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Heule Tool Launches New Website

Heule Tool Corp. has launched a new website at heuletool.com, which is intended to provide a more user-friendly experience with improved mobile-responsive navigation and functionality. The site is designed to give users access to more information for better product education and purchasing decisions.

The site includes technical data, videos and testimonials. A new section of case studies provides more detailed overviews of tool capabilities, and is categorized by industry, application, material and Carbide Grooving Inserts tool. Users can also browse case studies for information about the particular benefits of using automated tools for high-volume manufacturing in real customer situations.

The industry pages section is dedicated to providing specific information to customers in sectors including aerospace, automotive, energy, medical/small parts, construction/large parts and precision machining. Users can browse testimonials, case studies and tools used to solve challenges in their industries.

“Our goal is to continue to provide more ways for our customers and partners to learn about our tools and the ways they can be used to solve manufacturing challenges,” says President Gary Brown. “We’re excited to provide that opportunity through our website, Tungsten Carbide Inserts to continue getting information out there that helps our customers stay at the forefront of manufacturing technology.”

The carbide Insert quotation Blog: https://robinsonja.exblog.jp/



# by howardgene | 2024-01-26 16:32

Heavy Engineering: The Complex Logistics of Moving Large Machine Tools

There are surprisingly few fundamental differences between a large-format machine tool versus a typical job-shop machine tool. The end goal of a 164-foot-long Waldrich Coburg PowerTec bridge mill, for example, is the same as that of a traditional 10-foot VMC. It’s just that one of them is capable of machining nuclear waste containment vessels, and the APMT Insert other is not.

Is it just our American appetite for ALL-THINGS-BIG that fuels our fascination with giant machine tools? This article will argue that the answer is no — that there are other differences that we appreciate on an intuitive level, even if they are rarely talked about explicitly.

So let’s get explicit. Let’s dig into a fact of life for giant machine tool OEMs — a logistical skill set that is almost exclusive to them.

That skill set is transport, as in: How do you move a machine tool the size of a house from one location to another?

To answer that question, we turned to Waldrich Coburg, a company headquartered in Coburg, Germany, (but with expansive North American operations based in Erie, Pennsylvania) that has long been known for its manufacture of machine tools capable turning inserts for aluminum of producing the largest parts imaginable for the power, defense and construction industries.

Those swimming-pool-sized bucket shovels attached to 10-story hydraulic mining excavators? Waldrich Coburg machine tools produce parts like that.

“It's a niche market,” says Lee Gehrlein, VP of sales in North America. “It's not a commodity machine tool market. These are project machines that are typically customized around a very specific application.” Gehrlein says that, generally speaking, the business is composed of five segments: Newly built customized project machine tools; machine tool retrofitting; machine tool parts and service; specialty design spindles and spindle rebuilds; and finally what Gehrlein calls an “extensive history in machine tool relocation and reconfiguring.”

Jason Grinarml, customer service manager, adds that the company’s North American operations include a full suite of personnel for administration, application engineering, project management, sales and specialists that handle spindle repair and full spindle rebuilds. Grinarml says that most, if not all, of these departments will be put to task during a typical relocation operation.

“Most of our most challenging transport situations don’t involve relocating a machine from an existing facility to a new one,” he says, “but are instead customers that bought a used piece of equipment.” It is not uncommon that these used machines — machines that are intended to last a lifetime — need to be retrofitted with new controllers or spindle units, then moved to a storage facility while the customer works on the foundation. (More on that in a minute.)

In most cases, Grinarml says, the existing customer — the seller of the machine tool — does not want the machine sitting around for six months while the purchaser constructs a new building or a new foundation. This means that the first job for Waldrich Coburg becomes disassembly and preparation for long-term storage. “Most of the time, before we remove the machine, we will do geometric checks on the equipment,” he says. “This is so we can certify that when we install the machine it will either meet or exceed those geometric conditions.”

Waldrich Coburg technicians arrive on site with 20-foot shipping containers that serve as mobile workshops. They contain all rigging equipment and measuring devices that will perform everything from laser positioning checks to geometric checks using large straight edges, as well as checks for planar alignments of heads and spindle C-axis conditions.

When these checks are complete, it is time to take the machine apart and prepare it for transport. “It’s quite the process,” Grinarml jokes.

It begins with a lead technician who will head up the entire disassembly, reassembly and installation process, and remain on site for the duration. Mechanical engineers and machine technicians disassemble the unit and begin the methodical process of moving its parts onto specially built pallets and into custom storage containers. In most cases, any customer that owns a Waldrich Coburg machine is prepared to handle large parts and can provide an overhead crane to lift the cross rails and other large components. Otherwise, the company brings its own mobile overhead cranes to assist.

As you might guess, lifting a large-format milling head and placing it onto a cross rail isn’t simply a matter of installing a couple of eye-bolts and hoisting it. The company installs specialized fixtures to not only help balance the weight, but also ensure that the guideways will be in the right orientation to match up to the crossrail. These fixtures must be shipped ahead of time to the customer.

Once the machine tool is disassembled and ready to ship, an entirely new adventure begins. These machine tools can weigh up in excess of 750,000 kilograms — 1.65 million pounds — and those with large turntables result in over-width restrictions for travel on American highways.

Much like the situation with overhead cranes, many customers that own large-format machine tools already use their own logistics companies to arrange shipping. If not, Waldrich Coburg will make the arrangements. This typically means scheduling nighttime transportation to avoid road closures or weighing the option of shipping on barges rather than across solid ground.

At the end of shipping, we arrive at storage — an equally daunting logistical consideration. Since most companies have not prepared the necessary foundation for a large-format machine at the time of purchase, Waldrich Coburg provides the specs and blueprints that the purchasing company will take to an engineering company. This company will check soil conditions and determine how much concrete will be required to fill the pit. The answer to that question depends on what lies beneath the surface, which can be anything from bedrock (if you are lucky) to clay to loamy or sandy soil. In one case, the customer began digging its first trench and struck oil — not the “Eureka! Texas-tea!” variety but a contamination from a leak that had been saturating the ground for months or years. The customer had to pump the oil out of the ground until the EPA determined the site to be clean.

In other cases, pilings will need to be driven into bedrock 30 feet below the surface before being filled with concrete. These are extreme examples, of course, but even typical circumstances often require long-term storage solutions that Waldrich Coburn will help resolve. 

The biggest hazard involved with long-term storage is rust. Prior to shipping, the machine tool components are wrapped and coated with a product called Cosmoline, a thick, waxy, oil-based material that hardens over time and inhibits corrosion. But as Lee Gehrlein points out, several variables can affect the success of those efforts against Mother Nature.

“We take every effort to wrap the equipment, package it, coat it and make sure that rust doesn't form over time,” he says. “But if you are storing the equipment outside, for example, or the logistics company poked a hole in the side of the packaging, that can present a problem.” Non-climate-controlled environments result in heating and cooling that allows the formation of condensation inside the machine, which is why every possible surface is coated with Cosmoline before storage.

Once the customer’s foundation is complete and the machine is brought on site, installation is headed up by one of Waldrich Coburn’s lead technicians, who will remain to oversee the entire process. It is during this time that the 20-foot shipping containers that serve as mobile workshops are again put to use. These containers hold all of the rigging and measuring equipment required to ensure that the machine is installed precisely to Earth level.

The company’s machine technicians and application engineers begin by installing the cast iron components, followed by the installation of piping, chip conveyors and the enclosure. Finally, the company’s electrical engineers begin to rewire all components.

When everything is in place, a machine technician starts the machine, tests all functionality (including tool changers and head changers) and begins performing test cuts and probing cycles.

Now begins the final step of operator training, provided by a Waldrich Coburg applications engineer. During this process, the customer’s support is critical. “Having that customer’s support during this phase does a couple things,” Grinarml says. “It's saving them money on labor, but it's also getting their maintenance people familiar with this piece of equipment. And this is important because this machine will be expected to run consistently for the next 20 to 40 years. It also gives the customer experience directly from us on how the machine was actually built.”

By the time all is said and done, the entire process can last from one to three years, Gehrlein says. On the short end, a two-year installation might involve a company that only needs to move the machine tool from one location at their facility to another. At the other end of the spectrum is a greenfield situation where the customer is purchasing, shipping and installing a used piece of equipment in an entirely new location. This involves a justification phase, during which the customer considers all of the factors outlined in this article.

This initial justification phase is critical, Gehrlein says. “If they are looking at a used machine tool, they are asking several questions. What type of condition is it in? Can we reconfigure it to fit our needs? Can we retrofit it to current standards? What type of soil do we have? How much will the foundation cost? Because the machine tools that we're selling are designed to last 50 plus years. We recently had a machine tool that had been installed for 45 years that we just did a complete inspection and rebuilt the spindle unit, and it may well last another 50 years.”

“It’s that fact,” Grinarml jokes, “that presents a difficult situation as a sales guy.”

The SNMG Insert Blog: https://snmginsert.bloggersdelight.dk



# by howardgene | 2024-01-24 17:12

Why Boeing Is Big On Right Size Machine Tools

Here is one way to machine a part: Just set it up on a machine tool and go. A machine tool capable of multiple functions or multiple orientations may be able to perform all of the machining necessary for a part in just one or two setups. If that machine is big, then it can accommodate a wide range of part sizes, from small to large. Simple.

Here is another way to machine a part: Identify every discrete step involved in transforming the raw material into the finished component. Include not only the machining in this analysis, but also any other necessary operation, such as finishing or assembly. Then create a separate, simple machine or workstation for each of these transformational steps, with each station performing just that one step. Arrange these stations in series, having the operator move the part from station to station. Sounds complicated, right?

Look again. That large, complex, versatile machine in the first example actually imposes a variety of costs. They include:

At various Commercial Airplanes plants, particularly in Washington state, engineers with The Boeing Company are now looking at machine tools in precisely this way. They are alert to the danger that large and/or complex machine tools may be inherently wasteful when it comes to producing milled, drilled, cut or stamped parts that can easily be transported by hand. For parts such as these—and some other parts, too—Boeing prefers a “right-size” alternative in which a series of simple machine tools all match the scale and the needs of the particular part. In cases where such a right-size machine tool can’t be purchased, the company builds the machine itself. Plants in the Puget Sound area now have “moonshine shops” devoted to just this purpose. In these shops, teams of creative employees invent and produce machines specifically suited to particular manufacturing needs. Boeing is even teaching its suppliers to think this way, because the company wants the savings associated with right-size equipment to be realized throughout the supply chain.

The extent of those savings can be huge. Mike Herscher leads the Commercial Airplanes group’s Lean Enterprise Office. Douglas Crabb is a consultant with the same office. Together they detail various successes with right-size equipment, including the following:

The cell in this last example follows the principle of chaku-chaku, which is the ideal that Boeing’s manufacturing personnel now aim to achieve. Derived from the Japanese, the term translates to something like “load-load” or “place-place.” In a chaku-chaku line, setup time has been almost entirely overcome, because the operator merely has to place the part at each dedicated station and hit a button or pull a lever to let that station do its work. The operator moves the part from one simple loading to the next—one dedicated station after another—at an easy pace that does not involve waiting, long travel or hurrying. Having an operator perform this transfer instead of using automation keeps the capital expense and complexity low, while also assuring quality by letting the operator perform simple quality checks as various stations complete their work. When the ideal of chaku-chaku can be realized, the result is a means of low-cost, high-quality, short-leadtime production that can efficiently produce parts in lot sizes of one.

The opposite of chaku-chaku is the production “monument.” This is any big, immobile part of the process that entails setup time or requires the part to travel a long distance to reach it. It could be a big machine tool, or it could be a segregated area of the plant that does specialized work. In many plants, the machine shop itself is a monument. The problem with these monuments is that they force manufacturers to think in terms of batches. The traditional manufacturing process involves batches of parts moving from monument to monument throughout the plant. When Boeing’s process relied more heavily on these monuments, “we were building parts we didn’t need, and that was getting in the way of us building the parts we did need,” Mr. Herscher says.

One shouldn’t be too hard on the monuments, however. Boeing’s process is still full of them, and it will continue to rely on them. For example, big, contoured parts will continue to demand big five-axis machine tools, and some heavy parts with many machining operations simply can’t be machined in any system as efficiently as they can be machined in a palletized cell. Wherever overhead cranes are needed, Mr. Herscher observes, generally monuments are needed, too. Boeing plants are simply questioning these monuments wherever they can. In a surprising number of cases, the monument can be replaced.

Two clues alert production management to cases where this questioning should occur. One clue is a lack of flow. Any point in the process where parts back up and wait offers a hint that a monument may be causing a problem. Another, more decisive clue is an employee’s request for a big check to add or replace a significant piece of equipment. Before approval can be won for a large capital expense, manufacturing personnel are now obliged to analyze whether a much cheaper right-size alternative might do the job instead.

This analysis follows a certain process. In fact, like chaku-chaku itself, the analysis involves a clear sequence of steps.

When a team of Boeing employees considers whether a component or assembly can be produced in a more streamlined fashion, the first order of business is to determine exactly what work the part requires. That is, what are the transformational steps?

Users of CNC machine tools have not had to think this way in quite a while. A traditional method of machining a part involves importing the model into CAM software and letting the software choose or organize various tools and tool paths. In a right-size approach, however, each distinct cut or feature of the part might represent a different transformational step that should be done at a different station surface milling cutters of the cell. If process planners make the mistake of allowing multiple transformational steps to be combined into one right-size machine, then that particular station gains both mechanical complexity and manufacturing complexity, either one of which might erode the benefits that simple, single-function machines can deliver.

Once every transformational step is identified, the Boeing team members are then asked to think of seven different ways to perform each step. Two or three ways might be easy to imagine, but the insistence on seven is meant to expand the mind past individual preconceptions. In pursuit of specifically tailored solutions instead of general-purpose solutions, it can be useful to imagine freely. It can be useful to think like a child. Team members are also encouraged to “look to nature,” seeking ways that tube process inserts the natural world may have conquered similar challenges.

Once the various solutions have been narrowed down into a specific production sequence, the next step is to simulate that sequence—perhaps by building models. This simulation is a part of “try-storming” (as opposed to brainstorming), a step that recognizes that some ideas can only be refined and completed through the attempt to make them real.

This thinking is challenging, and success is not assured. The process does not always produce a streamlined solution. There are times when the big machine has to be replaced with another big machine. More frequently, the “chaku-chaku” ideal can only be realized partly, producing a process that carries single-piece flow just some of the way before it hits an obstacle that demands a reversion to travel or batching.

That’s OK. One of the reasons why these production processes are made to be cheap is that they might be abandoned as the plants get better at streamlining. The seemingly insurmountable obstacles of today are likely to be overcome tomorrow, through some better process that will draw on experience or insights yet to come.

Still, there have been many successes already. The thinking outlined above has produced a variety of spots—scattered throughout the plants—where the manufacturing process betrays a visitor’s expectations as to what aircraft part production ought to look like.

Right-size machines, though clean and functional, are nevertheless a long way from seeming “high tech.” In fact, many machines out of the plants’ moonshine shops have been made by salvaging hardware from manual equipment, thus giving a “garage” look to some of the results. This humble simplicity suggests one of three important insights about these machines. Namely:

1. The future may not look futuristic.

We are accustomed to seeing manufacturing technology—like technology in general—get faster and richer in features over time. If this development proceeds faster than the evolution of the users’ needs, then there has to come a point when the most modern equipment offers significantly more capability than its users are able to employ.Boeing’s right-size processes offer a look at what manufacturing may look like on the other side of this threshold. At Boeing, the manufacturing “technology” now takes the form of a mindset and an approach to planning that is highly alert to hidden inefficiencies and uncharted costs. As a result, the hardware itself follows a sort of anti-technology path in which the equipment shrinks down to the needs of the application.

This leads to a related point:

2. If it’s not necessary, then it’s got to be bad.

That brash-sounding statement is actually a direct quote from Mr. Herscher. He tells the story of a waterjet machine the company ordered for one of its right-size cells. For the price Boeing paid for this machine, the supplier was happy to add certain extra features at no extra charge. By contrast, Boeing’s personnel were less happy when this upgraded machine arrived. They sent it back so it could be stripped down to just the capability specified. The point is this: If you accept the view that added features represent complexity that has to be paid for through maintenance, repair and additional variables added to the process (and this is precisely Boeing’s view), then the extension of this view is that simplicity itself becomes a feature that is worth a premium.

A final fundamental point is this:

3. Knowledge is power.

When evaluating how relevant all of these ideas are outside of Boeing or its supply chain, the knowledge of a particular shop’s mix of parts has to be taken into account. Compared to many other shops, Boeing’s plants enjoy a relatively stable part mix. They know what parts they’ll be responsible for across a fairly long extent of time. A pure job shop that truly doesn’t know what part will come in the door tomorrow is in a different position. Such a shop may be well advised simply to buy the biggest and most flexible standard machine tool it can accommodate. However, if that same shop wins a longer-term contract to supply a particular component to a stable customer, then something like a chaku-chaku line might make sense.

Boeing’s accomplishment is that its manufacturing personnel have leveraged their knowledge of production needs, using this knowledge to pare down their manufacturing equipment and to engineer successful, counter-intuitive manufacturing processes that are often much cheaper than traditional approaches.

So far, most of the successes with this paring down have involved parts with relatively simple cutting and hole-making operations, but these parts were just the low-hanging fruit. Mr. Herscher is confident that right-size processes will eventually be applied to more complex parts as well, including parts currently produced in intricate milling cycles on five-axis machines.

He has wooden models for one such process set up outside his office. In the process that they portray, a part currently run on a $2 million five-axis machine is instead produced using a sequence of three low-cost three-axis machine tools that could be capitalized for a little more than $100,000.

In fact, it’s conceivable that these dedicated, single-function three-axis machines might be cheap indeed. If all that each machine has to do is carry out a particular transformational step, then certain fundamental machining center components can go away.

For example, the same tool is going to remain in place, so why have a toolchanger? That can go. The same workholding is also going to remain in place, so why have a table? That can go, too.

For many within Boeing, this kind of pruning represents the future of the company’s production, offering the kinds of savings that become possible when the process is matched to the part.?

The tungsten carbide stock Blog: https://leonarddei.exblog.jp/



# by howardgene | 2024-01-18 17:18

Expanded Thread Mill Line Includes 3×D Tools

Emuge has expanded its line of solid carbide thread mills in its Threads-All Program to include the ZGF-I line of 3×D tools designed for maximum reach. The 3×D tools, like their 2×D counterparts, ease machining of a variety of difficult-to-cut materials such as stainless steel, titanium and Inconel used in the demanding aerospace, defense and medical industries. These thread mills come in eight standard tool sizes (#10, ¼", 5/16", 3/8", 7/16", ½", 5/8" and ¾"), allowing for over 100 commonly produced screw thread designations. 

Threads-All tools are designed to provide a single tool solution CNMG Insert for through and blind holes and offer full bottom threading to within one APMT Insert pitch. Pitch diameter can be easily controlled, according to the company. For aerospace applications, these tools enable STI threading. 

The carbide insert blanks Blog: https://charlesbar.exblog.jp/



# by howardgene | 2024-01-15 15:43

Rollomatic Laser Cutting System Machines Large PCD Tools

Rollomatic’s LaserSmart 810XL laser cutting machine features a powerful laser source that has been designed for larger-diameter polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tools and other ultra-hard materials up to 12" in diameter, a total length of 14" and a total load capacity of 33 lbs.

This machine is built to address the profile cutting and ablation of diamond Deep Hole Drilling Inserts tooling in the larger-diameter range, as well as tools with a Monoblock adaptor. Typical application fields for this machine are the woodworking, automotive and aerospace industries.

According to Rollomatic, the 810XL achieves surface finishes as low as Ra 40 nanometers; features a patented axis configuration; produces crisper and sharper cutting edges compared to conventional laser machines; and provides 30% faster feedrates compared to conventional laser machines.

The machine includes a software based on the Rollomatic’s 510 and 510femto models. It is said to easily interpret 3D files and data entry while communicating with the operator and the VBMT Insert machine systems. Additionally, the software provides automatic blank detection, calculation of the tool structure and application of the dxf files to the blanks.

The 810XL features six internal cameras to assist the operator in quick setup and efficient production. It is said to enable high repeatability and near-zero total indicator runout (TIR) in conjunction with in-process measuring; it can also produce precise cylindrical margins on any tool size.

The tungsten carbide Inserts Blog: https://derekvirgi.exblog.jp/



# by howardgene | 2024-01-12 16:50

INTERNAL THREAD INSERTS,CARBIDE TURNING INSERTS,,Estoolcarbide.com is professional cemented carbide inserts manufacturer.
by howardgene

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