring service engineers to work long after work hours to repair major machines. 

Losing the ability to turn your spindle or cut metal will cost you profits. Worse yet, it can cost you clients. Planned, preventive downtime—arranging a diagnostic quotation from the service engineer and replacing all the required parts—means that your machine can be efficiently serviced and back up and running without losing valuable machining time due to unplanned stoppages.

2. Keep your machine tool clean

Scheduling the correct cleaning of your machine tool is a simple way of ensuring that rust or unnecessary wear of mechanical components do not manifest into larger problems. Ensure that all the swarf is cleared out of the machine as often as manageable. If you have a chip auger or chip conveyor, assure that they’re not blocked, and clear them to remove the swarf from machines. 

Filter or change your coolant after cutting fine materials like cast iron. Make sure you have the correct coolant concentration, free of bacteria build-up for the safety of your machine tool pumps and filters. Also critical: clean out the coolant tank or sump from built-up sludge or excess metal chips, which could block coolant lines or pumps.

3. Routine inspections & logs

Set aside time daily, weekly or monthly to inspect key aspects of your machining tool. By routinising inspections, you can bring attention to potential problems that need to be addressed before they cause delays. When detecting issues, it is wise to document these. We recommend a checklist and detailed log of machine tool maintenance procedures or repairs. Inspection logs will provide ongoing references to help inform you of potential machine tool problems, and will even inform future servicing.

4. Check your alignment and run-out 

Checking the alignment and run-out of machine tools is key to being able to machine parts with accuracy and consistent precision. Putting simple checks into place can confirm and eliminate any mechanical glitches or issues from machine crashes, tool breakages, bearing wear and air-coolant leaks. 

These base checks are a simple way of identifying problems before larger problems occur—such as losses from scrap parts and failed components due to alignment issues or run-out errors.

5. Consistent lubrication

Regular lubrication forms part of your basic machine tool maintenance routine. This is what will most ensure that all moving parts are protected, greatly reducing wear and tear. This includes greasing internal and external moving parts, as well as regular visual inspections of components requiring lubricants.

6. Book a service engineer visit

Small problems caught early can be easily repaired. This lets you avoid larger future problems, with all their invariably high costs. Contact your service engineer for an on-site visit to perform routine maintenance checks on your machine tools. Simple servicing can make all the difference in terms of tool health and life. While there, our Skok service engineers can answer any questions, applying our years of specialized expertise in machine tools servicing to help you identify and deflect potential problems.  

Find & Keep It

Major investments such as machine tools require regular servicing and preventative diagnoses. Through constant and conscientious feedback between operators, machinists, programmers and service engineers, your machine tools will stay in the best possible shape for as long as possible. This will help keep your business running and producing all the parts, swarf and profits possible. 

Schedule your regular machine tool servicing with us so you can rest easy. Skok can help you find and keep your competitive advantage. When your business reputation stays healthy and your capacity is constantly improving, business keeps booming.