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CASE STUDY

All Boom, No Bust

with CLEVELAND

MACHINE & ESPRIT

Serving Texas’s demanding oil and gas industry is no small feat, and
Cleveland Machine rises to the challenge with the help of ESPRIT.

exas’s Cleveland Machine is LB3000 MYW mill-turns, and an Okuma
a highly specialized shop that MB-56VB mill. “ESPRIT outputs flawless
Tserves the state’s major oil and Although the shop boasts an impressive code to our mills time and time
gas industry. When we say “highly lineup of machine tools, programming again. We recently did our first
specialized,” we mean it. Cleveland them hasn’t always been smooth sailing.
Machine manufactures only type “H” Cleveland Machine’s plant manager, John thread mill operation. Without
back pressure and two-way check valves, Buckaloo, describes some initial pain ESPRIT, I would have been
which are installed in the wellhead to hold points. “We had issues with programming clueless on how to proceed with
pressure during routine maintenance and our first Okuma mill-turn, specifically the
repair of drilling equipment. Although they live tooling aspect.” programming this.”
limit their work to type “H” valves, each In addition to helping streamline the
wellhead often requires hundreds or even programming process, ESPRIT now John Buckaloo, Plant Manager,
more than 1,000 pieces—so efficiency is plays a valuable role in research and
one of Cleveland Machine’s top priorities. development at Cleveland Machine, too. “I Cleveland Machine
On the Cleveland Machine shop floor, use ESPRIT any time I design a new item,”
you’ll find an Okuma Captain L470 lathe, says John, “as well as when programming
an Okuma Space Turn LB4000EX lathe, the Okuma mill-turns. We were very
an Okuma Genos L400E lathe, an Okuma unfamiliar with programming the live
MX-55 mill with rotary, a Leadwell MCV- tooling in addition to picking up with the
1100i mill also with rotary, two Okuma sub-spindle. Although it is relatively simple

Machining out the “cage” on one of Cleveland Machine’s 718 Inconel Type “H” Style The ESPRIT digital twin ensures a
Back Pressure Valves. It is one of the last operations before the part is completed streamlined programming process from
and is done on the company’s Okuma MB-56VB with the rotary. start to finish

30 MACHINE TOOLS WORLD NOVEMBER 2021 www.mtwmag.com