Stepping It Up: CS Tool Uses New Technology to Compete

Stepping It Up With A 4th-Axis HMC: CS Tool Uses New Technology to Compete

This content is courtesy of Makino and more information can be found at Competitive Mold Maker Magazine.

CS Tool Uses New Technology to Compete

“Sometimes it feels like we promise our life away in lead-times,” says Don Snow, tool engineering manager. “We need machines that allow us to turn around parts without spending more time than necessary in the machine or on the shop floor. We can’t afford excessive bench or machining time. These things allow our competition to beat our lead-times and steal jobs.

“We knew of other shops that were cranking out similar molds faster than we could, so we investigated why. It turns out their machine tools were a big part of the faster times. Now that we have a Makino HMC with a fourth-axis table, we’ve stepped up our speed and are just as fast or faster.”

Stepping It Up

“We went in looking for a fixed table machine that would handle hardened steels and give us better accuracies and finishes to cut back our bench-time,” says Snow

When CS Tool was considering a new milling machine, they initially thought a Makino was out of reach. “We always wanted one, but didn’t think we could afford it. We assumed we’d end up with another one of these,” he adds, pointing to another machine tool. “Our operators didn’t want that, and we knew we had to step up the quality and speed to compete.

“I visited Makino’s Auburn Hills Tech Center for a Die/Mold Expo and brought back information on the things we could do if we invested in a Makino. When Makino came to visit, the owners had the machine bought before I even walked into the room. We ended up getting a Makino MCC2013, specifically designed for machining large dies/molds.”

“It has a high-speed 15,000 RPM spindle, 16 m/min cutting feedrate, and a machine thermal stability system,” adds Snow. “The Pro 5 control with SGI.4 Super Geometric Intelligence improves machining accuracy and surface quality. Multi-face machining can be done in a single setup, thanks to the large B-axis table.

“We’re a very conservative company when it comes to adopting new ways of doing business. We let new things prove themselves before fully investing our time or money. So for us, it’s rare to shift to a new machine so quickly. We were tired of losing jobs to the competition, so we knew it was time for a big step. And since we’ve been cutting with the Makino, we’ve been so impressed with the results that we’re finding it hard to believe.”

Cutting Lead Times in Half
On an injection mold for a major automotive manufacturer made from hardened P20 steel, CS Tool’s method used to entail seven setups and seven pickups with a conventional three-axis machining center. After machining, the mold was passed onto a toolmaker that manually grinds to spot in the necessary slides and lifters, then bench-polishes the part to reach the final requirements.

With the new MCC, CS Tool is able to complete the part in two setups and seven pickups and has eliminated nearly all of the lifter and slide spotting.

“After mounting the block, we cut the two side pockets and two lifter rod holes on the top side,” explains Mark Stephenson, CS Tool’s lead operator with 32 years of machine shop experience.

“Then we turn the block ninety degrees. The second setup cuts the four slide pockets and two lifter rod holes on the other side. The new process takes two days from start to finish, while the old way we did it took seven setups and four days to complete. We’ve cut the process in half and are producing a better part.”

Accuracy Eliminates Benchwork

Because of the accuracies CS Tool is getting out of their Makino, they no longer have to rely on secondary processes for many of the molds they produce.

“Check this out,” says Stephenson, pointing to two cuts in a mold mounted to the tombstone of the Makino. “This cut was done with our EDM, this one with the Makino. You can’t even tell the difference, it’s so close. It amazed us that a milling machine could cut like an EDM, which cuts without any load or tool contact.”

CS Tool estimates that their lead-time on this and many other parts that they’ve been cutting on the Makino has been reduced by half or more. “The parts spend less time with operators - we don’t have to re-set up parts as often or bench them,” comments Stephenson.

“I was brought up on another brand of machine tool, so the Makino was a big change for me. Now the Makino is my favorite,” adds Stephenson. “The horizontal cutter cuts faster and more accurately than our vertical machines. I can set up the block and do several operations before taking it off. This means I don’t have to re-zero the XYZ, saving a lot of time. The old processes took many setups to complete each part, which was a pain to deal with and slowed down the rest of our shop.

“Sharp edges are essential for many of the molds we make. The control and accuracy of this machine allows us to achieve the sharp edges, along with cutting the tougher 40+ Rockwell parts. When you’re cutting hardened materials with detailed 3D surfaces, the control of your machine can make or break you. And without the control and accuracies your blend lines need to be polished out. You don’t have to polish the parts that are machined with the Makino.”

“This is another job that required extensive hand-finishing and a lot of spotting time,” says Snow, standing near a large mold. The piece is an injection plastic mold for an automobile manufacturer’s floor component, at 45 HRc. “With the Makino, we’re able to use the 4th-axis table to set up once to cut large pockets at varying angles from the face instead of constantly re-setting it up.” Not having to set-up the part over and over saves them time, but the big savings comes in because the accuracies are so much better.

“Spotting time on this part was reduced from 60 hours to six hours. Time savings like this allow us to actually make money on a piece that has slim margins to start with, and the customer loves it because they can start using the mold so much faster.”

Promises Kept
“Now that we have the Makino, it’s hard to imagine living without the capabilities it gives us. We’re making parts faster, we’ve dramatically reduced our benching times, and we can promise better lead times knowing we can live up to those promises,” says Snow.

“Often we’ll use the lesser-technology machines for semi-finish work leaving 5-10 thousandths of stock, then use the Makino to do the finish cut down to zero. That way we keep the Makino cutting the high-end stuff while still getting some use out of our other machine tools.”

“Our goal is to keep the Makino running all the time,” says Snow. “A lot of our other machines sit around until they are needed. We’ve found the best way to utilize the Makino is to keep that spindle spinning, and leave the other machines to run when needed.

“Because we saw that we had to utilize the better technology as much as possible to remain competitive, we’ve pulled programming onto the shop floor. Our spindle usage improved by 40 percent due to this, plus our re-work dropped dramatically. On top of that, our operator to machine ratio improved from 1:2 to 1:3 in most cases - we can run more machines without adding more people. We’ve found that we can’t ignore the power of modern programming and machines.”

Competing More Effectively

“After a while you get tired of losing jobs because your lead-times are too long,” says Snow. “We needed a machine tool that let our high-priority jobs get out the door faster while making our prices competitive with foreign competition.”

Because of CS Tool’s success with their 4th-axis Makino, they’re looking into replacing other older machine tools to keep up with the pace of business.

“Having the best equipment gives us an edge on the competition, allowing us to beat lead-times and stay competitive in today’s marketplace,” says Snow. “When I take a part out of the Makino I know it’s going to be right. We don’t have to hope for the best as we do with other machines. We just take it out and move on to the next step. Thanks to this we’re able to promise faster lead-times and follow through with the promises, stepping up our ability to compete.”

For more information, please contact Makino at www.makino.com

Stepping It Up With A 4th-Axis HMC: CS Tool Uses New Technology to Compete

Tags