In the steel fabrication industry, quality, cost, and schedule are everything. From plasma cutting to drilling and deburring, each process must align to deliver competitive results in a fast-paced market.
The Challenge: Dirty, Oily Parts Slow Down Automated Deburring
Every plasma or oxy-fuel cutting operation leaves thermal dross on the underside of the steel plate. These burrs must be removed before the steel can be:
- Fabricated
- Welded
- Painted or
- Galvanised
For steel service centres supplying price-sensitive plasma cut and drilled components, this manual deburring process consumes excessive:
- Floor space
- Labour hours
- Deburring materials (discs, belts, etc.)
The Mistake: Incompatible Coolant Delivery Systems
Steel fabricators who use wet cutting tables with 5% flood coolant face major hurdles when automating deburring. These dirty, oily parts:
- Are unsuitable for dry entry into automated deburring machines
- Must be cleaned and dried, adding time and cost
- Limit automation ROI and increase processing delays
And here’s the kicker: machine tool suppliers won’t take back a poorly chosen deburring system—once it’s installed, you own the problem.
The Game-Changer: Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) + Smart Automation
Specialist Machinery Sales (SMS) clients gain a competitive edge by combining MQL drilling systems with fully automated deburring.
Here’s how:
What is MQL?
Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) delivers:
- Atomised lubricant (under 50ml/hour)
- With compressed air (up to 100 psi, 1,500 L/min)
- Directly through the spindle and tool tip
This combination:
- Lubricates precisely without contaminating the part
- Blasts swarf from the hole during drilling
- Leaves parts clean and dry, ready for immediate deburring
The SMS Advantage: Integrated Clean Cutting to Clean Deburring
Unlike competitors using wet beds with high coolant ratios, SMS systems are engineered for clean automation:
- Parts up to 300kg can be washed, dried, deburred, and edge-rounded automatically
- Eliminates the need to pre-clean or dry parts
- Saves on consumables and man-hours
This compatibility across processes allows fabricators to:
- Reduce total processing time
- Improve QA/QC pass rates
- Enhance operator safety
- Deliver faster to market
Smart Strategy: Build Your Automation Ecosystem with SMS
Clients of SMS who invested in this setup as far back as 2016 are still dominating their segments today. Why? Because they built a smart automation ecosystem where:
- Plasma cutting
- Drilling
- Coolant delivery
- And deburring systems all work together
This ensures maximum flexibility, reliability, and throughput, allowing clients to:
- Win more jobs
- Improve cost per part
- Accelerate delivery schedules
Key Takeaway
If you’re supplying competitive plasma cut and drilled parts, your investment in MQL coolant systems and automated deburring is not just a technical upgrade—it’s a market-dominating move. SMS helps you align every part of your workflow to ensure:
- Parts are clean
- Deburring is automated
- Schedule and cost stay competitive
Don’t put lubricant on a file—and don’t put dirty parts in a deburring machine. The right technology stack matters.
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