Tracking Tool Sizing Adjustments with Feedback
V & G Dynamic Machine & Tool, Inc. of Marble Falls, Texas, uses high-end VMCs and CNC mills and employs skilled machinists and CNC operators to support the development of new instrumentation and technology for the semiconductor industry.
When Volker Steffen founded V & G Dynamics in 1988, the company was doing mainly repair work using two manual mills. Mr. Steffen knew that if he had CNC there was the promise of longer runs and production of complex parts—giving access to new markets and increasing sales and profitability. But these benefits come with a cost in terms of capital, training and learning. Mr. Steffen was looking for a way to implement CNC gradually—a transition that took the characteristics of his shop and people into consideration.
He discovered an opportunity at an open house held by his local dealer. "I was at an open house at a machine dealer one weekend, and I saw a manual mill with some sort of external motors mounted on the table," Mr. Steffen says. "The dealer showed me how the mill was doing CNC work by having the power feeds move the table, under the control of a PC. Best of all, I didn't have to start using a computer right away. I could just use the power feeds in the 'Teach Mode.' You move the table to a desired position, press 'set' on the pendant, move to the next position, press 'set' again, and so on. At the end of the sequence you press 'run,' and the machine plays back exactly the moves you told it to execute. It's that simple."
On seeing this, Mr. Steffen first began considering doing more than just manual mill work. V & G had grown to include a lot of small-volume (1 - 500 piece) production work, but Mr. Steffen was not at the point where he needed to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single CNC. So in 1993, he decided to first retrofit one of his Cutting Tool Carbide Inserts manual mills with the "intelligent power feeds"—a basic two-axis Servo II automated control system with the "Teach" pendant, made by Servo Products Company of Pasadena, California—which he mounted himself on a Summit manual mill with a Sargon digital readout. The cost of the retrofit was well within his reach, and the promise of increased production made the whole deal attractive. Within days, production was at levels he had never seen before, and both he and his machinists were using the "Teach Mode" feature without problems.
Such use of a basic retrofit package makes sense for shops where owners and operators don't have prior experience with CNCs. In the case of V & G, its manual mills had essentially become three different machines with one simple retrofit: VNMG Insert one that still does manual work, one that uses the Teach Pendant and one that can perform CNC work (when connected to a dedicated PC). The DRO interface adds accuracy to the Acme lead screw by using the scale for positioning accuracy instead of the encoder on the motor. In addition, the DRO enhances the machinist's productivity.
With the Servo II control system used for the retrofit, one-of-a-kind or production run parts can be machined, and the table can be moved either using the pendant or handwheels. The "taught" programs are limited to straight line and angle cuts. The system cannot be taught to machine a circle. Subroutines can be called up, and program steps can be changed, added or inserted. It's easy to delete entire programs from pendant memory, or delete a subroutine call—which is useful when "programming" on the fly. An operator also can set, clear or drag axes travel limits (for example, reset limit beyond current position) and can playback a program held in the pendant's memory.
The Servo II control system can be made more productive by hooking up a PC, which simply can be used to transfer programs between the PC and the pendant; with Servo CNC software and a dedicated PC, the machine has full CNC capabilities. This comprises the second step in the gradual conversion to CNC machining. Programs "written" on the pendant can be transferred to the PC for storage and for re-use at a later time. The transferred pendant programs are converted to common CNC codes. Conversely, programs can be written and edited on the PC and transferred later to the pendant, though only a limited set of CNC codes are available. This means two things: Operators can generate CNC code without knowing programming, and they can execute previously written CNC code without using the control (it's done via the pendant). Production goes up, and accuracy and repeatability improve. The absence of a steep learning curve makes training the operators brief and inexpensive.
V&G began by doing most of its CNC work using the conversational mode programming on the control. By going through a step-by-step process, the operator answers simple questions about the current job, and the control automatically develops a program, which is then seamlessly translated into G-code that can be used on any Servo CNC machine. Even if the operator makes a mistake in the programming, he or she can easily edit the specific line that needs correction.
However, after a while Mr. Steffen realized that the next step for the company would have to be a full-fledged migration to CNC. The use of CAD systems had by then become common, and for that he needed a CNC mill. But he also still wanted to be able to perform manual work on his mills.
"After having converted several manual mills, the workload picked up significantly, and about that time CAD systems really began to matter. CAD systems made molds with complex curves and radii possible, so without a real contouring CNC we couldn't do that kind of work. We needed a machine that would do it all—do CNC work but still let us perform manual milling. We needed a machine that was easy to operate." Had Mr. Steffen purchased a CNC machining center with no manual functions, he would have had to learn and absorb into his plant all of the complexity of the CNC process before getting a return. His selection of a machine with manual capabilities that was upgradeable to full CNC allowed him to get an immediate return and make the transition more gradually.
When Mr. Steffen started shopping around in 1997, he realized that many entry-level CNC mills have comparable features and fall into a similar price bracket. Servo Products manufactured a CNC mill that included the manual milling and the Teach Pendant. The Servo 5000 three-axis bedmill with the Servo II control system facilitated the three-in-one operation he was already used to, and that feature sealed the deal. Also, since the Servo II control uses the same PC-based, bi-directional programming (pendant to PC and PC to pendant) he used before, he could continue to use the same programs and procedures he had developed for the Servo II retrofit mill.
For shops like V & G, the most immediate benefit of going to true CNC milling is the ability to download CAD-generated tool paths into the CNC control. The fact that the Servo CNC control is a PC-based system made the switchover easy for Mr. Steffen. "Having a PC-based control means that menus on screens look familiar, and replacement components are readily available. Servicing was easy, as I once found out by changing the board on the control myself," he says.
Concerns over how his CNC mills would fare over the years worried Mr. Steffen. "We really had to have the confidence in what we buy. Having used Servo power feeds for years before, I had the confidence in the company, and so going to them when we decided to go CNC made total sense."
The combined benefits of V & G's migration to CNC include sustaining a 99.9 percent on-time delivery rate and a 99.9 percent part acceptance rate. Today, V & G specializes in doing work for the semi-conductor industry. "Our company manufactures parts utilizing CNC milling as well as CNC lathes on all types of conventional and exotic materials. Today our shop is computerized with many CNC machining centers, but we still manufacture parts with our Servo Machines," says Mr. Steffen.
Many job shops still rely solely on manual mills, not by choice but because CNC is a big jump in terms of investment and training. A CNC machine capable of manual milling maximizes production flexibility while reducing the amount of space required by two separate mills. Most importantly, this shift from manual milling to CNC machining can be gradual, affordable and easy to implement and learn.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: grooving Inserts manufacturers
V & G Dynamic Machine & Tool, Inc. of Marble Falls, Texas, uses high-end VMCs and CNC mills and employs skilled machinists and CNC operators to support the development of new instrumentation and technology for the semiconductor industry.
When Volker Steffen founded V & G Dynamics in 1988, the company was doing mainly repair work using two manual mills. Mr. Steffen knew that if he had CNC there was the promise of longer runs and production of complex parts—giving access to new markets and increasing sales and profitability. But these benefits come with a cost in terms of capital, training and learning. Mr. Steffen was looking for a way to implement CNC gradually—a transition that took the characteristics of his shop and people into consideration.
He discovered an opportunity at an open house held by his local dealer. "I was at an open house at a machine dealer one weekend, and I saw a manual mill with some sort of external motors mounted on the table," Mr. Steffen says. "The dealer showed me how the mill was doing CNC work by having the power feeds move the table, under the control of a PC. Best of all, I didn't have to start using a computer right away. I could just use the power feeds in the 'Teach Mode.' You move the table to a desired position, press 'set' on the pendant, move to the next position, press 'set' again, and so on. At the end of the sequence you press 'run,' and the machine plays back exactly the moves you told it to execute. It's that simple."
On seeing this, Mr. Steffen first began considering doing more than just manual mill work. V & G had grown to include a lot of small-volume (1 - 500 piece) production work, but Mr. Steffen was not at the point where he needed to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single CNC. So in 1993, he decided to first retrofit one of his Cutting Tool Carbide Inserts manual mills with the "intelligent power feeds"—a basic two-axis Servo II automated control system with the "Teach" pendant, made by Servo Products Company of Pasadena, California—which he mounted himself on a Summit manual mill with a Sargon digital readout. The cost of the retrofit was well within his reach, and the promise of increased production made the whole deal attractive. Within days, production was at levels he had never seen before, and both he and his machinists were using the "Teach Mode" feature without problems.
Such use of a basic retrofit package makes sense for shops where owners and operators don't have prior experience with CNCs. In the case of V & G, its manual mills had essentially become three different machines with one simple retrofit: VNMG Insert one that still does manual work, one that uses the Teach Pendant and one that can perform CNC work (when connected to a dedicated PC). The DRO interface adds accuracy to the Acme lead screw by using the scale for positioning accuracy instead of the encoder on the motor. In addition, the DRO enhances the machinist's productivity.
With the Servo II control system used for the retrofit, one-of-a-kind or production run parts can be machined, and the table can be moved either using the pendant or handwheels. The "taught" programs are limited to straight line and angle cuts. The system cannot be taught to machine a circle. Subroutines can be called up, and program steps can be changed, added or inserted. It's easy to delete entire programs from pendant memory, or delete a subroutine call—which is useful when "programming" on the fly. An operator also can set, clear or drag axes travel limits (for example, reset limit beyond current position) and can playback a program held in the pendant's memory.
The Servo II control system can be made more productive by hooking up a PC, which simply can be used to transfer programs between the PC and the pendant; with Servo CNC software and a dedicated PC, the machine has full CNC capabilities. This comprises the second step in the gradual conversion to CNC machining. Programs "written" on the pendant can be transferred to the PC for storage and for re-use at a later time. The transferred pendant programs are converted to common CNC codes. Conversely, programs can be written and edited on the PC and transferred later to the pendant, though only a limited set of CNC codes are available. This means two things: Operators can generate CNC code without knowing programming, and they can execute previously written CNC code without using the control (it's done via the pendant). Production goes up, and accuracy and repeatability improve. The absence of a steep learning curve makes training the operators brief and inexpensive.
V&G began by doing most of its CNC work using the conversational mode programming on the control. By going through a step-by-step process, the operator answers simple questions about the current job, and the control automatically develops a program, which is then seamlessly translated into G-code that can be used on any Servo CNC machine. Even if the operator makes a mistake in the programming, he or she can easily edit the specific line that needs correction.
However, after a while Mr. Steffen realized that the next step for the company would have to be a full-fledged migration to CNC. The use of CAD systems had by then become common, and for that he needed a CNC mill. But he also still wanted to be able to perform manual work on his mills.
"After having converted several manual mills, the workload picked up significantly, and about that time CAD systems really began to matter. CAD systems made molds with complex curves and radii possible, so without a real contouring CNC we couldn't do that kind of work. We needed a machine that would do it all—do CNC work but still let us perform manual milling. We needed a machine that was easy to operate." Had Mr. Steffen purchased a CNC machining center with no manual functions, he would have had to learn and absorb into his plant all of the complexity of the CNC process before getting a return. His selection of a machine with manual capabilities that was upgradeable to full CNC allowed him to get an immediate return and make the transition more gradually.
When Mr. Steffen started shopping around in 1997, he realized that many entry-level CNC mills have comparable features and fall into a similar price bracket. Servo Products manufactured a CNC mill that included the manual milling and the Teach Pendant. The Servo 5000 three-axis bedmill with the Servo II control system facilitated the three-in-one operation he was already used to, and that feature sealed the deal. Also, since the Servo II control uses the same PC-based, bi-directional programming (pendant to PC and PC to pendant) he used before, he could continue to use the same programs and procedures he had developed for the Servo II retrofit mill.
For shops like V & G, the most immediate benefit of going to true CNC milling is the ability to download CAD-generated tool paths into the CNC control. The fact that the Servo CNC control is a PC-based system made the switchover easy for Mr. Steffen. "Having a PC-based control means that menus on screens look familiar, and replacement components are readily available. Servicing was easy, as I once found out by changing the board on the control myself," he says.
Concerns over how his CNC mills would fare over the years worried Mr. Steffen. "We really had to have the confidence in what we buy. Having used Servo power feeds for years before, I had the confidence in the company, and so going to them when we decided to go CNC made total sense."
The combined benefits of V & G's migration to CNC include sustaining a 99.9 percent on-time delivery rate and a 99.9 percent part acceptance rate. Today, V & G specializes in doing work for the semi-conductor industry. "Our company manufactures parts utilizing CNC milling as well as CNC lathes on all types of conventional and exotic materials. Today our shop is computerized with many CNC machining centers, but we still manufacture parts with our Servo Machines," says Mr. Steffen.
Many job shops still rely solely on manual mills, not by choice but because CNC is a big jump in terms of investment and training. A CNC machine capable of manual milling maximizes production flexibility while reducing the amount of space required by two separate mills. Most importantly, this shift from manual milling to CNC machining can be gradual, affordable and easy to implement and learn.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: grooving Inserts manufacturers
V & G Dynamic Machine & Tool, Inc. of Marble Falls, Texas, uses high-end VMCs and CNC mills and employs skilled machinists and CNC operators to support the development of new instrumentation and technology for the semiconductor industry.
When Volker Steffen founded V & G Dynamics in 1988, the company was doing mainly repair work using two manual mills. Mr. Steffen knew that if he had CNC there was the promise of longer runs and production of complex parts—giving access to new markets and increasing sales and profitability. But these benefits come with a cost in terms of capital, training and learning. Mr. Steffen was looking for a way to implement CNC gradually—a transition that took the characteristics of his shop and people into consideration.
He discovered an opportunity at an open house held by his local dealer. "I was at an open house at a machine dealer one weekend, and I saw a manual mill with some sort of external motors mounted on the table," Mr. Steffen says. "The dealer showed me how the mill was doing CNC work by having the power feeds move the table, under the control of a PC. Best of all, I didn't have to start using a computer right away. I could just use the power feeds in the 'Teach Mode.' You move the table to a desired position, press 'set' on the pendant, move to the next position, press 'set' again, and so on. At the end of the sequence you press 'run,' and the machine plays back exactly the moves you told it to execute. It's that simple."
On seeing this, Mr. Steffen first began considering doing more than just manual mill work. V & G had grown to include a lot of small-volume (1 - 500 piece) production work, but Mr. Steffen was not at the point where he needed to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single CNC. So in 1993, he decided to first retrofit one of his Cutting Tool Carbide Inserts manual mills with the "intelligent power feeds"—a basic two-axis Servo II automated control system with the "Teach" pendant, made by Servo Products Company of Pasadena, California—which he mounted himself on a Summit manual mill with a Sargon digital readout. The cost of the retrofit was well within his reach, and the promise of increased production made the whole deal attractive. Within days, production was at levels he had never seen before, and both he and his machinists were using the "Teach Mode" feature without problems.
Such use of a basic retrofit package makes sense for shops where owners and operators don't have prior experience with CNCs. In the case of V & G, its manual mills had essentially become three different machines with one simple retrofit: VNMG Insert one that still does manual work, one that uses the Teach Pendant and one that can perform CNC work (when connected to a dedicated PC). The DRO interface adds accuracy to the Acme lead screw by using the scale for positioning accuracy instead of the encoder on the motor. In addition, the DRO enhances the machinist's productivity.
With the Servo II control system used for the retrofit, one-of-a-kind or production run parts can be machined, and the table can be moved either using the pendant or handwheels. The "taught" programs are limited to straight line and angle cuts. The system cannot be taught to machine a circle. Subroutines can be called up, and program steps can be changed, added or inserted. It's easy to delete entire programs from pendant memory, or delete a subroutine call—which is useful when "programming" on the fly. An operator also can set, clear or drag axes travel limits (for example, reset limit beyond current position) and can playback a program held in the pendant's memory.
The Servo II control system can be made more productive by hooking up a PC, which simply can be used to transfer programs between the PC and the pendant; with Servo CNC software and a dedicated PC, the machine has full CNC capabilities. This comprises the second step in the gradual conversion to CNC machining. Programs "written" on the pendant can be transferred to the PC for storage and for re-use at a later time. The transferred pendant programs are converted to common CNC codes. Conversely, programs can be written and edited on the PC and transferred later to the pendant, though only a limited set of CNC codes are available. This means two things: Operators can generate CNC code without knowing programming, and they can execute previously written CNC code without using the control (it's done via the pendant). Production goes up, and accuracy and repeatability improve. The absence of a steep learning curve makes training the operators brief and inexpensive.
V&G began by doing most of its CNC work using the conversational mode programming on the control. By going through a step-by-step process, the operator answers simple questions about the current job, and the control automatically develops a program, which is then seamlessly translated into G-code that can be used on any Servo CNC machine. Even if the operator makes a mistake in the programming, he or she can easily edit the specific line that needs correction.
However, after a while Mr. Steffen realized that the next step for the company would have to be a full-fledged migration to CNC. The use of CAD systems had by then become common, and for that he needed a CNC mill. But he also still wanted to be able to perform manual work on his mills.
"After having converted several manual mills, the workload picked up significantly, and about that time CAD systems really began to matter. CAD systems made molds with complex curves and radii possible, so without a real contouring CNC we couldn't do that kind of work. We needed a machine that would do it all—do CNC work but still let us perform manual milling. We needed a machine that was easy to operate." Had Mr. Steffen purchased a CNC machining center with no manual functions, he would have had to learn and absorb into his plant all of the complexity of the CNC process before getting a return. His selection of a machine with manual capabilities that was upgradeable to full CNC allowed him to get an immediate return and make the transition more gradually.
When Mr. Steffen started shopping around in 1997, he realized that many entry-level CNC mills have comparable features and fall into a similar price bracket. Servo Products manufactured a CNC mill that included the manual milling and the Teach Pendant. The Servo 5000 three-axis bedmill with the Servo II control system facilitated the three-in-one operation he was already used to, and that feature sealed the deal. Also, since the Servo II control uses the same PC-based, bi-directional programming (pendant to PC and PC to pendant) he used before, he could continue to use the same programs and procedures he had developed for the Servo II retrofit mill.
For shops like V & G, the most immediate benefit of going to true CNC milling is the ability to download CAD-generated tool paths into the CNC control. The fact that the Servo CNC control is a PC-based system made the switchover easy for Mr. Steffen. "Having a PC-based control means that menus on screens look familiar, and replacement components are readily available. Servicing was easy, as I once found out by changing the board on the control myself," he says.
Concerns over how his CNC mills would fare over the years worried Mr. Steffen. "We really had to have the confidence in what we buy. Having used Servo power feeds for years before, I had the confidence in the company, and so going to them when we decided to go CNC made total sense."
The combined benefits of V & G's migration to CNC include sustaining a 99.9 percent on-time delivery rate and a 99.9 percent part acceptance rate. Today, V & G specializes in doing work for the semi-conductor industry. "Our company manufactures parts utilizing CNC milling as well as CNC lathes on all types of conventional and exotic materials. Today our shop is computerized with many CNC machining centers, but we still manufacture parts with our Servo Machines," says Mr. Steffen.
Many job shops still rely solely on manual mills, not by choice but because CNC is a big jump in terms of investment and training. A CNC machine capable of manual milling maximizes production flexibility while reducing the amount of space required by two separate mills. Most importantly, this shift from manual milling to CNC machining can be gradual, affordable and easy to implement and learn.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: grooving Inserts manufacturers
Flange Cutting Challenges Overcome With New Waterjet Technology
Four years represents an eternity in the life of metalworking tools. In that time, TP Engineering (Bethel, Connecticut) has milled a mile of aluminum without changing the inserts on a Kennametal three-cartridge, 0-degree lead, 3-inch polycrystalline diamond (PCD)-tipped high-velocity face mill.
TP Engineering, a designer and manufacturer of Harley-Davidson aftermarket motorcycle engines and related components, is using PCD milling to finish engine cases, oil pumps, rocker boxes, inner and outer primary engine covers, and transmission cases and covers.
"We couldn't be happier with the performance of PCD milling," says Tom Pirone, TP Engineering's president and founder. "To this day, I find it amazing that we have never changed inserts."
In this application, TP is using PCD to work on 6061T6 aluminum and 356 aluminum, a difficult-to-machine material that it mills on a Mori-Seiki SH-400, a Mori-Seiki SH-403 and two Okuma MX 40 HA horizontal machining centers.
"The secret to the PCD face mill is in the design," says Gerry Dobrynski, the Kennametal field sales representative who services the TP Engineering account. "These lightweight but sturdy milling cutter bodies are engineered to best utilize the cutting power of the PCD adjustable cartridges that are secured to the cutter body with socket-head cap screws. Each cartridge is tipped with super-hard PCD (KD100 grade) that enables faster speeds, excellent tool life and superior surface finishes when compared to carbide or high speed steel (HSS) tools."
TP Engineering's use of PCD high-velocity face mills is enabling the company to mill 10,000 sfm at 140 ipm.
Besides increased tool life and decreased cycle time on the engine case from 1 hour to 24 minutes, Mr. Pirone is also pleased with the mirror finish that results from a Kennametal PCD face mill. "The surfaces achieve a superior finish with a phenomenal consistency that I didn't expect when I began using PCD, and I'm sure that it influences Harley-Davidson owners to buy our products."
TP Engineering replaced a carbide end mill 6 years ago with helical and router style Kennametal NGE-I end mills. The mills use six KC725M inserts for milling steel and six KC510M inserts to mill aluminum on a Mori-Seiki SH-400 horizontal machining center to perform profile milling on connecting rods, engine cases, inner and outer primary engine covers, oil pumps and rocker boxes.
The significant values for TP Engineering's use of an NGE-I end mill are 10,000 sfm at 120 ipm for milling aluminum and 500 sfm at 20-40 ipm for milling steel. By using NGE-I, TP has tripled productivity and tool life while improving the smoothness of surface finishes by a factor of three.
"TP Engineering has realized those quantitative and qualitative improvements because the NGE-I offers positive chip forming geometry, which results in free cutting action and lower cutting forces," says Brian Hoefler, Kennametal's NGE product manager.
"NGE end mills are versatile and can be used for machining shoulders, slots, contours and facing," Mr. Hoefler continues. "These features, combined with the latest Kennametal ‘M' milling grades, give users productivity advantages that are crucial to the milling requirements of many jobs that require the production of high-quality parts in record time."
Adds Mr. Pirone, "By getting 40 parts per insert edge instead of 12 or 13, having each insert cost us $12 a piece instead of $60 and having such responsive customer application and field service support, Kennametal provides the kind of value we wish all of our suppliers could give us."
Mr. Pirone has also integrated Kennametal drilling tools with his company's manufacturing operations. For the past 2 years, TP Engineering has been using KSEM APKT Insert Sculptured Edge High Performance modular drills on an Okuma MX-40 HA horizontal machining center to drill deep holes in rocker arms made of 4140 steel that has been heat treated, machined and then hardened to 32-36 HRC.
Using a drill body that is 5 inches long and a carbide blade in grade KC7215, TP is making 400 holes per blade that are 3.600 inches deep with a diameter of 0.630 inch.
"Because KSEM's design propels the drill into the workpiece at a tremendous penetration rate, while breaking chips effectively and maintaining stability, the user is ensured of getting precise, close-tolerance holes faster," says Kennametal's Mr. Dobrynski.
To make holes in the aluminum casting of the engine crankcase, TP is using a 5-inch drill body and a grade KC7235 blade to drill more than 2,000 holes (and counting) Face Milling Inserts at a depth of 2.01 inches with a diameter of 1.125 inches. Kennametal performs factory reconditioning of the blades.
TP Engineering's use of Kennametal's holemaking know-how extends to the Dynapoint Triple-Flute (TF), a solid carbide drill that TP is using to make small-diameter holes in engine and transmission cases made of 356 and 6061 aluminum. With Dynapoint, TP Engineering is making 24,800 holes per body at 0.51 second per hole. A tool that TP formerly used had an output of only 1,000 holes per drill body at 4 seconds per hole.
With three flutes, the sculptured edge drill point creates a smooth transition from the major cutting edge to the center of the drill, eliminating stress peaks and allowing the drill to actively cut metal over the entire cutting edge.
Compared to conventional drills, which are ground with flat chisel points that will push and tear the metal, the sculptured edge design is said to allow the user to handle increased chip loads for faster penetration rates and greater productivity.
Over the past 4 years, Kennametal has helped TP Engineering reduce its cost per part, decrease cycle times and increase tool life.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://thomaschap.blogtez.com/
Four years represents an eternity in the life of metalworking tools. In that time, TP Engineering (Bethel, Connecticut) has milled a mile of aluminum without changing the inserts on a Kennametal three-cartridge, 0-degree lead, 3-inch polycrystalline diamond (PCD)-tipped high-velocity face mill.
TP Engineering, a designer and manufacturer of Harley-Davidson aftermarket motorcycle engines and related components, is using PCD milling to finish engine cases, oil pumps, rocker boxes, inner and outer primary engine covers, and transmission cases and covers.
"We couldn't be happier with the performance of PCD milling," says Tom Pirone, TP Engineering's president and founder. "To this day, I find it amazing that we have never changed inserts."
In this application, TP is using PCD to work on 6061T6 aluminum and 356 aluminum, a difficult-to-machine material that it mills on a Mori-Seiki SH-400, a Mori-Seiki SH-403 and two Okuma MX 40 HA horizontal machining centers.
"The secret to the PCD face mill is in the design," says Gerry Dobrynski, the Kennametal field sales representative who services the TP Engineering account. "These lightweight but sturdy milling cutter bodies are engineered to best utilize the cutting power of the PCD adjustable cartridges that are secured to the cutter body with socket-head cap screws. Each cartridge is tipped with super-hard PCD (KD100 grade) that enables faster speeds, excellent tool life and superior surface finishes when compared to carbide or high speed steel (HSS) tools."
TP Engineering's use of PCD high-velocity face mills is enabling the company to mill 10,000 sfm at 140 ipm.
Besides increased tool life and decreased cycle time on the engine case from 1 hour to 24 minutes, Mr. Pirone is also pleased with the mirror finish that results from a Kennametal PCD face mill. "The surfaces achieve a superior finish with a phenomenal consistency that I didn't expect when I began using PCD, and I'm sure that it influences Harley-Davidson owners to buy our products."
TP Engineering replaced a carbide end mill 6 years ago with helical and router style Kennametal NGE-I end mills. The mills use six KC725M inserts for milling steel and six KC510M inserts to mill aluminum on a Mori-Seiki SH-400 horizontal machining center to perform profile milling on connecting rods, engine cases, inner and outer primary engine covers, oil pumps and rocker boxes.
The significant values for TP Engineering's use of an NGE-I end mill are 10,000 sfm at 120 ipm for milling aluminum and 500 sfm at 20-40 ipm for milling steel. By using NGE-I, TP has tripled productivity and tool life while improving the smoothness of surface finishes by a factor of three.
"TP Engineering has realized those quantitative and qualitative improvements because the NGE-I offers positive chip forming geometry, which results in free cutting action and lower cutting forces," says Brian Hoefler, Kennametal's NGE product manager.
"NGE end mills are versatile and can be used for machining shoulders, slots, contours and facing," Mr. Hoefler continues. "These features, combined with the latest Kennametal ‘M' milling grades, give users productivity advantages that are crucial to the milling requirements of many jobs that require the production of high-quality parts in record time."
Adds Mr. Pirone, "By getting 40 parts per insert edge instead of 12 or 13, having each insert cost us $12 a piece instead of $60 and having such responsive customer application and field service support, Kennametal provides the kind of value we wish all of our suppliers could give us."
Mr. Pirone has also integrated Kennametal drilling tools with his company's manufacturing operations. For the past 2 years, TP Engineering has been using KSEM APKT Insert Sculptured Edge High Performance modular drills on an Okuma MX-40 HA horizontal machining center to drill deep holes in rocker arms made of 4140 steel that has been heat treated, machined and then hardened to 32-36 HRC.
Using a drill body that is 5 inches long and a carbide blade in grade KC7215, TP is making 400 holes per blade that are 3.600 inches deep with a diameter of 0.630 inch.
"Because KSEM's design propels the drill into the workpiece at a tremendous penetration rate, while breaking chips effectively and maintaining stability, the user is ensured of getting precise, close-tolerance holes faster," says Kennametal's Mr. Dobrynski.
To make holes in the aluminum casting of the engine crankcase, TP is using a 5-inch drill body and a grade KC7235 blade to drill more than 2,000 holes (and counting) Face Milling Inserts at a depth of 2.01 inches with a diameter of 1.125 inches. Kennametal performs factory reconditioning of the blades.
TP Engineering's use of Kennametal's holemaking know-how extends to the Dynapoint Triple-Flute (TF), a solid carbide drill that TP is using to make small-diameter holes in engine and transmission cases made of 356 and 6061 aluminum. With Dynapoint, TP Engineering is making 24,800 holes per body at 0.51 second per hole. A tool that TP formerly used had an output of only 1,000 holes per drill body at 4 seconds per hole.
With three flutes, the sculptured edge drill point creates a smooth transition from the major cutting edge to the center of the drill, eliminating stress peaks and allowing the drill to actively cut metal over the entire cutting edge.
Compared to conventional drills, which are ground with flat chisel points that will push and tear the metal, the sculptured edge design is said to allow the user to handle increased chip loads for faster penetration rates and greater productivity.
Over the past 4 years, Kennametal has helped TP Engineering reduce its cost per part, decrease cycle times and increase tool life.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://thomaschap.blogtez.com/
Four years represents an eternity in the life of metalworking tools. In that time, TP Engineering (Bethel, Connecticut) has milled a mile of aluminum without changing the inserts on a Kennametal three-cartridge, 0-degree lead, 3-inch polycrystalline diamond (PCD)-tipped high-velocity face mill.
TP Engineering, a designer and manufacturer of Harley-Davidson aftermarket motorcycle engines and related components, is using PCD milling to finish engine cases, oil pumps, rocker boxes, inner and outer primary engine covers, and transmission cases and covers.
"We couldn't be happier with the performance of PCD milling," says Tom Pirone, TP Engineering's president and founder. "To this day, I find it amazing that we have never changed inserts."
In this application, TP is using PCD to work on 6061T6 aluminum and 356 aluminum, a difficult-to-machine material that it mills on a Mori-Seiki SH-400, a Mori-Seiki SH-403 and two Okuma MX 40 HA horizontal machining centers.
"The secret to the PCD face mill is in the design," says Gerry Dobrynski, the Kennametal field sales representative who services the TP Engineering account. "These lightweight but sturdy milling cutter bodies are engineered to best utilize the cutting power of the PCD adjustable cartridges that are secured to the cutter body with socket-head cap screws. Each cartridge is tipped with super-hard PCD (KD100 grade) that enables faster speeds, excellent tool life and superior surface finishes when compared to carbide or high speed steel (HSS) tools."
TP Engineering's use of PCD high-velocity face mills is enabling the company to mill 10,000 sfm at 140 ipm.
Besides increased tool life and decreased cycle time on the engine case from 1 hour to 24 minutes, Mr. Pirone is also pleased with the mirror finish that results from a Kennametal PCD face mill. "The surfaces achieve a superior finish with a phenomenal consistency that I didn't expect when I began using PCD, and I'm sure that it influences Harley-Davidson owners to buy our products."
TP Engineering replaced a carbide end mill 6 years ago with helical and router style Kennametal NGE-I end mills. The mills use six KC725M inserts for milling steel and six KC510M inserts to mill aluminum on a Mori-Seiki SH-400 horizontal machining center to perform profile milling on connecting rods, engine cases, inner and outer primary engine covers, oil pumps and rocker boxes.
The significant values for TP Engineering's use of an NGE-I end mill are 10,000 sfm at 120 ipm for milling aluminum and 500 sfm at 20-40 ipm for milling steel. By using NGE-I, TP has tripled productivity and tool life while improving the smoothness of surface finishes by a factor of three.
"TP Engineering has realized those quantitative and qualitative improvements because the NGE-I offers positive chip forming geometry, which results in free cutting action and lower cutting forces," says Brian Hoefler, Kennametal's NGE product manager.
"NGE end mills are versatile and can be used for machining shoulders, slots, contours and facing," Mr. Hoefler continues. "These features, combined with the latest Kennametal ‘M' milling grades, give users productivity advantages that are crucial to the milling requirements of many jobs that require the production of high-quality parts in record time."
Adds Mr. Pirone, "By getting 40 parts per insert edge instead of 12 or 13, having each insert cost us $12 a piece instead of $60 and having such responsive customer application and field service support, Kennametal provides the kind of value we wish all of our suppliers could give us."
Mr. Pirone has also integrated Kennametal drilling tools with his company's manufacturing operations. For the past 2 years, TP Engineering has been using KSEM APKT Insert Sculptured Edge High Performance modular drills on an Okuma MX-40 HA horizontal machining center to drill deep holes in rocker arms made of 4140 steel that has been heat treated, machined and then hardened to 32-36 HRC.
Using a drill body that is 5 inches long and a carbide blade in grade KC7215, TP is making 400 holes per blade that are 3.600 inches deep with a diameter of 0.630 inch.
"Because KSEM's design propels the drill into the workpiece at a tremendous penetration rate, while breaking chips effectively and maintaining stability, the user is ensured of getting precise, close-tolerance holes faster," says Kennametal's Mr. Dobrynski.
To make holes in the aluminum casting of the engine crankcase, TP is using a 5-inch drill body and a grade KC7235 blade to drill more than 2,000 holes (and counting) Face Milling Inserts at a depth of 2.01 inches with a diameter of 1.125 inches. Kennametal performs factory reconditioning of the blades.
TP Engineering's use of Kennametal's holemaking know-how extends to the Dynapoint Triple-Flute (TF), a solid carbide drill that TP is using to make small-diameter holes in engine and transmission cases made of 356 and 6061 aluminum. With Dynapoint, TP Engineering is making 24,800 holes per body at 0.51 second per hole. A tool that TP formerly used had an output of only 1,000 holes per drill body at 4 seconds per hole.
With three flutes, the sculptured edge drill point creates a smooth transition from the major cutting edge to the center of the drill, eliminating stress peaks and allowing the drill to actively cut metal over the entire cutting edge.
Compared to conventional drills, which are ground with flat chisel points that will push and tear the metal, the sculptured edge design is said to allow the user to handle increased chip loads for faster penetration rates and greater productivity.
Over the past 4 years, Kennametal has helped TP Engineering reduce its cost per part, decrease cycle times and increase tool life.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://thomaschap.blogtez.com/
Changeable Head Drill Available in Fracture Resistant Grade
Sumitomo Electric Carbide’s TSX-series tangential milling cutter is designed for stable, efficient Carbide Inserts shoulder milling at high feed rates. The TSX is Deep Hole Drilling Inserts engineered with a tough and sharp cutting edge, and provides the strength required for increased depths of cut ranging from small jobs to heavy-duty roughing applications.
A four-corner ground-tolerance, tangentially-mounted insert with optimized chipbreaker is said to achieve excellent edge sharpness and sidewall accuracy. The TSX is available in two precision-ground insert sizes, offering a maximum depth of cut of 8 or 12 mm (0.315" or 0.473").
Other features of the competitively-priced TSX include reduced cutting force, surface roughness of less than 0.5 micron Ra, squareness less than 0.05 mm and long-term wear resistance.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://jasonagnes.mee.nu/
Sumitomo Electric Carbide’s TSX-series tangential milling cutter is designed for stable, efficient Carbide Inserts shoulder milling at high feed rates. The TSX is Deep Hole Drilling Inserts engineered with a tough and sharp cutting edge, and provides the strength required for increased depths of cut ranging from small jobs to heavy-duty roughing applications.
A four-corner ground-tolerance, tangentially-mounted insert with optimized chipbreaker is said to achieve excellent edge sharpness and sidewall accuracy. The TSX is available in two precision-ground insert sizes, offering a maximum depth of cut of 8 or 12 mm (0.315" or 0.473").
Other features of the competitively-priced TSX include reduced cutting force, surface roughness of less than 0.5 micron Ra, squareness less than 0.05 mm and long-term wear resistance.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://jasonagnes.mee.nu/
Sumitomo Electric Carbide’s TSX-series tangential milling cutter is designed for stable, efficient Carbide Inserts shoulder milling at high feed rates. The TSX is Deep Hole Drilling Inserts engineered with a tough and sharp cutting edge, and provides the strength required for increased depths of cut ranging from small jobs to heavy-duty roughing applications.
A four-corner ground-tolerance, tangentially-mounted insert with optimized chipbreaker is said to achieve excellent edge sharpness and sidewall accuracy. The TSX is available in two precision-ground insert sizes, offering a maximum depth of cut of 8 or 12 mm (0.315" or 0.473").
Other features of the competitively-priced TSX include reduced cutting force, surface roughness of less than 0.5 micron Ra, squareness less than 0.05 mm and long-term wear resistance.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://jasonagnes.mee.nu/
Profile PCD Tools On Wire EDM
Sandvik Additive Manufacturing has assisted sister company and cutting tool maker Sandvik Coromant in the redesign of a milling cutter to WNMG Insert be made through additive manufacturing (AM). Making the tool additively allows for substantially lighter weight, and light weight will lead to more productive milling because the lighter cutter can be run at higher spindle speeds without vibration. The new milling cutter is 80 percent lighter than the original tool made conventionally.
In this video filmed at Formnext 2018, I talk through some of the steps Sandvik took toward realizing that weight reduction, from lattices to topology optimization to a change in material. The last of these steps is perhaps the most striking. Titanium is not typically thought of as a material for making cutting tool bodies, but it was the right material for making this tool additively. AM not only enables these radical design changes, it also enables the exploration of these changes by making iteration easy.
Coated InsertsThe Cemented Carbide Blog: TNMG Insert
Sandvik Additive Manufacturing has assisted sister company and cutting tool maker Sandvik Coromant in the redesign of a milling cutter to WNMG Insert be made through additive manufacturing (AM). Making the tool additively allows for substantially lighter weight, and light weight will lead to more productive milling because the lighter cutter can be run at higher spindle speeds without vibration. The new milling cutter is 80 percent lighter than the original tool made conventionally.
In this video filmed at Formnext 2018, I talk through some of the steps Sandvik took toward realizing that weight reduction, from lattices to topology optimization to a change in material. The last of these steps is perhaps the most striking. Titanium is not typically thought of as a material for making cutting tool bodies, but it was the right material for making this tool additively. AM not only enables these radical design changes, it also enables the exploration of these changes by making iteration easy.
Coated InsertsThe Cemented Carbide Blog: TNMG Insert
Sandvik Additive Manufacturing has assisted sister company and cutting tool maker Sandvik Coromant in the redesign of a milling cutter to WNMG Insert be made through additive manufacturing (AM). Making the tool additively allows for substantially lighter weight, and light weight will lead to more productive milling because the lighter cutter can be run at higher spindle speeds without vibration. The new milling cutter is 80 percent lighter than the original tool made conventionally.
In this video filmed at Formnext 2018, I talk through some of the steps Sandvik took toward realizing that weight reduction, from lattices to topology optimization to a change in material. The last of these steps is perhaps the most striking. Titanium is not typically thought of as a material for making cutting tool bodies, but it was the right material for making this tool additively. AM not only enables these radical design changes, it also enables the exploration of these changes by making iteration easy.
Coated InsertsThe Cemented Carbide Blog: TNMG Insert
Software Reduces Machining Time, Improves Tool Life
Tool classification in mold industry
1. Drilling tools:
1. Straight taper handle fried dough twist drill（ φ 0.5~ φ 50) 2. Straight taper shank reamer（ φ 4~ φ 50) 3. Long fried dough twist drill with straight and tapered shank（ φ 1.5~ φ 50) 4. Sleeve expansion hole drill（ φ 25~ φ 52) 5. Straight and tapered shank inlaid carbide fried dough twist drill（ φ 5~ φ 50) 6. Countersunk drill with straight and taper shank（ φ 8~ φ 80) 7. Type A full-grinding spiral groove center drill（ φ 1~ φ 6) 8. Four-leaf ladder drill（ φ 6~ φ 50) 9. Four-blade countersink drill（ φ 16~ φ 26) (for fixture factory) 10. Double-blade ladder drill（ φ 2~ φ 30）
2. Reaming tool:
1. High-tech steel hand reamer（ φ 2~ φ 50) 2. Long blade of hand reamer 1:50 taper pin（ φ 4~ φ 50) 3. Straight taper shank machine reamer（ φ 1.5~ φ 50) 4. Sleeve reamer（ φ 25~ φ 100) 5. Straight shank and taper shank inlaid carbide machine reamer（ φ 6~ φ 40) 6. Valve seat reamer 7. Hand 1:50 taper pin pair reamer（ φ 3~ φ 50) 8. Screw reamer
3. Milling tool:
1. Straight shank and taper shank end milling cutter（ φ 2~ φ 50) 2. Convex-concave semi-circular milling cutter (r1~r20) 3. Straight shank and taper shank long-edge end milling cutter（ φ 4~ φ 50) 4. Woodruff keyway milling cutter（ φ 1.5~ φ 8) 5. Keyway milling cutter with straight shank and taper shank（ φ 2~ φ 50) 6. T-slot milling cutter（ φ 5~ φ 36) 7. Straight tooth three-face milling cutter（ φ 50~ φ 160) 8. Cylindrical milling cutter（ φ 40~ φ 100) 9. Three-side milling cutter with staggered teeth（ φ 63~ φ 125) 10. Saw blade milling cutter（ φ 60~ φ 200) 11. Symmetrical double-angle milling cutter（ φ 50~ φ 160) 12. Taper end milling cutter 13. Single-angle milling cutter（ φ 35~ φ 80) 14. Spiral end mill
4. Thread cutter:
1. Tap with hands 2. Machine tap 3. Grinding spiral groove tap 4. Round die 5. Thread rolling die 6. Thread rolling plate 7. Taper (column) pipe thread tap 8. Taper (column) pipe thread die
5. Measuring tools:
1. Smooth limit gauge 2. Thread Cutting Inserts plug gauge and ring gauge 3. Disc snap gauge 4. Slot width plug gauge 5. Smooth plug gauge, ring gauge 6. Length double-sided buckle
6. Turning and broaching:
1. Square turning tool bar 2. Rectangular rotary tool bar 3. Round rotary tool 4. Round broach 5. Round push tool
7. Non-standard measuring tools:
1. Parabolic groove deep hole drill bit - straight shank and taper shank ultra-long drill bit, diameter: φ 1mm~~ φ 80mm, total length: 100mm~~2000mm, of which diameter, blade length and total length can be produced according to requirements. 2. Various advanced composite tools: ladder drill, drill reamer, composite reamer, composite reamer, etc. 3. All kinds of non-standard measuring tools and cutters of high-speed steel and high-cobalt steel are produced according to the drawings.
8. Special tools for Milling inserts carpentry:
All kinds of drill bits, engraving and milling cutters, finger cutters, floor cutters, door cutters, etc.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Turning Inserts
Tool classification in mold industry
1. Drilling tools:
1. Straight taper handle fried dough twist drill（ φ 0.5~ φ 50) 2. Straight taper shank reamer（ φ 4~ φ 50) 3. Long fried dough twist drill with straight and tapered shank（ φ 1.5~ φ 50) 4. Sleeve expansion hole drill（ φ 25~ φ 52) 5. Straight and tapered shank inlaid carbide fried dough twist drill（ φ 5~ φ 50) 6. Countersunk drill with straight and taper shank（ φ 8~ φ 80) 7. Type A full-grinding spiral groove center drill（ φ 1~ φ 6) 8. Four-leaf ladder drill（ φ 6~ φ 50) 9. Four-blade countersink drill（ φ 16~ φ 26) (for fixture factory) 10. Double-blade ladder drill（ φ 2~ φ 30）
2. Reaming tool:
1. High-tech steel hand reamer（ φ 2~ φ 50) 2. Long blade of hand reamer 1:50 taper pin（ φ 4~ φ 50) 3. Straight taper shank machine reamer（ φ 1.5~ φ 50) 4. Sleeve reamer（ φ 25~ φ 100) 5. Straight shank and taper shank inlaid carbide machine reamer（ φ 6~ φ 40) 6. Valve seat reamer 7. Hand 1:50 taper pin pair reamer（ φ 3~ φ 50) 8. Screw reamer
3. Milling tool:
1. Straight shank and taper shank end milling cutter（ φ 2~ φ 50) 2. Convex-concave semi-circular milling cutter (r1~r20) 3. Straight shank and taper shank long-edge end milling cutter（ φ 4~ φ 50) 4. Woodruff keyway milling cutter（ φ 1.5~ φ 8) 5. Keyway milling cutter with straight shank and taper shank（ φ 2~ φ 50) 6. T-slot milling cutter（ φ 5~ φ 36) 7. Straight tooth three-face milling cutter（ φ 50~ φ 160) 8. Cylindrical milling cutter（ φ 40~ φ 100) 9. Three-side milling cutter with staggered teeth（ φ 63~ φ 125) 10. Saw blade milling cutter（ φ 60~ φ 200) 11. Symmetrical double-angle milling cutter（ φ 50~ φ 160) 12. Taper end milling cutter 13. Single-angle milling cutter（ φ 35~ φ 80) 14. Spiral end mill
4. Thread cutter:
1. Tap with hands 2. Machine tap 3. Grinding spiral groove tap 4. Round die 5. Thread rolling die 6. Thread rolling plate 7. Taper (column) pipe thread tap 8. Taper (column) pipe thread die
5. Measuring tools:
1. Smooth limit gauge 2. Thread Cutting Inserts plug gauge and ring gauge 3. Disc snap gauge 4. Slot width plug gauge 5. Smooth plug gauge, ring gauge 6. Length double-sided buckle
6. Turning and broaching:
1. Square turning tool bar 2. Rectangular rotary tool bar 3. Round rotary tool 4. Round broach 5. Round push tool
7. Non-standard measuring tools:
1. Parabolic groove deep hole drill bit - straight shank and taper shank ultra-long drill bit, diameter: φ 1mm~~ φ 80mm, total length: 100mm~~2000mm, of which diameter, blade length and total length can be produced according to requirements. 2. Various advanced composite tools: ladder drill, drill reamer, composite reamer, composite reamer, etc. 3. All kinds of non-standard measuring tools and cutters of high-speed steel and high-cobalt steel are produced according to the drawings.
8. Special tools for Milling inserts carpentry:
All kinds of drill bits, engraving and milling cutters, finger cutters, floor cutters, door cutters, etc.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Turning Inserts
Tool classification in mold industry
1. Drilling tools:
1. Straight taper handle fried dough twist drill（ φ 0.5~ φ 50) 2. Straight taper shank reamer（ φ 4~ φ 50) 3. Long fried dough twist drill with straight and tapered shank（ φ 1.5~ φ 50) 4. Sleeve expansion hole drill（ φ 25~ φ 52) 5. Straight and tapered shank inlaid carbide fried dough twist drill（ φ 5~ φ 50) 6. Countersunk drill with straight and taper shank（ φ 8~ φ 80) 7. Type A full-grinding spiral groove center drill（ φ 1~ φ 6) 8. Four-leaf ladder drill（ φ 6~ φ 50) 9. Four-blade countersink drill（ φ 16~ φ 26) (for fixture factory) 10. Double-blade ladder drill（ φ 2~ φ 30）
2. Reaming tool:
1. High-tech steel hand reamer（ φ 2~ φ 50) 2. Long blade of hand reamer 1:50 taper pin（ φ 4~ φ 50) 3. Straight taper shank machine reamer（ φ 1.5~ φ 50) 4. Sleeve reamer（ φ 25~ φ 100) 5. Straight shank and taper shank inlaid carbide machine reamer（ φ 6~ φ 40) 6. Valve seat reamer 7. Hand 1:50 taper pin pair reamer（ φ 3~ φ 50) 8. Screw reamer
3. Milling tool:
1. Straight shank and taper shank end milling cutter（ φ 2~ φ 50) 2. Convex-concave semi-circular milling cutter (r1~r20) 3. Straight shank and taper shank long-edge end milling cutter（ φ 4~ φ 50) 4. Woodruff keyway milling cutter（ φ 1.5~ φ 8) 5. Keyway milling cutter with straight shank and taper shank（ φ 2~ φ 50) 6. T-slot milling cutter（ φ 5~ φ 36) 7. Straight tooth three-face milling cutter（ φ 50~ φ 160) 8. Cylindrical milling cutter（ φ 40~ φ 100) 9. Three-side milling cutter with staggered teeth（ φ 63~ φ 125) 10. Saw blade milling cutter（ φ 60~ φ 200) 11. Symmetrical double-angle milling cutter（ φ 50~ φ 160) 12. Taper end milling cutter 13. Single-angle milling cutter（ φ 35~ φ 80) 14. Spiral end mill
4. Thread cutter:
1. Tap with hands 2. Machine tap 3. Grinding spiral groove tap 4. Round die 5. Thread rolling die 6. Thread rolling plate 7. Taper (column) pipe thread tap 8. Taper (column) pipe thread die
5. Measuring tools:
1. Smooth limit gauge 2. Thread Cutting Inserts plug gauge and ring gauge 3. Disc snap gauge 4. Slot width plug gauge 5. Smooth plug gauge, ring gauge 6. Length double-sided buckle
6. Turning and broaching:
1. Square turning tool bar 2. Rectangular rotary tool bar 3. Round rotary tool 4. Round broach 5. Round push tool
7. Non-standard measuring tools:
1. Parabolic groove deep hole drill bit - straight shank and taper shank ultra-long drill bit, diameter: φ 1mm~~ φ 80mm, total length: 100mm~~2000mm, of which diameter, blade length and total length can be produced according to requirements. 2. Various advanced composite tools: ladder drill, drill reamer, composite reamer, composite reamer, etc. 3. All kinds of non-standard measuring tools and cutters of high-speed steel and high-cobalt steel are produced according to the drawings.
8. Special tools for Milling inserts carpentry:
All kinds of drill bits, engraving and milling cutters, finger cutters, floor cutters, door cutters, etc.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Turning Inserts
Walter Extends Line of Precision Boring Tools
Purdue University researchers have discovered an improved solution for cutting “gummy” metals and reducing component failures.
The researchers previously showed that applying permanent marker, glue or adhesive film dramatically reduces the force required to cut metals such as aluminum, stainless steels, nickel, copper and tantalum. Now, they have discovered how these films produce the effect.
“We have found that you only need the organic film from the markers or glue to VBMT Insert be one molecule thick for it to work,” says Srinivasan Chandrasekar, a Purdue professor of industrial engineering. “This ultra-thin film helps achieve smoother, cleaner and faster cuts than current machining processes. It also reduces the cutting forces and energy, and improves the outcomes for manufacturing across industries such as biomedical, energy, defense and aerospace.”
The researchers also found the molecule chain length and its adsorption to the metal surface are key to realizing improvements. By using the “right” organic molecules, they could locally embrittle the metal to improve machining.
“We are also learning through our discovery more about how environmental factors influence failure of metals,” says Anirudh Udupa, a lead author on the study and a researcher in Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering. “As we decipher how the organic molecular films improve the machinability of these metals, the better also is our understanding of common environment-assisted failures in metals, such as stress-corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement and liquid metal embrittlement.”
The Shoulder Milling Inserts researchers worked with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization to patent this technology. The study involves a collaboration between Purdue, Osaka University and the Indian Institute of Science. The National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy also support the research.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Tungsten Carbide Inserts
Purdue University researchers have discovered an improved solution for cutting “gummy” metals and reducing component failures.
The researchers previously showed that applying permanent marker, glue or adhesive film dramatically reduces the force required to cut metals such as aluminum, stainless steels, nickel, copper and tantalum. Now, they have discovered how these films produce the effect.
“We have found that you only need the organic film from the markers or glue to VBMT Insert be one molecule thick for it to work,” says Srinivasan Chandrasekar, a Purdue professor of industrial engineering. “This ultra-thin film helps achieve smoother, cleaner and faster cuts than current machining processes. It also reduces the cutting forces and energy, and improves the outcomes for manufacturing across industries such as biomedical, energy, defense and aerospace.”
The researchers also found the molecule chain length and its adsorption to the metal surface are key to realizing improvements. By using the “right” organic molecules, they could locally embrittle the metal to improve machining.
“We are also learning through our discovery more about how environmental factors influence failure of metals,” says Anirudh Udupa, a lead author on the study and a researcher in Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering. “As we decipher how the organic molecular films improve the machinability of these metals, the better also is our understanding of common environment-assisted failures in metals, such as stress-corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement and liquid metal embrittlement.”
The Shoulder Milling Inserts researchers worked with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization to patent this technology. The study involves a collaboration between Purdue, Osaka University and the Indian Institute of Science. The National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy also support the research.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Tungsten Carbide Inserts
Purdue University researchers have discovered an improved solution for cutting “gummy” metals and reducing component failures.
The researchers previously showed that applying permanent marker, glue or adhesive film dramatically reduces the force required to cut metals such as aluminum, stainless steels, nickel, copper and tantalum. Now, they have discovered how these films produce the effect.
“We have found that you only need the organic film from the markers or glue to VBMT Insert be one molecule thick for it to work,” says Srinivasan Chandrasekar, a Purdue professor of industrial engineering. “This ultra-thin film helps achieve smoother, cleaner and faster cuts than current machining processes. It also reduces the cutting forces and energy, and improves the outcomes for manufacturing across industries such as biomedical, energy, defense and aerospace.”
The researchers also found the molecule chain length and its adsorption to the metal surface are key to realizing improvements. By using the “right” organic molecules, they could locally embrittle the metal to improve machining.
“We are also learning through our discovery more about how environmental factors influence failure of metals,” says Anirudh Udupa, a lead author on the study and a researcher in Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering. “As we decipher how the organic molecular films improve the machinability of these metals, the better also is our understanding of common environment-assisted failures in metals, such as stress-corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement and liquid metal embrittlement.”
The Shoulder Milling Inserts researchers worked with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization to patent this technology. The study involves a collaboration between Purdue, Osaka University and the Indian Institute of Science. The National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy also support the research.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Tungsten Carbide Inserts
YG 1's Fiberglass Routers Designed for Manual, CNC Cutting
Live tooling often features a sealed-bearing design to prevent coolant from entering the grease packing, but live tooling from Cincinnati, Ohio-based Planet Products uses the exact opposite approach. In fact, coolant is fed directly to the bearings to prevent overheating and tool failure during high-volume, lengthy-cycle CNC turning operations.
“If a shop produces items with long cycle times or high volumes, then thermal growth will usually occur in the toolhead,” explains Mike Thompson, lathe supervisor at Micro-Tronics (Tempe, Arizona). “This is because the sealed bearings in the toolhead tend to overheat during continuous use or under heavy loads, and that can cause serious problems.” Mr. Thompson says, Micro-Tronics’ precision machine shop has experienced a variety of sealed-bearing-related problems in the production of metal valves and related products for the aerospace and automotive industries. Among these problems was thermal growth, which caused offset deviations that adversely affected workpiece tolerances. In another instance, metal chips entered the toolhead after the bearing seal had failed.
To eliminate these issues, Micro-Tronics acquired a coolant-fed toolholder from Planet for each of its new Okuma LB300 lathes. Planet’s live-tool design for turret lathe applications uses a continuous flow of filtered machine coolant to lubricate and cool the bearings, reducing thermal growth. Unlike conventional bearings, coolant-fed bearings do not rely on seal integrity or the lubricant packing to operate normally in high-capacity conditions, the company says. Instead, the filtered coolant that externally cools and lubricates the live tools and workpieces flows through the tool to keep the bearings cool and maintain accuracy. Mr. Thompson adds that the coolant washes metal chips and other contaminants away from the bearing assembly before they cause damage. By keeping bearings cool and free of debris, the shop was able to increase tool life, and thus, increase productivity.
Another way that shops can increase productivity in high-capacity applications is by increasing production speed. Low-cost overseas competition makes this an especially important goal for Buku Performance Products, a small manufacturer of aftermarket components for radio-controlled vehicles. Dave Maslar, CEO of the Gambrills, Maryland-based business, turned to Planet to find a solution that could improve aluminum-cutting productivity on the company’s Puma 240 MB turret lathe from Doosan.
Cycle time for that aluminum component was approximately 6.5 minutes, more than four of which were occupied by cutting deep slots with a 3/32-inch end mill, Mr. Maslar explains. “The live-tool turret on my machine is limited to 5,000 rpm. That was the limiting factor for the time it was taking to process these components,” he says. To increase efficiency, Buku adopted Planet’s line of “speeder” over-speed heads, which feature a gear-up ratio that enables the tool to spin faster than the turret drive. For instance, a user with a 4,000-rpm turret could potentially increase turret speed to 12,000 to 15,000 rpm with a sped-up ratio. At Buku, the over-speed head reduced cycle time by more than 2 minutes. Even though the cycle time placed a heavy demand on the tool, reliability and accuracy were maintained, Mr. Maslar says.
The over-speed heads also feature coolant-fed bearings to reduce tool failure. “The bearings are running fast, and they are running for a long time,” Mr. Malsar says. “But having the coolant lubricate the bearings eliminated any concerns we could have had regarding overusing the live tool for that amount of time.” He adds that externally lubricated and cooled bearings can have tighter tolerances, which improves the runout characteristic of the bearing. Even though there is an upper limit to how tight the bearing tolerance can be if the tool is run for a long time, High Feed Milling Insert he attributes significant runout improvement to the active, external cooling and lubrication of the bearings in the tool head.
“That is a very important result because I’m running a 3/32-inch, three-flute end mill, and the feed per revolution is distributed among three cutting teeth,” he explains. Even the slightest bit of run-out can cause one tooth to substantially over-cut, wear faster and fail more quickly than it should. From a tool cost perspective, that might not be a big deal, he says, but from a production downtime standpoint, that can be very expensive. “So far, we’ve not broken one end mill, and that reflects cutting times of 20 to 30 hours on a single end mill.”
While Buku cuts aluminum, Mr. Maslar says that shops that cut very hard materials should have an even greater PVD Coated Insert appreciation for the tool runout improvements because runout is usually a significant issue in pushing the limits of a hard milling operation.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://arthuredwi.mee.nu/
Live tooling often features a sealed-bearing design to prevent coolant from entering the grease packing, but live tooling from Cincinnati, Ohio-based Planet Products uses the exact opposite approach. In fact, coolant is fed directly to the bearings to prevent overheating and tool failure during high-volume, lengthy-cycle CNC turning operations.
“If a shop produces items with long cycle times or high volumes, then thermal growth will usually occur in the toolhead,” explains Mike Thompson, lathe supervisor at Micro-Tronics (Tempe, Arizona). “This is because the sealed bearings in the toolhead tend to overheat during continuous use or under heavy loads, and that can cause serious problems.” Mr. Thompson says, Micro-Tronics’ precision machine shop has experienced a variety of sealed-bearing-related problems in the production of metal valves and related products for the aerospace and automotive industries. Among these problems was thermal growth, which caused offset deviations that adversely affected workpiece tolerances. In another instance, metal chips entered the toolhead after the bearing seal had failed.
To eliminate these issues, Micro-Tronics acquired a coolant-fed toolholder from Planet for each of its new Okuma LB300 lathes. Planet’s live-tool design for turret lathe applications uses a continuous flow of filtered machine coolant to lubricate and cool the bearings, reducing thermal growth. Unlike conventional bearings, coolant-fed bearings do not rely on seal integrity or the lubricant packing to operate normally in high-capacity conditions, the company says. Instead, the filtered coolant that externally cools and lubricates the live tools and workpieces flows through the tool to keep the bearings cool and maintain accuracy. Mr. Thompson adds that the coolant washes metal chips and other contaminants away from the bearing assembly before they cause damage. By keeping bearings cool and free of debris, the shop was able to increase tool life, and thus, increase productivity.
Another way that shops can increase productivity in high-capacity applications is by increasing production speed. Low-cost overseas competition makes this an especially important goal for Buku Performance Products, a small manufacturer of aftermarket components for radio-controlled vehicles. Dave Maslar, CEO of the Gambrills, Maryland-based business, turned to Planet to find a solution that could improve aluminum-cutting productivity on the company’s Puma 240 MB turret lathe from Doosan.
Cycle time for that aluminum component was approximately 6.5 minutes, more than four of which were occupied by cutting deep slots with a 3/32-inch end mill, Mr. Maslar explains. “The live-tool turret on my machine is limited to 5,000 rpm. That was the limiting factor for the time it was taking to process these components,” he says. To increase efficiency, Buku adopted Planet’s line of “speeder” over-speed heads, which feature a gear-up ratio that enables the tool to spin faster than the turret drive. For instance, a user with a 4,000-rpm turret could potentially increase turret speed to 12,000 to 15,000 rpm with a sped-up ratio. At Buku, the over-speed head reduced cycle time by more than 2 minutes. Even though the cycle time placed a heavy demand on the tool, reliability and accuracy were maintained, Mr. Maslar says.
The over-speed heads also feature coolant-fed bearings to reduce tool failure. “The bearings are running fast, and they are running for a long time,” Mr. Malsar says. “But having the coolant lubricate the bearings eliminated any concerns we could have had regarding overusing the live tool for that amount of time.” He adds that externally lubricated and cooled bearings can have tighter tolerances, which improves the runout characteristic of the bearing. Even though there is an upper limit to how tight the bearing tolerance can be if the tool is run for a long time, High Feed Milling Insert he attributes significant runout improvement to the active, external cooling and lubrication of the bearings in the tool head.
“That is a very important result because I’m running a 3/32-inch, three-flute end mill, and the feed per revolution is distributed among three cutting teeth,” he explains. Even the slightest bit of run-out can cause one tooth to substantially over-cut, wear faster and fail more quickly than it should. From a tool cost perspective, that might not be a big deal, he says, but from a production downtime standpoint, that can be very expensive. “So far, we’ve not broken one end mill, and that reflects cutting times of 20 to 30 hours on a single end mill.”
While Buku cuts aluminum, Mr. Maslar says that shops that cut very hard materials should have an even greater PVD Coated Insert appreciation for the tool runout improvements because runout is usually a significant issue in pushing the limits of a hard milling operation.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://arthuredwi.mee.nu/
Live tooling often features a sealed-bearing design to prevent coolant from entering the grease packing, but live tooling from Cincinnati, Ohio-based Planet Products uses the exact opposite approach. In fact, coolant is fed directly to the bearings to prevent overheating and tool failure during high-volume, lengthy-cycle CNC turning operations.
“If a shop produces items with long cycle times or high volumes, then thermal growth will usually occur in the toolhead,” explains Mike Thompson, lathe supervisor at Micro-Tronics (Tempe, Arizona). “This is because the sealed bearings in the toolhead tend to overheat during continuous use or under heavy loads, and that can cause serious problems.” Mr. Thompson says, Micro-Tronics’ precision machine shop has experienced a variety of sealed-bearing-related problems in the production of metal valves and related products for the aerospace and automotive industries. Among these problems was thermal growth, which caused offset deviations that adversely affected workpiece tolerances. In another instance, metal chips entered the toolhead after the bearing seal had failed.
To eliminate these issues, Micro-Tronics acquired a coolant-fed toolholder from Planet for each of its new Okuma LB300 lathes. Planet’s live-tool design for turret lathe applications uses a continuous flow of filtered machine coolant to lubricate and cool the bearings, reducing thermal growth. Unlike conventional bearings, coolant-fed bearings do not rely on seal integrity or the lubricant packing to operate normally in high-capacity conditions, the company says. Instead, the filtered coolant that externally cools and lubricates the live tools and workpieces flows through the tool to keep the bearings cool and maintain accuracy. Mr. Thompson adds that the coolant washes metal chips and other contaminants away from the bearing assembly before they cause damage. By keeping bearings cool and free of debris, the shop was able to increase tool life, and thus, increase productivity.
Another way that shops can increase productivity in high-capacity applications is by increasing production speed. Low-cost overseas competition makes this an especially important goal for Buku Performance Products, a small manufacturer of aftermarket components for radio-controlled vehicles. Dave Maslar, CEO of the Gambrills, Maryland-based business, turned to Planet to find a solution that could improve aluminum-cutting productivity on the company’s Puma 240 MB turret lathe from Doosan.
Cycle time for that aluminum component was approximately 6.5 minutes, more than four of which were occupied by cutting deep slots with a 3/32-inch end mill, Mr. Maslar explains. “The live-tool turret on my machine is limited to 5,000 rpm. That was the limiting factor for the time it was taking to process these components,” he says. To increase efficiency, Buku adopted Planet’s line of “speeder” over-speed heads, which feature a gear-up ratio that enables the tool to spin faster than the turret drive. For instance, a user with a 4,000-rpm turret could potentially increase turret speed to 12,000 to 15,000 rpm with a sped-up ratio. At Buku, the over-speed head reduced cycle time by more than 2 minutes. Even though the cycle time placed a heavy demand on the tool, reliability and accuracy were maintained, Mr. Maslar says.
The over-speed heads also feature coolant-fed bearings to reduce tool failure. “The bearings are running fast, and they are running for a long time,” Mr. Malsar says. “But having the coolant lubricate the bearings eliminated any concerns we could have had regarding overusing the live tool for that amount of time.” He adds that externally lubricated and cooled bearings can have tighter tolerances, which improves the runout characteristic of the bearing. Even though there is an upper limit to how tight the bearing tolerance can be if the tool is run for a long time, High Feed Milling Insert he attributes significant runout improvement to the active, external cooling and lubrication of the bearings in the tool head.
“That is a very important result because I’m running a 3/32-inch, three-flute end mill, and the feed per revolution is distributed among three cutting teeth,” he explains. Even the slightest bit of run-out can cause one tooth to substantially over-cut, wear faster and fail more quickly than it should. From a tool cost perspective, that might not be a big deal, he says, but from a production downtime standpoint, that can be very expensive. “So far, we’ve not broken one end mill, and that reflects cutting times of 20 to 30 hours on a single end mill.”
While Buku cuts aluminum, Mr. Maslar says that shops that cut very hard materials should have an even greater PVD Coated Insert appreciation for the tool runout improvements because runout is usually a significant issue in pushing the limits of a hard milling operation.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://arthuredwi.mee.nu/
Thread Miller Designed For Maximum Process Reliability(2)
A wealth of equipment can enable machine shop employees to do their jobs more effectively. For example, spindle touch probes can simplify setups, quick-change workholding devices can speed changeovers, automated processes can minimize burdensome tasks and so on. All of this technology is readily available to help shops maximize their overall return on employee investment while enabling employees to expand their shopfloor skillsets.
Marshfield, Wisconsin’s Hastreiter Industries, a family-owned shop and 2018 Top Shops winner, is home to a rather extreme example of this, one that has impacted a specific employee’s manufacturing career and her life Carbide Turning Inserts in a significant way. What is it? It’s goggles with magnifying camera technology that gives Tia Bertz, a legally blind young woman who now works in the shop’s quality control department and supports the company’s IT and CAD needs, 20/20 vision.
Born in South Korea, Ms. Bertz has lived in Marshfield since she was adopted at 17 months old. Since birth, she has had optic nerve hypoplasia. Being a techie, she says this condition is akin to having a bad Ethernet cable between a good network client and server. Her eyes and brain function just fine, but the connection between them is faulty.
Ms. Bertz’s introduction to manufacturing occurred in high school. During her sophomore year at the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in nearby Jamesville, the school purchased a MakerBot Replicator 2X plastics 3D printer. Intrigued, she TCGT Insert took a class one semester that enabled her to experiment with the machine. Her interest in 3D printing was rekindled during her senior year when the school purchased a Lulzbot Taz 5 3D printer. This sparked her maker-mindset, and she began using basic Tinkercad CAD software to design and print various projects. She also read the printer’s operating manual just for fun. Ms. Bertz eventually became the school’s 3D printing instructor and purchased her own Taz 5 for use at home. There, she performed side jobs such as printing tactile astronomy projects for the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay to offer to visitors with visual impairments.
Rather than let her disability define her, Ms. Bertz continued to seek opportunities to leverage her growing skill. “I could have spent the rest of my life in my basement simply 3D printing models,” she says, “but why? I’d much rather inspire those with disabilities such as mine to make significant contributions to society, too.”
In fact, a couple years ago, an opportunity presented itself for Ms. Bertz to do just that when she met members of the Hastreiter family through church.
Formerly known as UTM Inc., Hastreiter Industries was founded in 1988 by Ken and Sondra Hastreiter. Kylan, their son and company vice president, says they were impressed with Ms. Bertz’s talents and smarts. At the time, she was attending Northcentral Technical College in pursuit of her CAD technician associate degree. Believing she could be a valuable member of their team, they sought to identify a role for her while determining what tools she’d need to effectively perform her duties given her visual impairment. The first step was inviting her to visit their shop.
Kylan Hastreiter says one of the first things they did was walk with Ms. Bertz through the shop so she could describe specifically what she could see in the facility. (This was at the shop’s previous location also in Marshfield. In the fall of 2019, the company moved to its current 42,000-square-foot, environmentally controlled building.) The communicative walk-through helped identify potential safety issues. It also shed light on what tasks she would be able to perform and what assistive technology might be required to facilitate them.
After those initial discussions, the shop brought her on as an intern in August 2018. Early on, Ms. Bertz primarily performed CAD modeling. However, as a job shop, Hastreiter Industries offers only so much of that work. If she became a full-time employee, which was the goal, “what else would we be able to call upon her to do?” Mr. Hastreiter recalls wondering. ?Ms. Bertz expressed interest in metrology, so the shop considered what her role in its QC department might look like.
The timing of all this is intriguing. She was brought on as an intern one month before the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. Some of the Hastreiter Industries team was planning to attend, and they invited Ms. Bertz to join them toward the end of the show.
“While walking the show with Tia, we encountered a virtual reality, digital-twin demonstration and learned that she had never experienced VR,” Mr. Hastreiter says. “The demonstration included a virtual factory with assembly projects that those using the VR goggles could attempt in that environment.”
“I thought either I’d do really well in a virtual environment because of my experience with 3D CAD modeling, or I’d epically fail,” Ms. Bertz says. “I fumbled around during the assembly demo at first, but eventually got the hang of it. The person hosting the demo said I did better than many people with excellent vision. That’s when I realized I could function better in a virtual environment than the real world.”
The thought occurred to Mr. Hastreiter that if Ms. Bertz can see in a virtual environment presented very close to her eyes by way of goggles, why not have a camera present a feed of the real world to her in a similar way? Research showed that such technology already existed in the form of the E2 wearable electronic magnifier for low vision from NuEyes. The E2 is a pair of VR goggles integrated with a high-definition, auto-focus camera and software to enable zooming in and out, changing contrast and performing optical character recognition (OCR). The device has a 3K display (1,440- by 1,600-pixel screen resolution) and 101-degree field of view.
The shop, along with the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) — a government agency that works with clients to determine what assistive technology is needed for school and work — set up an E2 demonstration for Ms. Bertz. This was through Adaptive Technologies Resources, a reseller of NuEyes products. At first, the goggles were disorienting, she says. But once she got the hang of it, she was seeing things that were either entirely new or that would have been impossible to see before without positioning her head a couple inches away from an object. “I was like, ‘Wait, I can read the sign at that far wall and see the ball on the CMM probe stylus without getting very close to it,’” she says. “I could also actually see cutting tools in our machines, which I couldn’t before.”
Ms. Bertz explained to her DVR contact that to perform her QC duties at the shop, she would need the E2 goggles as well as digital hand gages. Gages with digital readouts were needed because she could not see the graduation markings on conventional Vernier devices. She also requested a touchscreen computer.
“We noticed that Tia needed to position herself right up against a computer screen to see it,” Mr. Hastreiter explains. (The camera in the goggles doesn’t help when looking at a computer screen.) “But when you’re that close, how do you know where the mouse cursor is? Having a touchscreen eliminates the need to locate it.”
Now with the goggles, the digital hand gages and the touchscreen computer, Ms. Bertz can independently perform part inspection duties and easily read complicated part prints with small text. She also measures parts using the shop’s vision system, which she says is ironic given her visual impairment. Hastreiter Industries hired her as a full-time employee in May 2019, and has started training her to program and operate its Hexagon 7.10.7 SF shopfloor CMM. Once that training is complete, the goal is to promote her to the second-shift QC department lead. “That’s perfect for me because I’m not a morning person,” Ms. Bertz jokes.
This experience has inspired Ms. Bertz to set a long-term goal of creating an ISO-like standard to help manufacturers safely accommodate employees with visual impairments. That way, they are not reinventing the wheel and won’t have to hire an expert in accessibility techniques and technology.
For now, though, she suggests that manufacturers considering hiring visually impaired people to do their homework relative to assistive technology currently available such as the E2 goggles. She also recommends contacting a state’s equivalent to DVR to determine what resources it has to assist a shop’s efforts. But Ms. Bertz says what’s most important is really getting to know the individual with the visual impairment. Open communication between shop management and the individual is paramount to a satisfying work experience and ensuring that person has the right tools to succeed and thrive.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://beaded.insanejournal.com/
A wealth of equipment can enable machine shop employees to do their jobs more effectively. For example, spindle touch probes can simplify setups, quick-change workholding devices can speed changeovers, automated processes can minimize burdensome tasks and so on. All of this technology is readily available to help shops maximize their overall return on employee investment while enabling employees to expand their shopfloor skillsets.
Marshfield, Wisconsin’s Hastreiter Industries, a family-owned shop and 2018 Top Shops winner, is home to a rather extreme example of this, one that has impacted a specific employee’s manufacturing career and her life Carbide Turning Inserts in a significant way. What is it? It’s goggles with magnifying camera technology that gives Tia Bertz, a legally blind young woman who now works in the shop’s quality control department and supports the company’s IT and CAD needs, 20/20 vision.
Born in South Korea, Ms. Bertz has lived in Marshfield since she was adopted at 17 months old. Since birth, she has had optic nerve hypoplasia. Being a techie, she says this condition is akin to having a bad Ethernet cable between a good network client and server. Her eyes and brain function just fine, but the connection between them is faulty.
Ms. Bertz’s introduction to manufacturing occurred in high school. During her sophomore year at the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in nearby Jamesville, the school purchased a MakerBot Replicator 2X plastics 3D printer. Intrigued, she TCGT Insert took a class one semester that enabled her to experiment with the machine. Her interest in 3D printing was rekindled during her senior year when the school purchased a Lulzbot Taz 5 3D printer. This sparked her maker-mindset, and she began using basic Tinkercad CAD software to design and print various projects. She also read the printer’s operating manual just for fun. Ms. Bertz eventually became the school’s 3D printing instructor and purchased her own Taz 5 for use at home. There, she performed side jobs such as printing tactile astronomy projects for the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay to offer to visitors with visual impairments.
Rather than let her disability define her, Ms. Bertz continued to seek opportunities to leverage her growing skill. “I could have spent the rest of my life in my basement simply 3D printing models,” she says, “but why? I’d much rather inspire those with disabilities such as mine to make significant contributions to society, too.”
In fact, a couple years ago, an opportunity presented itself for Ms. Bertz to do just that when she met members of the Hastreiter family through church.
Formerly known as UTM Inc., Hastreiter Industries was founded in 1988 by Ken and Sondra Hastreiter. Kylan, their son and company vice president, says they were impressed with Ms. Bertz’s talents and smarts. At the time, she was attending Northcentral Technical College in pursuit of her CAD technician associate degree. Believing she could be a valuable member of their team, they sought to identify a role for her while determining what tools she’d need to effectively perform her duties given her visual impairment. The first step was inviting her to visit their shop.
Kylan Hastreiter says one of the first things they did was walk with Ms. Bertz through the shop so she could describe specifically what she could see in the facility. (This was at the shop’s previous location also in Marshfield. In the fall of 2019, the company moved to its current 42,000-square-foot, environmentally controlled building.) The communicative walk-through helped identify potential safety issues. It also shed light on what tasks she would be able to perform and what assistive technology might be required to facilitate them.
After those initial discussions, the shop brought her on as an intern in August 2018. Early on, Ms. Bertz primarily performed CAD modeling. However, as a job shop, Hastreiter Industries offers only so much of that work. If she became a full-time employee, which was the goal, “what else would we be able to call upon her to do?” Mr. Hastreiter recalls wondering. ?Ms. Bertz expressed interest in metrology, so the shop considered what her role in its QC department might look like.
The timing of all this is intriguing. She was brought on as an intern one month before the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. Some of the Hastreiter Industries team was planning to attend, and they invited Ms. Bertz to join them toward the end of the show.
“While walking the show with Tia, we encountered a virtual reality, digital-twin demonstration and learned that she had never experienced VR,” Mr. Hastreiter says. “The demonstration included a virtual factory with assembly projects that those using the VR goggles could attempt in that environment.”
“I thought either I’d do really well in a virtual environment because of my experience with 3D CAD modeling, or I’d epically fail,” Ms. Bertz says. “I fumbled around during the assembly demo at first, but eventually got the hang of it. The person hosting the demo said I did better than many people with excellent vision. That’s when I realized I could function better in a virtual environment than the real world.”
The thought occurred to Mr. Hastreiter that if Ms. Bertz can see in a virtual environment presented very close to her eyes by way of goggles, why not have a camera present a feed of the real world to her in a similar way? Research showed that such technology already existed in the form of the E2 wearable electronic magnifier for low vision from NuEyes. The E2 is a pair of VR goggles integrated with a high-definition, auto-focus camera and software to enable zooming in and out, changing contrast and performing optical character recognition (OCR). The device has a 3K display (1,440- by 1,600-pixel screen resolution) and 101-degree field of view.
The shop, along with the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) — a government agency that works with clients to determine what assistive technology is needed for school and work — set up an E2 demonstration for Ms. Bertz. This was through Adaptive Technologies Resources, a reseller of NuEyes products. At first, the goggles were disorienting, she says. But once she got the hang of it, she was seeing things that were either entirely new or that would have been impossible to see before without positioning her head a couple inches away from an object. “I was like, ‘Wait, I can read the sign at that far wall and see the ball on the CMM probe stylus without getting very close to it,’” she says. “I could also actually see cutting tools in our machines, which I couldn’t before.”
Ms. Bertz explained to her DVR contact that to perform her QC duties at the shop, she would need the E2 goggles as well as digital hand gages. Gages with digital readouts were needed because she could not see the graduation markings on conventional Vernier devices. She also requested a touchscreen computer.
“We noticed that Tia needed to position herself right up against a computer screen to see it,” Mr. Hastreiter explains. (The camera in the goggles doesn’t help when looking at a computer screen.) “But when you’re that close, how do you know where the mouse cursor is? Having a touchscreen eliminates the need to locate it.”
Now with the goggles, the digital hand gages and the touchscreen computer, Ms. Bertz can independently perform part inspection duties and easily read complicated part prints with small text. She also measures parts using the shop’s vision system, which she says is ironic given her visual impairment. Hastreiter Industries hired her as a full-time employee in May 2019, and has started training her to program and operate its Hexagon 7.10.7 SF shopfloor CMM. Once that training is complete, the goal is to promote her to the second-shift QC department lead. “That’s perfect for me because I’m not a morning person,” Ms. Bertz jokes.
This experience has inspired Ms. Bertz to set a long-term goal of creating an ISO-like standard to help manufacturers safely accommodate employees with visual impairments. That way, they are not reinventing the wheel and won’t have to hire an expert in accessibility techniques and technology.
For now, though, she suggests that manufacturers considering hiring visually impaired people to do their homework relative to assistive technology currently available such as the E2 goggles. She also recommends contacting a state’s equivalent to DVR to determine what resources it has to assist a shop’s efforts. But Ms. Bertz says what’s most important is really getting to know the individual with the visual impairment. Open communication between shop management and the individual is paramount to a satisfying work experience and ensuring that person has the right tools to succeed and thrive.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://beaded.insanejournal.com/
A wealth of equipment can enable machine shop employees to do their jobs more effectively. For example, spindle touch probes can simplify setups, quick-change workholding devices can speed changeovers, automated processes can minimize burdensome tasks and so on. All of this technology is readily available to help shops maximize their overall return on employee investment while enabling employees to expand their shopfloor skillsets.
Marshfield, Wisconsin’s Hastreiter Industries, a family-owned shop and 2018 Top Shops winner, is home to a rather extreme example of this, one that has impacted a specific employee’s manufacturing career and her life Carbide Turning Inserts in a significant way. What is it? It’s goggles with magnifying camera technology that gives Tia Bertz, a legally blind young woman who now works in the shop’s quality control department and supports the company’s IT and CAD needs, 20/20 vision.
Born in South Korea, Ms. Bertz has lived in Marshfield since she was adopted at 17 months old. Since birth, she has had optic nerve hypoplasia. Being a techie, she says this condition is akin to having a bad Ethernet cable between a good network client and server. Her eyes and brain function just fine, but the connection between them is faulty.
Ms. Bertz’s introduction to manufacturing occurred in high school. During her sophomore year at the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in nearby Jamesville, the school purchased a MakerBot Replicator 2X plastics 3D printer. Intrigued, she TCGT Insert took a class one semester that enabled her to experiment with the machine. Her interest in 3D printing was rekindled during her senior year when the school purchased a Lulzbot Taz 5 3D printer. This sparked her maker-mindset, and she began using basic Tinkercad CAD software to design and print various projects. She also read the printer’s operating manual just for fun. Ms. Bertz eventually became the school’s 3D printing instructor and purchased her own Taz 5 for use at home. There, she performed side jobs such as printing tactile astronomy projects for the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay to offer to visitors with visual impairments.
Rather than let her disability define her, Ms. Bertz continued to seek opportunities to leverage her growing skill. “I could have spent the rest of my life in my basement simply 3D printing models,” she says, “but why? I’d much rather inspire those with disabilities such as mine to make significant contributions to society, too.”
In fact, a couple years ago, an opportunity presented itself for Ms. Bertz to do just that when she met members of the Hastreiter family through church.
Formerly known as UTM Inc., Hastreiter Industries was founded in 1988 by Ken and Sondra Hastreiter. Kylan, their son and company vice president, says they were impressed with Ms. Bertz’s talents and smarts. At the time, she was attending Northcentral Technical College in pursuit of her CAD technician associate degree. Believing she could be a valuable member of their team, they sought to identify a role for her while determining what tools she’d need to effectively perform her duties given her visual impairment. The first step was inviting her to visit their shop.
Kylan Hastreiter says one of the first things they did was walk with Ms. Bertz through the shop so she could describe specifically what she could see in the facility. (This was at the shop’s previous location also in Marshfield. In the fall of 2019, the company moved to its current 42,000-square-foot, environmentally controlled building.) The communicative walk-through helped identify potential safety issues. It also shed light on what tasks she would be able to perform and what assistive technology might be required to facilitate them.
After those initial discussions, the shop brought her on as an intern in August 2018. Early on, Ms. Bertz primarily performed CAD modeling. However, as a job shop, Hastreiter Industries offers only so much of that work. If she became a full-time employee, which was the goal, “what else would we be able to call upon her to do?” Mr. Hastreiter recalls wondering. ?Ms. Bertz expressed interest in metrology, so the shop considered what her role in its QC department might look like.
The timing of all this is intriguing. She was brought on as an intern one month before the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. Some of the Hastreiter Industries team was planning to attend, and they invited Ms. Bertz to join them toward the end of the show.
“While walking the show with Tia, we encountered a virtual reality, digital-twin demonstration and learned that she had never experienced VR,” Mr. Hastreiter says. “The demonstration included a virtual factory with assembly projects that those using the VR goggles could attempt in that environment.”
“I thought either I’d do really well in a virtual environment because of my experience with 3D CAD modeling, or I’d epically fail,” Ms. Bertz says. “I fumbled around during the assembly demo at first, but eventually got the hang of it. The person hosting the demo said I did better than many people with excellent vision. That’s when I realized I could function better in a virtual environment than the real world.”
The thought occurred to Mr. Hastreiter that if Ms. Bertz can see in a virtual environment presented very close to her eyes by way of goggles, why not have a camera present a feed of the real world to her in a similar way? Research showed that such technology already existed in the form of the E2 wearable electronic magnifier for low vision from NuEyes. The E2 is a pair of VR goggles integrated with a high-definition, auto-focus camera and software to enable zooming in and out, changing contrast and performing optical character recognition (OCR). The device has a 3K display (1,440- by 1,600-pixel screen resolution) and 101-degree field of view.
The shop, along with the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) — a government agency that works with clients to determine what assistive technology is needed for school and work — set up an E2 demonstration for Ms. Bertz. This was through Adaptive Technologies Resources, a reseller of NuEyes products. At first, the goggles were disorienting, she says. But once she got the hang of it, she was seeing things that were either entirely new or that would have been impossible to see before without positioning her head a couple inches away from an object. “I was like, ‘Wait, I can read the sign at that far wall and see the ball on the CMM probe stylus without getting very close to it,’” she says. “I could also actually see cutting tools in our machines, which I couldn’t before.”
Ms. Bertz explained to her DVR contact that to perform her QC duties at the shop, she would need the E2 goggles as well as digital hand gages. Gages with digital readouts were needed because she could not see the graduation markings on conventional Vernier devices. She also requested a touchscreen computer.
“We noticed that Tia needed to position herself right up against a computer screen to see it,” Mr. Hastreiter explains. (The camera in the goggles doesn’t help when looking at a computer screen.) “But when you’re that close, how do you know where the mouse cursor is? Having a touchscreen eliminates the need to locate it.”
Now with the goggles, the digital hand gages and the touchscreen computer, Ms. Bertz can independently perform part inspection duties and easily read complicated part prints with small text. She also measures parts using the shop’s vision system, which she says is ironic given her visual impairment. Hastreiter Industries hired her as a full-time employee in May 2019, and has started training her to program and operate its Hexagon 7.10.7 SF shopfloor CMM. Once that training is complete, the goal is to promote her to the second-shift QC department lead. “That’s perfect for me because I’m not a morning person,” Ms. Bertz jokes.
This experience has inspired Ms. Bertz to set a long-term goal of creating an ISO-like standard to help manufacturers safely accommodate employees with visual impairments. That way, they are not reinventing the wheel and won’t have to hire an expert in accessibility techniques and technology.
For now, though, she suggests that manufacturers considering hiring visually impaired people to do their homework relative to assistive technology currently available such as the E2 goggles. She also recommends contacting a state’s equivalent to DVR to determine what resources it has to assist a shop’s efforts. But Ms. Bertz says what’s most important is really getting to know the individual with the visual impairment. Open communication between shop management and the individual is paramount to a satisfying work experience and ensuring that person has the right tools to succeed and thrive.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://beaded.insanejournal.com/
NC Simulation Becomes Basis for Manufacturing Intelligence
Samputensili’s SG 160 Sky Grind, available from Star SU, is said to eliminate the need for cutting oils during the grinding of gears after heat treatment. The machine features two Carbide Grooving Inserts spindles, one for skive hobbing and one for generating grinding. The two spindles are actuated by linear motors and, when combined with the use of more Coated Inserts channels, ensure a chip-to-chip time of less than 2 sec., the supplier says.
According to Star SU, the Sky Grind removes 90 percent of the stock allowance with the first pass using a skive hobbing tool. With the second finishing pass, a grinding wheel removes the remaining stock. This process avoids heating the workpiece excessively without the use of oil-based lubricant resulting in a completely dry process.
The company says that the machine is faster than traditional dual-table grinding machines and has a smaller footprint and lower cost of investment for auxiliary equipment. By eliminating cutting oils, the machine is also environmentally friendly.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Carbide Inserts
Samputensili’s SG 160 Sky Grind, available from Star SU, is said to eliminate the need for cutting oils during the grinding of gears after heat treatment. The machine features two Carbide Grooving Inserts spindles, one for skive hobbing and one for generating grinding. The two spindles are actuated by linear motors and, when combined with the use of more Coated Inserts channels, ensure a chip-to-chip time of less than 2 sec., the supplier says.
According to Star SU, the Sky Grind removes 90 percent of the stock allowance with the first pass using a skive hobbing tool. With the second finishing pass, a grinding wheel removes the remaining stock. This process avoids heating the workpiece excessively without the use of oil-based lubricant resulting in a completely dry process.
The company says that the machine is faster than traditional dual-table grinding machines and has a smaller footprint and lower cost of investment for auxiliary equipment. By eliminating cutting oils, the machine is also environmentally friendly.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Carbide Inserts
Samputensili’s SG 160 Sky Grind, available from Star SU, is said to eliminate the need for cutting oils during the grinding of gears after heat treatment. The machine features two Carbide Grooving Inserts spindles, one for skive hobbing and one for generating grinding. The two spindles are actuated by linear motors and, when combined with the use of more Coated Inserts channels, ensure a chip-to-chip time of less than 2 sec., the supplier says.
According to Star SU, the Sky Grind removes 90 percent of the stock allowance with the first pass using a skive hobbing tool. With the second finishing pass, a grinding wheel removes the remaining stock. This process avoids heating the workpiece excessively without the use of oil-based lubricant resulting in a completely dry process.
The company says that the machine is faster than traditional dual-table grinding machines and has a smaller footprint and lower cost of investment for auxiliary equipment. By eliminating cutting oils, the machine is also environmentally friendly.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Carbide Inserts
ANCA's Tool of the Year Awards Go to Turcar
Walter USA has added polycristalline diamond (PCD) grooving inserts to its Walter Cut GX grooving system. These straight-edge (F1) and full-radius (M1) geometries are designed for grooving in aluminum and titanium alloys, enabling high cutting speed, lengthening tool life and improving surface quality in grooving, parting and recessing operations. The inserts are said to be ideal for aerospace, Indexable Milling Insert medical device and automotive applications.
The wear-resistant WDN10 Carbide Milling inserts PCD grade provides high hardness, a low coefficient of friction and minimal heat distortion for high-speed machining of nonferrous materials.
The GX24-WDN10 inserts feature chipbreaker geometry, laser-marked ISO and ANSI corner-radius designation, and widths ranging from 0.078" to 0.118" (2 to 8 mm).
The Cemented Carbide Blog: CNC Carbide Inserts
Walter USA has added polycristalline diamond (PCD) grooving inserts to its Walter Cut GX grooving system. These straight-edge (F1) and full-radius (M1) geometries are designed for grooving in aluminum and titanium alloys, enabling high cutting speed, lengthening tool life and improving surface quality in grooving, parting and recessing operations. The inserts are said to be ideal for aerospace, Indexable Milling Insert medical device and automotive applications.
The wear-resistant WDN10 Carbide Milling inserts PCD grade provides high hardness, a low coefficient of friction and minimal heat distortion for high-speed machining of nonferrous materials.
The GX24-WDN10 inserts feature chipbreaker geometry, laser-marked ISO and ANSI corner-radius designation, and widths ranging from 0.078" to 0.118" (2 to 8 mm).
The Cemented Carbide Blog: CNC Carbide Inserts
Walter USA has added polycristalline diamond (PCD) grooving inserts to its Walter Cut GX grooving system. These straight-edge (F1) and full-radius (M1) geometries are designed for grooving in aluminum and titanium alloys, enabling high cutting speed, lengthening tool life and improving surface quality in grooving, parting and recessing operations. The inserts are said to be ideal for aerospace, Indexable Milling Insert medical device and automotive applications.
The wear-resistant WDN10 Carbide Milling inserts PCD grade provides high hardness, a low coefficient of friction and minimal heat distortion for high-speed machining of nonferrous materials.
The GX24-WDN10 inserts feature chipbreaker geometry, laser-marked ISO and ANSI corner-radius designation, and widths ranging from 0.078" to 0.118" (2 to 8 mm).
The Cemented Carbide Blog: CNC Carbide Inserts
