CARBIDE INSERT QUOTATION,INDEXABLE CARBIDE INSERTS,CARBIDE INSERTS

Automation is the present of manufacturing.

Even without robots, pallet changers or other obvious forms of reducing manual labor, competitive manufacturers find ways to accomplish more with fewer people. One example is the use of machines that combine multiple operations in a single platform. However, the tradeoffs involved in combining processes can result in Cemented Carbide Inserts equipment that is just as specialized as the dedicated machinery it replaces.

C?onsider the Advanced Hybrid Laser, a laser-fabrication system from Murata Machinery (Muratec) that combines laser-cutting, forming and tapping capabilities into a single multifunction machine. Flat, sheet-cut parts with numerous formed features and threaded holes constitute a broad category of work. However, Jeff Tyl – Muratec National Sales Manager, Aftermarket and Fabrication – says designers also had a specific application in mind: panels for electrical housing components manufactured for the HVAC, medical and lighting industries.

Here we see the tooling for the punching station. The machine has the capacity for eight tools, with up to 46 using optional tool changers. Photo Credit: Muratec

Automating With Specific Parts in Mind

Electrical housing components have numerous ?features that need stamped into the metal, as well as holes that need threaded for fasteners. For materials a half-inch and thinner, the laser will cut all interior holes and transfer the material for forming and tapping while maintaining positional accuracies with use of fixed material workholding. For larger materials, it can be used as a stand-?alone fiber laser where workholding is not needed. Once in the forming and tapping station, the machine can use up to eight tools – 46 with a tool changer – to form the material into shape prior to tapping. “Before, someone would have to position it in the laser, then transfer the part to a forming machine, then finally transfer over to tapping,” Tyl says.

While the machine has a relatively large footprint, various ?manufacturers of flat parts that require secondary operations could benefit from it. In fact, Muratec has already agreed to develop processes for medical parts, Tyl says, adding that the machine is also great for parts that require contouring. However, electrical housings are ideal for it because the metal is thin and the parts require secondary processes.

“This machine is the first of its kind that I’m aware of.” – Jeff Tyl, Muratec 

“If you look at a hybrid machine, be it a plasma punch or a punch laser or what have you, there is always a limitation,” says Tyl. “With the Advanced Hybrid Laser, that limitation is the tonnage of the press.” Specifically, the press can achieve only five tons each of upward and downward pressure – which means it is suitable for material at 12-gage thickness or thinner. “It really finds its niche in materials that require quite a bit of tapping and maybe some counter sinking,” says Tyl.

The tapping station has four separate spindles for tapping holes. When using particularly thin parts, holes must be extruded at the forming station to create the space required for tapping. Photo Credit: Muratec

Additionally, forming before tapping is generally a requirement for thinner parts, including panels for electrical housing components, Tyl says. “It’s important to form before tapping especially thin sheets because they lack the thickness required to tap,” he explains. “So the tool has to extrude the metal up or down to provide the space to cut threads.” The tapping system uses independent servos to generate the cutting forces.

Finally, Tyl says potential users should consider the need for new tooling. “This machine is first one of its kind that I’m aware of. No one’s current tooling will work with it,” he explains. “However, Mate and Murata will both manufacture Tungsten Steel Inserts tooling.”

In manufacturing, there will always be tension between specialized and generalized approaches to automation, and it is unlikely either approach will ever completely overshadow the other. The tradeoffs inherent to combining processes on one platform can narrow a machine’s application range, but within that niche it can outperform generalized approaches, as this hybrid machine demonstrates.

Landscape Photo Credit: Muratec
The Carbide Inserts Blog: https://brentwilli.exblog.jp/

John Walker (standing) and veteran operator Tony Bennett go over a student guide book, part of the multimedia materials included in the MasterTask CNC Lathes training program.

Senior manufacturing engineer Randy Smith (standing) reviews one of the CD-based lessons from the MasterTask Mastering CNC Lathes training program with Ron Schultz, a veteran operator who successfully completed the course.

Eaton's Aeroquip Fluid Conveyance plant replaced its multi-spindle screw machines with Mori-Seiki four-axis CNC lathes, typically arranged two to a cell. Mr. Schultz is shown at the control of one of the two lathes in his cell.

Mr. Bennett (right) confers with Mr. Smith at the (Mori-Seiki) machining center in "his" three-machine cell.

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For many people in metalworking, the term training evokes a Norman Rockwell-type image of a white-haired old timer showing a young, somewhat attentive apprentice how to run a machine on the production floor. If you are a machine operator, you probably received your training on the job working under the watchful eye of an experienced operator.

That kind of training may have been adequate a generation or two ago. However, as machine tools have become more sophisticated (and expensive) and as tolerance for errors of any kind in the machining process approaches zero, more formal training programs are becoming a more attractive training alternative for small shops as well as large manufacturing concerns. One reason is that they provide a more complete and comprehensive coverage of the material; the trainee benefits from a complete, well-thought-out program, presented and reinforced in ways that help him or her retain the information presented. Another reason is that formal training programs include tests that confirm whether or not the trainee is learning the material. Still another reason is that they provide an alternative to tying up operators and machines for basic training.

A formal training program became an important part of a long-term strategy for modernization and growth at Eaton Corp.’s Aeroquip Fluid Conveyance plant in Jackson, Michigan. The plant produces aerospace hoses and fittings for fuel lines, hydraulic lines and other applications. It supplies hoses, fittings and quick-disconnect couplings for military aircraft programs such as Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and F-35 supersonic multi-role fighter, the U.S. Army’s new RAH-66 Comanche helicopter, Boeing’s C-17 cargo transport, and for commercial aircraft programs such as the Airbus A380.

The Aeroquip Fluid Conveyance plant includes a machining department that machines aerospace hose fittings from stainless steel (primarily), titanium and aluminum. It also has a fabricating department for welding and tube bending, and an assembly department where the machined fittings are added to the hoses and tubing.

Years ago, the plant machined the fittings on multi-spindle screw machines, for inventory. Shoulder Milling Inserts Lot sizes averaged about 500 pieces—much smaller than jobs usually run on multi-spindle machines. However, the machines provided the capacity for large jobs when needed, and the machining department was staffed by skilled and experienced multi-spindle screw machine operators and setup people who knew how to get the best from their machines. The system met the No. 1 goal of producing quality parts, for which management was willing to accept a little production inefficiency.

Eventually, however, the plant began to adopt lean manufacturing practices, and a decision was made to reduce finished product inventories. Lot sizes for machined fittings became smaller, necessitating more frequent setups, resulting in a situation where the multi-spindle machines were idle for setup changes more often than they ran. As lot sizes continued to shrink, the inefficiency of running Cermet Inserts the small jobs on multi-spindle screw machines could no longer be tolerated. Management began looking for a new machining strategy.

At the time, the plant had a small NC machining department built around two four-axis, CNC lathes made by Mori Seiki USA, Inc. (Richardson, Texas). The machines combined the ability to produce complex parts complete in one setup with more efficient production of small lot sizes, so the company made the decision to replace its multi-spindle cam machines with more four-axis CNC lathes. (Four chuckers would be retained for large jobs.)

Four Mori Seiki four-axis lathes were added to the two from the plant’s NC department. Randy Smith, senior manufacturing engineer for the machining department, explained the company’s selection of the Mori Seiki CNC lathes: “Our parts require a lot of machining on both ends,” he notes. “With most four-axis CNC lathes, the sub-spindle has less horsepower than the main spindle. Our lathes have the same horsepower on both spindles, permitting side two of the part to be machined in the secondary spindle at the same speeds and feeds as side one in the main spindle. Since most of our parts are stainless steel, and since that second side frequently needs as many operations as the first side, we need equal horsepower on both spindles.”

Assignment of jobs to the cells follows a family of parts arrangement by tooling rather than part geometry. “We started out trying to run very similar parts in a given cell—parts with the same configuration in a range of sizes—but the volume was not sufficient to justify the arrangement,” Mr. Smith explains. “Instead, we group parts according to the cutting tools they require, in order to reduce the setup time required to go from part to part.”

Average run size is about 175 parts—and getting smaller as the plant gets better at setup reduction and job scheduling. Some jobs involve runs as small as five parts. Setups average about 90 minutes, and operators spend about 180 minutes of their work day setting up for the next job. The setups usually include about three or four tool changes per turret.

Production continued on the multi-spindle screw machines as the CNC lathes were installed and brought online. By the end of the first year, however, production completely shifted over to the CNC lathes. “Within one week, we totally shut down production on the screw machines,” Mr. Smith recalls.

A Third Shift

At the same time that the plant was going from multi-spindle screw machines to CNC lathes, management decided to increase production in response to increased demand by starting up a third shift. That created a staffing problem. Historically, training at the Jackson facility consisted of one-on-one training with an experienced operator. The arrangement worked for the occasional new hire, but using it to train a shift’s worth of operators at the same time was out of the question. For one thing, there were more trainees than skilled operators. For another, training of so many new hires would tie up the operators and equipment and bring production to a halt. The situation called for a structured, more formal, training method that would permit training several people at the same time.

Eaton manufacturing engineers evaluated a training program available from MasterTask Training Systems (Rockford, Illinois), a division of V-TIP, Inc., and decided that it would meet the plant’s training needs. MasterTask is a multimedia training system that uses workbooks, videos, CD-ROMs and the Internet to train both new and experienced employees in machine tool operations, setups, programming and related topics. The company offers courses on CNC turning centers, machining centers, automatic screw machines, precision measurement for machinists, SPC and other manufacturing-related subjects.

Training proceeds from general principles to their application on specific machines. For example, in the Mastering CNC Lathes course, once a job task or CNC concept is introduced, the lesson shows how it is applied on machines equipped with the most common CNCs. This approach is designed to give trainees the understanding needed to operate any CNC lathe in the shop, regardless of the make of the control.

However, the supervisor can select the specific CNC that the trainee needs to learn when registering that person in the course. As a result, the trainee sees simulations of that control and is required to perform the job tasks using replicas of the screen display and control panel buttons during testing. Being able to select a specific control for training allows the trainee to make a mistake without damaging a machine or tying up production machinery during the learning process. It focuses the course on the type of control that the trainee will actually be using in production.

The Mastering CNC Lathes series includes five separate courses: The Basic CNC Lathe, Understanding Part Programs, Lathe Operator Skills, Basic Setup Skills and Advanced Setup Skills. Training materials for the series include 21 videocassette lessons, five CD-ROMs with 21 interactive tests, five instructor guides, five student guides and 21 lesson worksheets.

Perfect Score

MasterTask can be used for group or individual training and is designed to allow the trainee to learn at his or her own pace. An important feature of the system is that the trainee must master all of the information presented in each lesson before proceeding to the next. That’s where the testing comes in: The trainee must score 100 percent on each lesson quiz before advancing to the next lesson and must retest on the missed questions until everything is right. According to MasterTask, most trainees find it relatively easy to get perfect scores, and early successes encourage and motivate them to continue the learning process.

Group Training

For training purposes, the new hires for the third shift were divided into two groups for training on first and second shifts. The Mastering CNC Lathes material was presented to the two groups in an engineering department conference room made to double as a classroom. After going through the formal training program, the trainees then received hands-on training on the production floor with an experienced operator.

“The structured classroom presentations inspired us to follow suit with the on-the-job part of the training program,” adds John Walker, manufacturing supervisor for second shift and a member of the plant’s team for CNC training strategy. “Now, all trainers follow the same format. Our on-the-job training program includes how to use gages, setting up the machine, standard work practices on the machine and similar subjects. Before, if a trainee had to work with more than one trainer, it was easy to get confused because each trainer had his own style and his own ideas about what subjects were most important. Now we all follow the same format to ensure consistency and to make sure that every trainee receives the same information.”

Mr. Walker feels that MasterTask along with on-the-job training makes for a winning combination. “MasterTask gives the trainee a strong foundation,” he notes. “It provides the theory and background in NC that the trainee does not receive on the plant floor. It covers general and specific areas that might take a trainer a year to cover. It gives our trainees a general understanding of everything from tool positions to programming to edits . . . things that might take a trainer months to cover on a one-on-one basis.

“The on-the-job portion of the training program reinforces the formal training specific to our equipment, such as how to make offsets, how to change a collet, how to change a tool and so on,” he continues. “It’s all practical information that the trainee needs to operate a CNC lathe, but it doesn’t provide the CNC theory and background that the trainee receives in the formal training program.

“Also, we try hard to get our people to pay attention to their control screens during setups,” he continues. “They can stop their machines in time to prevent a crash if they understand what they’re looking at. That’s where MasterTask comes in handy. The course covers many different types of CNCs, so our new people benefit from training on simulations of controls that they’ll actually be working with.”

For Experienced Operators Too

In addition to bringing the new hires for the third shift up to speed quickly, the MasterTask training program also helped a number of the company’s experienced screw machine operators make the transition to CNC lathes. “We have a number of experienced operators going through the program,” Mr. Walker reports. “We thought that if there were any areas where the formal training program fell short of the mark, our 30-year people would spot them. In fact, one of our 30-year veterans just completed the program, and he really liked it.

“Many of our experienced operators asked to take the MasterTask training program even though they were not required to do so,” Mr. Walker continues. (The course is mandatory for all new operators.) “We have 14 operators on second shift, and all but one have taken the course.”

Operators take the course for 2 hours per day (on company time), 5 days per week, for 30 days. The training takes place away from the production area, in an office in the plant’s engineering area set aside for the purpose. Typically, the trainees go through the CD-ROM- and video-based materials without supervision unless they encounter a problem.

“When the trainee needs personal attention, we address the problem on a one-on-one basis,” Mr. Walker adds. “It’s important to help the trainee overcome the problem as soon as possible because he must take a quiz on each lesson, and unless he answers every question correctly he cannot move on to the next lesson. We help the trainees through their difficulties when needed to keep them motivated.”

Ron Schultz is one of the experienced operators who volunteered to go through the MasterTask program. “I was experienced with metal turning, having run screw machines and chuckers for over 25 years, but the Mori-Seiki four-axis lathes were a different way of cutting metal, and I felt that I had to learn the CNC machines,” he explains. “I took advantage of the training program offered by the company. Looking back on the experience, I missed some (test) questions and had to repeat a few things, but the program helped me a lot.”

When a trainee successfully completes the training program, he or she is called up in front of the 25-30 employees present at each shift-start meeting. The shift supervisor announces that the trainee has successfully completed the training program and presents a certificate to the trainee. The certificate is signed by MasterTask, the employee, the supervisor . . . it’s even registered on the Internet. “It’s an honor,” Mr. Walker stresses. “Everyone is proud to get that certificate.”

The most compelling reason for establishing the MasterTask training program at the plant was the need to train machine operators for the newly created third shift. Not only did the training program provide enough qualified operators to staff the third shift, but it provided them 2 months earlier than expected, enabling the shift to go into production ahead of schedule. Mr. Smith reports that 48 operators—both new hires and veteran operators—have successfully completed the training program to date. Results have been so successful that the plant has also added basic math and blueprint-reading courses to the curriculum.

A Competitive Success Piece from Modern Machine Shop

Although the United States is losing manufacturing jobs at an alarming rate due to global competition, U.S. companies more than ever need well-trained operators to run the increasingly sophisticated machine tools that can help offset our vulnerability to low wage competitors. This company took advantage of one of the formal training programs available to train both new hires for a newly created third shift and former screw machine operators on its first and second shifts to run the modern four-axis CNC lathes that it has converted to from multi-spindle cam automatics to improve its production efficiency.

 
The Carbide Inserts Blog: https://millinginserts.mystrikingly.com

On the shop floor, a Trinity Precision employee proudly sports a tshirt with the shop’s motto.

Visitors to Trinity Precision’s facility are greeted with “People, Process and Principle” on the wall as they enter our building, and for good reason. These three focuses have served us well in both good times and bad. Over the past 18 months, we have worked to continue putting our people first, improving our processes and standing on a firm foundation of principle to guide us. While businesses like ours need to make a profit, there are times when we need to remember the tremendous impact, as employers, that we have on our team. We can’t change everything going on in the world, but we can have an enormous impact on the people we work with and their families. Imagine how many people they impact as well.

When a downturn or disaster happens, it is important for us to stand unshakably on our principles. In the midst of the recent downturn in the aerospace market, we continued to practice our people-first principle. After many companies had already had two or three rounds of lay-offs, we Carbide Inserts were still able to hold onto our team. Instead of cutting positions right away, we found other ways to reduce costs and rally our company.

Through our “Catch up, Clean up, Rise up” campaign, we refocused our attention in the downturn. During adversity, we found our strength in doing the things we had a difficult time accomplishing when business was booming. Over the past five years, our business has quadrupled. We used the downturn as a time for our team to review our processes and address issues we had in our previous five years while simultaneously preparing for future growth in the next five years. “Prepare for bad times in good and good times in bad,” as my father would always say.

We found that, while we did not have the same frantic pace from work we received Cemented Carbide Inserts during our growth prior to the downturn, we did find a new focus for improving our processes and positioning ourselves to be ready for the next wave of growth. Part of that focus was to ensure that we did things to show the team our commitment to them and their future. These included starting a ramp-up period for matching our 401(k), absorbing all our healthcare cost increases into the company, adding key positions in areas that allow us to onboard new parts faster and focusing on a robotic cell that runs high-mix and low-volume production work.

In addition, we hold a weekly “all hands” meeting for everyone in the company to communicate what is happening within the business. Nature will fill a vacuum, and our imaginations will fill in for facts when people are not told what is happening inside a company. Rarely is the positive imagined. This weekly communication allows us to help our team understand and focus on the realities we are facing. It also discourages the creation of mythical problems that could divert our team’s energy onto the wrong issues to address. At these meetings, we also get insights into our teams’ concerns, and make sure to address them to the best of our ability.

In times of difficulty, we believe there are a couple of key things to put in front of the bottom line that will impact the bottom line in a positive way. Be firmly planted on your principles. Keep your focus on your team so they can keep their focus on the company. The more transparently and frequently managers communicate with their teams, the better the teams can focus on the real issues the company faces.

Prioritizing people, process and principles ensures that, even in adversity, teams will grow stronger and better.

The Carbide Inserts Blog: https://harrisonbb.exblog.jp/

Cobots in Wagner Machine’s milling department have enabled the high-mix manufacturer to extend production past the end of its manned shift and match the profitability of its turning department.

Photo Credit: Wagner Machine

Advanced manufacturing technology is no longer limited to large companies. Continuing innovations in automation, shopfloor software and more have made borne fruit with products and options well-suited and affordable for independent manufacturers. This maturation doesn’t just make these technologies accessible for job shops, however: it has started to make these technologies a necessity to compete in the modern manufacturing marketplace.

High-Mix Automation

Automation has long been out of reach for job shops for two reasons: cost APMT Insert and a reliance on low-mix production. Technology maturation has led to lower prices on cobots, pallet changers and other automation technologies, but high part mixes have continued to stymie lights-out automation efforts.

Wagner Machine of Champaign, Illinois, bypasses this limitation by acknowledging that high-mix automation doesn’t need to mean full 24/7 automation. “If you’re trying to get 24/7 production, that takes a lot more planning than just trying to bump your production by 50%,” says Kurt Wagner, owner of Wagner Machine. Wagner has used cobots to automate machine tending on five-axis machines for jobs requiring at least 50 hours of total machine time. As a single-shift shop, even four hours of nightly automation is a 50% productivity boost, so time spent on programming is offset quickly VNMG Insert enough to make automation cost-effective. By the time three of Wagner’s five planned custom cobot cells were online, robotic automation had boosted the production milling team’s productivity by more than 30% while improving on-time deliveries.

Peterson Machining is another high-mix shop that uses automation to manage its workload. While the shop does use its palletized five-axis turn-mill for lights-out automation, the machine’s pallet changer has been just as useful for prototyping during the day. With six pallets, the shop can prepare for multiple future jobs even as the machine works on one. “It keeps us productive when we would otherwise have to stop the machine,” says Todd Peterson, co-owner of Peterson Machining.

Shopfloor Software

High-end ERP and machine monitoring software have also driven significant productivity improvements at job shops. For East Branch Engineering and Manufacturing, adopting ProShop ERP improved setup documentation and management of job travelers. “It’s led to reduced overall setup times, higher spindle uptime and less scrap,” says Chris Guidotti, son of East Branch’s founder. Revenue increased by 18% within a year, with process improvements helping the shop eliminate $20,000 in expediting fees and $12,000 in shipping fees.

Machine monitoring has made a similarly large impact at AccuRounds. While the shop’s machinists were originally apprehensive about switching from paper shopfloor efficiency tracking to MachineMetrics, positioning the new machine monitoring strategy as process-based rather than people-based improved shopfloor acceptance. The ability to quantitatively track machine uptime helped AccuRounds determine where additional training or tooling adjustments were most needed. The shop’s resulting improvement efforts led to a 20% increase in OEE and a 15% reduction in tooling spend.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity options are now more available to job shops than ever — and more necessary. Hacking attempts on job shops are not matters of if, but when, says Allison Giddens, president of Win-Tech. The cost of developing a cybersecurity plan now is far less than the cost of recovering lost data (and lost customer trust) after a malicious cyberattack.

Job shops aiming to work in the defense industry should also know that Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) audits will soon be a prerequisite for sensitive work. These audits will require shops to not only invest in cybersecurity technology and training, but prove their proficiency with it.

Learn more about cybersecurity options in the Emerging Technology Center.

The International Manufacturing Technology Show runs September 12 - 17, 2022 at McCormick Place in Chicago. Register for IMTS today to start planning your show. 

The Carbide Inserts Blog: https://lorindunca.exblog.jp/

A reader recently used the “Ask an Expert” feature of our Micromachining Zone to submit the following question:

Question

We are challenged to drill 0.081-inch +/-0.0006 holes in AISI 321 stainless steel. Depth of the through hole is 0.384 inch. What advice can you offer?

Response from John Bradford, micromachining R&D team leader for Makino

I have some general information to share that will help guide you.

Some guidelines regarding coolant:

Use a water-soluble coolant with a minimum concentration of 8%. Increase concentration as the material gets tougher or harder. At 0.080 inch diameter, it may be very tough to find tooling that provides for through-spindle coolant. The smallest we have seen with through-spindle coolant is 0.080 inch for standard twist drill type tooling. I'm sure there are gun drills out there that have the capability at DNMG Insert smaller diameters, but gun drilling is specialized and somewhat slow from a processing standpoint. Overall, for through-spindle coolant, pressure is important—but flow is equally important for drilling since this is the mechanism that keeps the chips moving out of the whole. At some point, due to tool diameter dictating orifice size, pressure is still available but flow is minimal.

Some approaches to center drilling and piloting of holes:

Whenever possible, we try to eliminate spot drilling to avoid the added cycle time and tooling. We have been successful in holding positional tolerance without spot drilling by using tooling with at least 130-degree-included tip angle. 135-degree is the most common tip we use. For deeper holes (over 12:1), we will generate a pilot hole at 0.001" diameter oversize and about 3:1 deep. Then TNMG Insert we follow behind the pilot hole with the deep-hole drill. Other variables sometime come into play, but as long as the tool starts with the tool axis normal to the surface, results are good.

The Carbide Inserts Blog: https://derekvirgi.exblog.jp/