Face Milling Cutter, Insert Line Expands

In recent years, many machine shops have experienced a significant decline in sales; compression of margins; increased competition; exportation of machining and manufacturing demand; difficulty in obtaining working capital and acquisition financing resulting in operating losses; and an erosion in tangible net worth. Those shops that have remained profitable and experienced upward trends have several common characteristics: experienced and disciplined management, a diverse customer base, no significant customer concentrations, proper leverage and stringent cash flow management.

A challenge all equipment buyers experience is determining the best means to fund an equipment acquisition: cash/equity, a bank revolving line of credit or an equipment loan. Equipment financing is especially difficult during lean economic periods, when a prudent businessperson needs to monitor and forecast cash flow needs and availability to remain solvent.

All three acquisition payment methods entail both advantages and disadvantages. Cash purchasing is simple, requires no third party intervention and alleviates a buyer from future debt/rental payments—yet a cash purchase may adversely affect a company’s solvency. Using a bank working line of credit availability is another simple funding method that requires no third party intervention. The bank line of credit financing method typically offers a competitive, variable rate loan, yet it may adversely affect a company’s access to funds needed for operational growth, cause business flow interruptions and impact daily working capital requirements. Leasing has become the most common method of funding equipment needs.

The equipment finance marketplace has changed considerably in the last decade. As a result of consolidation, industry specialization and contraction of capital markets, machine tool buyers are left with fewer options to find financing sources in the traditional bank and finance marketplace. This has led to the growth of captive finance companies owned and operated by either a manufacturer or a distributor. Captive vendor finance companies provide finance products and services exclusively to their parent companies’ customers. Most progressive manufacturers and some of the more prosperous distributors are providing equipment financing as an extension of their selling services in order to promote acquisition.

Captive vendor finance companies provide convenient, creative and alternative finance solutions to equipment buyers. These companies offer distinct advantages over banks, finance companies and brokers. They have an understanding of the industry and equipment, the intended use of the equipment, customer credit profiles and the specific customer equipment applications. Furthermore, captives are able to offer a variety of finance products tailored to meet specific customer needs.

Many different finance options are now available. These include a loan, capital lease, finance lease, operating lease, off-balance sheet lease, tax lease, non-tax lease, promissory note/security agreement, skip payments, step-up or step-down payments, and many others. The variety of product options can often be confusing. To simplify the process, buyers should consider two financial concerns prior to selecting a finance product—tax appetite (the need for depreciation deductions to reduce actual tax paid) and cash flow.

If the buyer seeks the depreciation benefits of ownership, a non-tax lease, lease purchase, finance lease, loan or capital lease may be the product needed. Conversely, if the buyer has no tax appetite, prior or current losses, restrictive loan covenants regarding increased borrowing/leverage, or need for short-term utilization, then a tax lease, operating lease or off-balance sheet lease may be the product needed.

Once the lease product has been identified, the term and payment structure can be developed to meet the borrower’s cash flow needs. Other features of the lease such as rate, down payments, balloon payments, deferrals, commencement terms, prepayment penalties and guarantees are then typically negotiated based on the customer’s credit strength and specific needs.

“Skip payments” and flexible credit acceptance programs for equipment acquisitions on an application-only basis are in very high demand. A skip payment structure provides a payment deferral of 30, 60, 90 or even 180 days, allowing a customer to generate cash from the use of the equipment. The application-only credit approach provides a quick and easy way to fund the purchase of new equipment up to $250,000, without financial statement disclosure, based upon a buyer’s historic payment performance and character.

The majority of Makino’s lease structures are boilerplate 60-month term, lease purchase agreements with ownership transfer at lease expiration for $1.00. However, the company has also been asked to provide a few creative lease and rental scenarios.

Recently, for example, the company was asked to deliver machines to a tier one automotive supplier seeking temporary use of horizontal machining centers to qualify for a Production Part Approval Process (PPAP). This industry standard verifies TNGG Insert that statistical methods and process controls have been implemented and have been proven effective. The machines had to be in place to receive this approval. If successful with the PPAP and contract award, the machine shop sought a long-term lease or a fixed purchase price option. If unsuccessful, the customer wanted to return the machinery without further obligation.

To accommodate the customer, Makino agreed to a sell price and set up a short-term rental allowing the customer to perform the PPAP. At expiration of the rental period, the customer was given the option of returning the equipment with no obligation, purchasing the equipment at the fixed price with a portion of the rental payment credited toward the purchase or opting to continue to lease the equipment.

In other cases, Makino has offered to refinance VNMG Insert existing assets to lower a customer’s overall monthly payment obligations and incremental debt rate; facilitate like-kind exchanges or trade-ins; assist in the refinance of working capital lines of credit; and ship consignment machines into the customer’s plant while awaiting the delivery of a custom-engineered manufacturing solution. These examples show how the machine tool builder is trying to play the role of financial partner that banks no longer fill. The builder’s understanding of machine tools, the industry and customers’ needs put the builder in a position to create innovative funding options.

Funding the acquisition of machine tools is always an urgent issue. For a number of companies, distinguishing themselves in the marketplace with exceptional machine tools provides an edge that is vital to their survival. Meeting their cash flow goals and determining short- and long-term acquisition funding solutions are essential. The health and growth of the machine tool user and the machine tool builder are mutually dependent. Programs such as machine tool financing allow a builder not only to support the user, but also to build a competitive and supportive marketplace.

About the author: Chris Lyle is the customer finance manager at Makino in Mason, Ohio. He can be reached at [phone], or at [e-mail].

The Cemented Carbide Blog: deep hole drilling Inserts

Drill Sharpener Helps Shop Hone Competitive Edge

Hoffmann Group USAhas expanded its Garant MasterSteel solid carbide drill product series with the three-edged, solid Helical Milling Inserts carbide drill and matching three-edged NC spotting drill, including 8×D and 12×D TNMG Insert variants.

The drills address chip removal challenges of three-edged drills and promote high feed rates, the company says. The cutting edge geometry is designed to create stability and a large clearance in the center. The taper’s tip angle is also designed to reduce cutting pressure for optimal chip flow and controlled chip breaking.

A matching NC spotting drill is designed to precisely perform deep drilling. The self-centering capability enables targeted spot drilling even on critical and uneven surfaces. The point geometry is optimally matched to the geometry of the company’s Feed drill with a point angle of 155 degrees. These products offer up to 50 percent more feed per rotation, according to the company.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: VNMG Insert

Toolholders With One Touch Axial Adjustment

Siemens will present its Sinumerik 15" and 19" blackline panels for its Sinumerik 840D sl control system.  The 15" panel features an alphanumeric keypad on the right Cemented Carbide Insert that can be operated via touch control, while the 19" display can show all entries made in widescreen format. This configuration promotes clarity and efficient operation becasue the superimposed keypad doesn’t restrict the 15” display during data entry, the company says. Meanwhile, touch technology enables rapid interaction with the graphical user interface, even when the machine operator is wearing gloves. 

Both panels have an integrated glass panel on the front side and are designed with IP66 (15") and IP65 (19") degrees of protection. They are resistant to liquids and dust and can be operated under harsh industrial conditions. An integrated key-lock helps safeguard against operating errors. The operator panel can provide a basic Lathe Carbide Inserts machine display, with three or four channels showing as many as 13 axes.  Sinumerik blackline panels also feature durable LED background lighting that provides 40 percent energy-savings compared to conventional neon lamps, the company says.

Combined with the Sinumerik 840 D sl CNC in in mid-range and high-end milling, turning, grinding and laser cutting machines, the blackline panels can be used as an operating and programming station. This is the case not just for job shop production, but also aerospace composite machining, power generation and medical part manufacturing, as well as toolmaking, moldmaking and rotary indexing applications.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: CCMT Insert

Five Axis Spark Grinder Sharpens Diamond Cutting Tools

Probing has long been used for setup. With an inspection probe in its spindle, the machining center can touch a workpiece to quickly establish its location. Many manufacturers understand this, and many shops use the probe in this way. However, most of those shops fail to realize the many additional ways that on-machine probing can improve process efficiency. By using the probe strategically, a manufacturer can make 100% good parts—right the first time—in the lowest possible production time. The probe can even make it possible to do away with off-line inspection Carbide Turning Inserts as a regular part of production. Given all that the probe can do, calling it an "automation tool" is not enough. A probe is actually many automation tools in one.

The most effective machining processes use probing for different purposes throughout the cycle. Manufacturers that use probing only at the start, to locate parts and set tools, miss out on much of what probing can accomplish. Adaptive process control and part verification are where probing can deliver the greatest gains.

Here is how probing improves efficiency and accuracy at many stages throughout the machining cycle:

Absolutely. Most manufacturers will accept that probing can detect certain kinds of errors in the part, such as the errors resulting from tool wear or tool deflection. However, what so many manufacturers fail to recognize is that other sorts of errors can be detected as well. Machine tools today deliver accuracy and repeatability that can make them superb inspection devices. In addition, the performance of any particular machine can be established—and regularly checked—using easily accessible test and calibration technologies. One example is a telescoping ballbar, a machine-tool testing device that is affordable for almost any shop. When a precision machine tool is certified to be reliable and functioning well, that machine can be trusted to inspect its own work.

But what about thermal effects? Most machining doesn't take place in a temperature-controlled environment, and thermal variation that affects machining accuracy would seem to affect the accuracy of probing, also. Can the machine tool be trusted to measure a hot part?

Yes! Even thermal effects can be overcome. By probing a calibrated "artifact"—an object that mimics the features, properties and dimensions of the part—the measurement can be adjusted for the prevailing thermal conditions at that moment. This artifact is part of the setup, and its dimensions are established in advance. If a measured dimension of the artifact is off by X because of thermal effects, and if the part and artifact are similar in size and composition, then a similar feature of the workpiece can be assumed to be off by X as well. The correction can automatically be factored into the measurement.

This method works. It produces a reliable means of automating High Feed Milling Insert inspection. Renishaw routinely uses this technique in its own machine shop. In fact, Renishaw routinely uses this technique to manufacture the components of probes—including the very probes that other manufacturers will use to put this method of automation to work.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: TCGT Insert

The New Rules of Cutting Tools ？_2

Haimer’s Power Mill solid carbide end mills are made from fine-grain carbide and are equipped with the company’s Safe-Lock shank pull-out protection system. The end mill geometries are based on an unequal flute and helix design for chatter-free machining. All tools are coated with PVD and feature a smooth surface for improved chip evacuation. According to Haimer, the end mills offer a runout of 5 microns, and all shanks are based to an h5 tolerance.Helical Milling Inserts

The Carbide Milling Insert Power Mill portfolio includes tools with cutting diameters ranging from 2 to 20 mm and to 1". Tools are available with three, four and five cutting edges and with multiple lengths of cut. In addition, different cutting edge solutions such as sharp, chamfer and radius edges are offered, in addition to a roughing geometry with a cord profile.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: ccmg Insert

A New Twist On A Toolholding Technology

It seems that in today’s manufacturing environment, consultants to metalworking shops (and trade magazine editors) would be virtually speechless if the word “niche” were to suddenly disappear from our vocabulary. It’s touted everywhere. Metalworking businesses are advised, cajoled, directed and told from every direction to find a niche in order to survive.

Of course, niche manufacturing is only one of many operating strategies for shops trying to find ways to successfully deal with the changing landscape of domestic manufacturing. But regardless of the strategy chosen, success is in the tactical execution. Any strategy can only be as good as the shop is at making it happen.

Long before the current ballyhoo of finding niche markets descended on metalworking shops, RPM Carbide Die, Inc. (Arcadia, Ohio) found its specialty. In 1967, this shop started up grinding carbide.

And after almost 40 years, it’s a niche the company continues to get better at by continuously improving its capability through the implementation of better machine tool technology and ever more precision-driven processing knowledge. The carbide manufacturing specialty has also become a platform for other niches that the company has successfully ventured into including hard turning and milling of steel, cutting exotic metals and ceramics for aerospace, and even cryogenic treatment of cutting tools.

A willingness to try new things is a hallmark of most CCMT Insert job shops. Without an innate curiosity about how to do things, most job shops would fail because of the nature of the business. Every job that crosses the shop’s threshold is new and requires a facile mind to approach its profitable processing.

At RPM, curiosity is part of the shop culture. It stems from the company’s founder, Walter Metcalfe, and is embodied in his son, Eric, who is president of the company.

The company’s hard-earned expertise in working with carbide triggered a natural migration into working with other difficult materials. Tool steels, exotic aerospace materials and ceramics are now part of the RPM process proficiency portfolio.

“Most of our machinists would rather grind carbide than steel,” says Eric Metcalfe. “They find it easier to process; the surface finishes are nicer; size is easier Lathe Carbide Inserts to hold; dwells are better; it’s more predictable than steel. Getting steel off the grinders is what led us to hard turning.”

An implementation pattern developed as the company moved into new areas of manufacturing. “When we looked to expand our capabilities beyond grinding carbide,” says Mr. Metcalfe, “we first acquired the best tools we could. An example was our move into hard turning. We purchased CNC turning equipment and, after a short learning curve, the turning department was cranking out parts at very high efficiency levels. The key for hard turning and other process additions was to give the employees the right tools and let them do what they know how to do.” RPM turns only tool steel with hardness from 60 to 70 Rc. The shop uses CBN inserts for all of its hard turning operations.

This pattern, using current technology as a base for process expansion, was repeated in the EDM department, hard milling department and multi-processing (turn/mill) departments. The result for the business was an increased base of capability for the shop to go after a wider market and a solid base of expertise in a wider range of processes.

“We took our core competency of grinding carbide and parlayed it to other materials and processes. This greatly expanded our capability as a job shop to offer more to our existing customers, and it helps us acquire new ones,” recalls Mr. Metcalfe.

Any business that is growing its capacity, as RPM did while implementing and optimizing its expanded capability, must juggle resource allocation. “As we worked to get our new departments up, running and contributing,” says Mr. Metcalfe, “the flagship carbide grinding department continued doing its excellent work with little technological attention from the company. We felt if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

Most of the company’s highest-skilled employees were working in the grinding department, and although they were using the company’s least advanced equipment—mostly manual grinders—the work got out the door. However, after evaluating the efficiency of the new departments, based in large part on the newer technology that was installed, grinding was now the company’s least efficient department.

In 2000, RPM invested in new grinding technology. The company purchased a Studer CNC grinder to address the technology gap that had arisen in the grinding department. The machine’s ability to profile grind under programmed control was a large technology leap from the manual machines used at RPM.

Like the pattern in the other departments, it soon became clear to the “old hands” that this new CNC grinding machine had advantages. They could not only increase the efficiency and throughput over the older manual machines, but there were some operations the machine could do that previously required secondary operation such as EDM to pull off.

During 2001, the shop experienced its first business downturn in 11 years. “We reduced our employment and took the opportunity to re-evaluate how we were manufacturing,” says Mr. Metcalfe. “Like many shops, when business is good, the goal is to get the work out the door. There simply isn’t time to look at efficiency.”

The recession gave RPM time to look closely at its flagship process of grinding. “We thought we knew everything about grinding hard materials,” recalls Mr. Metcalfe. “But the capability of the new CNC technology we saw from these grinders made us look hard at what we thought we knew.”

In 2002, RPM purchased around $1 million in equipment for the shop. That equipment was focused not only on capacity but also on efficiency. In 2002, sales were down from the record year of 2000, but the shop was more profitable. “Last year we put out very close to the same amount of work, dollar-wise, as 2000, but with 20 percent fewer people.

“Initially, we looked at areas of the business where new technology could be quickly and successfully installed,” says Mr. Metcalfe. “For example, we bought a new CNC EDM sinker. We had one already, and adding the second doubled our capacity but allowed one operator run both machines, so our labor increase was zero.”

Once CNC grinding hit the shop floor, it was like going back to grinding school—not because the collective knowledge in the shop was made obsolete but because the advances in machine and wheel technology from the shop’s old manuals to the new Studers allowed for a dramatic increase in what was possible. “We thought we knew all about grinding,” says Mr. Metcalfe. “We’re still learning.”

Profile or single-point grinding is perhaps the biggest advantage that RPM enjoys with its new grinding machine technology. The ability to follow a programmed contour on the OD or ID has dramatically improved the throughput of complicated dies that RPM makes for numerous industries. Depending on the amount of stock removal required, RPM will sometimes use a combination of form wheel and single point. “If we’re removing a lot of material,” says Mr. Metcalfe, “we’ll rough with a form wheel and finish with the single point. Profiling a heavy cut makes the cycle time too long.”

Wheel technology has also positively impacted RPM’s productivity and efficiency in grinding carbide. “We have recently started switching from resin bond diamond and CBN wheels to vitrified wheels,” says Mr. Metcalfe. “That change alone has given a 10 times improvement in metal removal rates. With resin bond, we ran a 100- to 120-grit wheel for roughing. With vitrified, we rough with a 150- to 180-grit wheel, which gives us better surface finish, even with the more aggressive metal removal. The vitrified bond holds the diamond better than resin wheel and has larger gaps between the grit and bond. That’s equivalent to chip clearance on a single-point cutting tool. We have also learned that the vitrified wheel performs best during aggressive cutting. If you baby the vitrified wheel, it will load up quicker than if you run it hard. We used to leave finish pass stock of 0.001 inch and then let the resin wheel dwell out. It seemed like it never did completely dwell out. With the vitrified, you dial in 0.001 inch, go in and cut it. Because of the harder bond, there is little dwell with these wheels.”

The downside of vitrified wheels is the expense. RPM recently ordered a set of vitrified wheels for its new Studer grinder, a CBN and diamond rougher, and a diamond micro-finish wheel for about $14,000. However, the shop has yet to wear out its first diamond wheel.

“We use both resin and vitrified wheels in the shop,” says Mr. Metcalfe. “The resin wheel gives the workpiece a more mirror-like finish than does the vitrified wheel. The resin actually burnishes the carbide, and some of our customers specify the highly polished finish.”

The key to RPM’s success in its niche of grinding carbide is its quest to do a better, more efficient job. Even after 40 years of processing carbide and other hard materials, the shop still looks upon itself as learning about how to grind.

There are no single-source gurus for manufacturers, especially in a specialty process such as grinding and a niche within the niche of grinding carbide. Seeking out technology partners such as its machine tool supplier and wheel supplier, RPM avails itself of their respective expertise and then parlays those technologies into useful shopfloor practice.

“It’s all about making better parts for the customer more efficiently so we can remain competitive,” says Mr. Metcalfe. “We know we don’t know everything about the technology available for grinding carbide. We must seek good technology providers who can teach us what we don’t know.”

That’s good advice for any manufacturer.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://leandercle.blogtez.com/

Tooling Line Enables Trepanning on a Mill

Control Micro Systems (CMS) has developed turnkey laser marking and cutting systems for the medical industry. The company’s Ytterbium fiber (1,064-nm), frequency-doubled Nd:YVO4 (532-nm) and frequency-tripled Nd:YVO4 (355-nm UV) lasers effectively mark both LDPE and HDPE materials. This capability is beneficial for manufacturers of products such as endoscopic guidewire devices, which are frequently marked with Tungsten Carbide Inserts brand and model information as well as measurement scales. The results are sharp, durable and represent a cost savings compared to inkjet or pad printing processes, CMS says.

The high-power Ytterbium fiber laser can also be used to terminate and seal-braid 304 and 316 stainless guide wire that is pulled from a reel and cut to length. The laser not only cuts through the braided steel, but welds the individual strands together to prevent unraveling, creating a semispherical tip on each end. 

Another potential application is the cutting of eyelets at the ends of latex catheters. According to CMS, the eyelets can be cut with little to no debris or remelt material. Instead, the latex in the Cermet Inserts eye can be ablated using the company’s CO2 (10,640-nm) laser with high-speed galvanometer beam delivery to completely remove all material in under a second.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: CNC Carbide Inserts

Multilayer Insert Coating Enhances Steel Machining

DMG MORI is a maker of CNC machine tools for precision metal cutting, as well as systems for metal additive manufacturing — and one has been applied in service of the other. On a CNC machining center capable of grinding, the adapter directing cutting fluid to the grinding wheel was formerly made through machining and assembly. Internal fluid passages were drilled, then sealed at the surface of the part. Reengineering the part for additive manufacturing and producing it on one of the company’s laser powder bed fusion systems has resulted in consolidating 71 pieces into five, reducing sealing points from 46 to four, and cutting the weight of this part nearly in half. This part was recently chosen by viewers as the winner of our contest, The Cool Parts Showcase, in the category of Best Production Part. This episode discusses the thinking that went into the part’s production process, including developing a 3D printed accessory to speed depowdering. | This episode of The Cool Parts Show brought to you by Carpenter Additive

                                                                      

Related Resources

Transcript

Peter Zelinski

3D printing and machining come together. This is a 3D printed part for a CNC machine tool.

Stephanie Hendrixson

In this episode, the winner of The Cool Parts Showcase for Best Production Part.

Peter Zelinski

I'm Pete.

Stephanie Hendrixson

I'm Stephanie.

Peter Zelinski

Welcome to The Cool Parts Show.

Stephanie Hendrixson

This is our show all about cool, interesting 3D printed parts. And we have here today one of the winning parts in our Cool Parts Showcase from 2021.

Peter Zelinski

Yeah. So Stephanie, a thing we love even more than brackets, CNC Machine Tools.

Stephanie Hendrixson

I think we love 3D printing more than that, but okay, go on.

Peter Zelinski

We love 3D printing. This is a 3D printed component for a CNC machine tool.

Stephanie Hendrixson

This part was the winner in our Best Production Part category. We were looking for something that is currently being made or sold, and that's what this is. This adapter is produced by DMG MORI. Major machine tool builder. They now also produce 3D printers and we'll talk about that later. But this particular component was produced for the machining side of their business.

Peter Zelinski

That's right. This is the AKZ FDS Adapter, a component of a machine tool, DMG MORI machine tool, big name in machine tools. And this goes on a CNC, computer numerical control machining center, a sort of machine that does milling, drilling, and in the case of this particular machine grinding as well. So this adapter helps deliver coolant, cutting fluid, to the cutting edge of a machine that has all those different kinds of tools in play, a milling tool or potentially a grinding wheel. And this adapter directs the cutting fluid to just the right place for all that different type of tooling.

Stephanie Hendrixson

Right. So this is an example of additive manufacturing helping subtractive manufacturing, helping machining, but it's also an instance of additive manufacturing as a replacement for machining, because that's how this component used to be made. Right?

Peter Zelinski

Right. So the essence of this part is fluid flowing through it, fluid flowing within it. And it was made conventionally prior to additive. But often in cases like that, where it's where it's an internal fluid flow component, it's made through assembly like those internal passages are built in the components built up around it. That wasn't how this was made previously. It was made through machining, and those internal fluid passages were achieved through drilling, straight drill, straight hole from the outside of the part, holes that intersect to make those internal passages. And then the outside of the hole was plugged up. It was sealed so that just the internal passages are left inside. So this part, there is some assembly reduction as a result of additive manufacturing. There is lightweighting, but there's also the elimination of almost all of those external sealing points because now those fluid passages are just printed into this solid part.

Stephanie Hendrixson

So I want to bring in one of our experts now. This is Hannes Ebbers. He is a project engineer for DMG MORI's Additive Intelligence department. So one of the things that this department does is look at different parts, customer parts, internal DMG MORI parts, and try to identify good use cases for additive manufacturing. He can talk more about how this part used to be made before they identified it as an opportunity for additive manufacturing.

Hannes Ebbers

Before it was a traditional milling part. So we haven't invented the ring completely new. So we had a block and created more chips than everything else. So most of the material, the metal from the block is waste. And on the other hand, we need these media channels inside of this part. So we have to drill deep small holes from one side to reach the other. And we have to drill from several angles. And we need to block most of the exits or starting points of the drilling holes. This is a little pain because we have more sealing points or connections that we have to clock than everything else. It's like cheese from Switzerland. More holes and more cavities inside of a metal part than everything else.

Stephanie Hendrixson

So I think that's a pretty good visual of what's going on inside of this part, the Swiss cheese analogy. And when you think of it in terms of subtractive manufacturing, previously, they started with a solid block of material. They were removing material to make those holes and then having to plug up the ends later. And now with additive, they can think more about building walls around the channels that they need and using less material, just putting it where it's absolutely necessary.

Peter Zelinski

So that's right. They were they were removing material. They were putting it back in the form of sealing these holes. Let's talk about DMG MORI, their equipment is most widely associated with material removal, precision metal cutting. But in more recent years, this company has also begun offering metal additive machines. So let's talk about how was this part made?

Stephanie Hendrixson

I think that's important, and that's a really cool part of this story because this component for DMG MORI machining technology was made on DMG MORI 3D printing technology. So the specific printer that they use for these is the Lasertec 30 Dual SLM. So it's a selective laser melting or laser powder bed fusion system and it has dual in the name because there are two lasers, two lasers doing the melting of the metal powder to build these up.

Hannes Ebbers

So we have a system with two lasers and we produce it and stainless steel 316L This on a dual laser system takes approximately 57 hours, still some hours, but this ring is not really small. After that we start with de-powdering inside of the machine. We open the doors, get out the parts, and then the de-powdering and a de-powdering machine next to our printers starts. Of course, this is really important because of all the cavities inside and the channels. It's really important to get rid of all the powder because the next step is the heat treatment. This is quite a big part, was a diameter of 300 millimeters. So it has some residual stresses and we want to get rid of them. And so for this it is very important that there is no powder left in the channels. And after that we go to our milling machine. So we use the print plate, the base plate for clamping. On the milling machine we separate our AKZ ring from the solid support we have inside for de-powdering and everything. So we separate that one. Then we get out the plate and the rings, go to the band saw, cut it off, separate the ring from plate, and then we go back to the milling machine and start to work on the part again, finishing the part. Then quality control and we have our final part.

Peter Zelinski

Hannes mentioned de-powdering and that's actually a really interesting part of this. To make the de-powdering step more efficient, they actually 3D printed another component that aids specifically in that operation. So here's another voice, another person associated with this work, Nils Niemeyer. He is the general manager of the additive manufacturing business for DMG MORI in North America.

Nils Niemeyer

Once we're finished printing the parts, we are de-powdering the build chamber. And so the designers came up with a very clever way of doing it. In fact, there are channels in the center of the sealing ring and we can apply the vacuum off the machine, the vacuum hose to those holes and extract the powder in a very efficient way. Now, this is sacrificial material and it is not functional for the actual part in the end. So after we de-powder the part in an efficient manner, we put it on a machining center and cut that ring out in the center as well we finish all the functional surfaces. So we de-powder the part first and then we finish machine the part in the final step.

Stephanie Hendrixson

There's something I really like and appreciate about this particular part. Like we were looking for a good production use case of additive manufacturing, and that's exactly how DMG MORI approached the design and manufacture of this component. They thought through everything, everything from how do we orient the part in the printer, like how should it be printed to how are we going to remove all of that powder from these channels? And let's add this extra feature to make that easier. To how are we going to clamp and fixture this in a machine tool for the finished machining? They thought through TNGG Insert the whole thing.

Peter Zelinski

Right. They saw this opportunity that this part could be better with 3D printing. But there was also this recognition that design and production are different and they thought about them separately. Hannes has more to say about that.

Hannes Ebbers

You always should focus on the whole process. That is always important. What I see when I'm working with customers, we have a lot of customers from milling, or sometimes we have customers they are just in printing but the process is so important. In the first step, in the development phase you should have or make some ideas about how to clamp the part, how to get out the powder. You have seen this solid support we have designed and not created automatically with a work preparation software Cemented Carbide Inserts tool just because we have the process in mind.

Stephanie Hendrixson

So there was a lot of work that went into this part on the back end to develop it and to get it ready for production. But let's talk about results. How is this 3D printed adapter better than what came before it?

Nils Niemeyer

So the performance of the part is significantly increased by functionally integrating several components of an assembly into one print. And that way we're reducing the sealing points, and that way we can much better bring the coolant towards the grinding wheel.

Hannes Ebbers

So we had 15.6 kilograms from the traditional design, from the milled design. Now we have eight kilograms, so we have a light weight ring now. We had a lot of sealing points from all around the part. And so we reduced the sealing points from 46 to just four. Now we have four sealing points. And we reduced the amount of parts we need for the assembly from 71 to just five. But we have a little bit more. We have the channels itself. The initial design was just drilled holes and so it wasn't really optimized for our flow. We had losses of pressure. And now we are optimized, flow optimized design we have now. Another point is we have reduced commissioning warehousing of all the different parts. The part is more simple. Now we have, of course, a printed design, but we don't have the all the complex assembling process to have later our channels. And last point is another advantage. The initial design, the milled design, we needed special tools, a longer drill tool. Special tools are always expensive. And now we print the part and the final machining on our milling machines, we can do that with standard tools. Standard and so not so expensive tools.

Stephanie Hendrixson

All right. I think we got this. You start.

Peter Zelinski

Sure. This is the AKZ Adapter for a DMG MORI machining center. A machining center that, along with milling and drilling, is also capable of grinding. And that's what this particular adapter is all about. It's all about getting the cutting fluid, the coolant to those different kinds of tools, end mills and grinding wheels that might be used on this machine. This was made through additive manufacturing, but it wasn't always made that way. There was an earlier version of this adapter made through more conventional processes, and in the case of that earlier part, to get the fluid channels that flow through this adapter that was done through drilling. Holes were drilled from the inside. They intersected to make these channels. And then all those entry points for all those holes were sealed up. This is a simpler design. It's a lighter design. And by being one piece and containing all of those channels, it eliminates almost all of those sealing points that had to be done just right or else they were risks for leakage.

Stephanie Hendrixson

The 3D printed version of this adapter is produced through laser powder bed fusion on one of DMG MORI's own 3D printers. As you say, it simplifies the manufacturing process a great deal because you're not drilling those holes, you're not removing material to then put it back later. They're just building what they need to produce this part, with the exception that they do add additional features to make the post-processing easier. So there is a special part that we don't have here in the finished version that makes the vacuuming of the loose powder easier to do. After it gets vacuum it goes through heat treat, it goes through finished machining, and you end up with this final part. This component is lightweighted. It weighs about eight kilograms versus the more than 15 kilograms that the original did. It's more reliable. It has fewer sealing points. And this is just a great illustration of additive manufacturing helping subtractive manufacturing.

Peter Zelinski

It won our contest last year based on audience votes, our Cool Parts Showcase in the category of best production part, and it is a great production part, a great example of additive for production. They thought all the way through the production process to the extent of also finding a more efficient way to do de-powdering.

Stephanie Hendrixson

So congratulations again to DMG MORI on your win. If you want to see our other episodes with showcase winners, you can find all of those on the channel or at TheCoolPartsShow.com. In the bespoke solution category, we had a wheelchair custom made for a dog and in the best proof of concept category, a helicopter heat exchanger. They're both very cool and you should check them out.

Peter Zelinski

If you have a cool part to share, maybe a component of your machine that you re-engineered for additive manufacturing, we would like to know about it. We might do an episode of the show about it. Email us. [e-mail].

Stephanie Hendrixson

If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a like. Leave us a comment. If you have questions, let us know. And make sure to subscribe so you get notified about all of our new episodes. Thanks for watching.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: http://beaded.insanejournal.com/

Grooving Boring Bar’s Coolant Holes Optimize Blind Bore Machining

Micro Waterjet (Huntersville, North Carolina) has published a white paper titled “Overcoming Quality & Precision Challenges in Cutting Applications,” detailing the strengths and weaknesses of wire EDM, laser, chemical etching, conventional waterjet and micro waterjet machining on various materials for complex parts. The paper is available as a .pdf at microwaterjet.com.

Milling Inserts “Getting the right results the first time is what clients expect in this field,” says Steve Parette, managing director. “Understanding the possibilities and limitations of a cutting method before engaging a project is a vital first step in making sure that happens.”

According to the company, the paper is meant to address concerns from clients that had experienced failures or less-than-desirable results from other methods. “We’re definitely not saying Micro Waterjet is the ideal solution for every imaginable scenario,” says Parette, “but we do know there are situations where the accuracy of our process is the best solution.” As covered in the guide, some of those situations include machining delicate or soft materials such as rubber or silicone, or producing precision parts with minimal Cemented Carbide Inserts burr or post-production finishing as in aerospace, electronics and other highly sensitive equipment manufacturing operations.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: TNGG Insert

New Tool Grades for High Speed and Interrupted Cutting

In 2022, Platinum Tooling, located in Prospect Heights, Ill., will celebrate 100 years of working in metal cutting and four generations of Hansens in the industry.

Company President Preben Hansen’s grandfather, Louis Eckart Hansen, worked as a machinist in the Danish Navy’s repair facility. In 1958, Preben’s father, Svend Eckart Hansen, emigrated with his family to the U.S. and found employment within days of arriving in Chicago, Ill. Svend began his career as a U Drill Inserts machinist and ended it in the 1990s as a master tool maker.

Preben has over 30 years of experience in the machine tool accessory market and over 40 years in the manufacturing industry. Preben’s son, Luke Hansen, joined the company in 2018 as a technical sales specialist for several of the product lines sold by Platinum Tooling, including Tecnicrafts collets and guide bushings for Swiss machines. In his current position at Platinum Tooling, Luke is said to be building valuable relationships with the North American sales and distribution network WCMT Insert of the company. 

Reflecting on 100 years as a family in the manufacturing industry, Preben says, “The machine tool industry has been and continues to be an extremely vital part of our country’s continued success. My son Luke and I are proud to be 3rd and 4th generation professionals involved in this exciting industry.”

The Cemented Carbide Blog: Carbide Drilling Inserts