The hottest test system wins the subcontractor

The test system makes the subcontractor win

oprema ravne (), a medium-sized automotive parts subcontractor in Slovenia, must ensure product accuracy and inspection in order to maintain its competitiveness in the automotive parts industry and the future market, which is the bottleneck in the production process. Outsourcing the main coordinate measurement work not only costs too much, but also wastes the company's valuable time, because the round-trip transportation of parts to other factories for coordinate measurement will cause the pause of production. In addition, customers need oprema to have an internal ISO 9001 certified CMM coordinate measurement process as a condition for continuing to cooperate with oprema

this problem has become the key in the company's competition for the business of an automobile factory from Europe. The automobile factory is launching a new generation of molds. This type of car will be produced in China about a year later. A workshop is needed to manufacture two side beams and a foundation beam of the new model, and it is expected to provide a full set of molds within 8 weeks after the blueprint is issued. Unfortunately, for oprema, winning this job means using certified internal coordinate measuring machines that meet the ISO standard and meet the annual production of more than 18 million vehicles of various types, with an accuracy of 0.1 mm or higher in the length of 5 meters, and emphasizing "higher"

oprema's director Darko jevsnikar and several of his industrial engineers realized that the articulated arm coordinate measurement system could neither provide measurement space nor provide the required accuracy, so they participated in the product exhibition of Leica Geosystems (), one of which was a general-purpose measuring machine with Leica t-probe probe matched with Leica laser tracker. Leave a deep impression on them. Jevsnikar said, "we need to use it to make money immediately." But the problem is that oprema's system can't be in place in time to win the contract of auto parts for the company. So while installing this system in oprema workshop, Leica lent oprema a complete system. The workshop got the job and manufactured three sets of molds in less than 8 weeks, which not only met the accuracy requirements, but also had a borrowing system in line with ISO standards in the future

p36 Leica: Leica Geosystems t-probe probe

"our speed is at least 20% to 30% faster, because now we are moving the coordinate measuring machine to the part." Jevsnikar said about the workshop's own Leica system: "no longer waste time, locate the large and heavy parts on the coordinate measuring machine, and then they must be moved back to the milling machine. Ironically, the companies that used to do large-scale coordinate measurement outsourcing for us also came to us when their measuring machine reached the limit."

in many projects, oprema also transported Leica Geosystems t-probe probe to the customer's equipment for installation. Although it has been transported everywhere, the system does not need calibration, said dorminik hudopisk, an oprema industrial engineer. "We don't need to calibrate once a year, and the metrolog XG software using this system can immediately analyze data on site."

it is no longer manual labor to clean pipe fittings

users of Eaton Aerospace () in Jackson, Michigan, USA are very picky about the appearance of pipe fittings produced in the workshop. Pipe fittings are installed in aircraft, such as Airbus 380, F-22 rapter and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, to transmit air, oil, water and Freon. In addition to correct processing and meeting internal quality standards, the pipeline must also be well cleaned. Eaton uses an ultrasonic cleaning system

Eaton uses an ultrasonic system, saving 5 to 10 minutes of manual labor for each pipe. Double the output of the equipment and save 20 hours of labor per week. "Our factory can't afford to slow down or stop, and we clean the pipes by hand before using the ultrasonic system," said bud greener, Eaton's manufacturing engineer

"now, we put the pipe fittings into the cleaning system and adjust the settings. When the pipe fittings are cleaned, we can go away and do other things."

the workshop uses the super pro and Pro Plus ultrasonic cleaning system of omegasonic () and two European made ultrasonic cleaning machines modified by omegasonics with its own parts. Wheels are installed under the super pro and Pro Plus units in order to obtain maximum flexibility in placement and workshop layout in Eaton. For many years, greener and his colleagues used mineral spirit and Stoddard solvent. The liquid flowing out flows into a filter tank, and the press rotates this tank, because the dry cleaning solvent is a kind of petroleum mixture, which needs special storage, use and treatment. The omegasystems system is environmentally friendly. Their containers are suitable for Eaton's bizarre and small objects. In a continuous processing process, the pipes are thoroughly cleaned inside and outside

p39 Eaton: Eaton uses an ultrasonic system to clean the pipeline

eaton stainless steel pipes with diameters from 19.05mm to 76.2mm (0.750in to 3.00in) are bent into complex shapes. The workshop cuts the pipe to its length, installs the mandrel, bends the pipe, and installs a lubricating tool into the pipe to prevent kinking. The cleaning after bending is mandatory in order to remove the oil in processing and the lubricating fluid of the elbow

because Eaton's products include oversized elbows, the company also uses two European ultrasonic cleaning machines previously purchased with large-capacity cleaning tanks. The internal parts were replaced, and Eaton made the system work again. Six omegasonics converters and generators are installed in each cleaning tank, and a new control board is configured for the device

blade improves rough cutting

Euclid universal Corp., a gear motor and electric drive manufacturer in Ohio, USA, recognizes that its production of embedded gears and shafts is affected due to long rough machining cycle and high cost. Due to the low efficiency, the workshop decided to improve the process equipment, so it adopted a turning tool, which is characterized by 80 degree diamond blade and r-clamping clamping, instead of the traditional clamping. R-clamping improves the repeatability of the blade position, especially the stable blade clamping

eaton universal uses the cnmx 542 HTW heliturn LD blade of i-scar () to cut 4140 and 8620 steel parts on a 20 hp CNC lathe. The cutting speed of the blade is increased from 500 to 650sfm, and the feed rate is doubled from 0.010 to 0.020ipr. Therefore, the efficiency of the turning process in the workshop is greatly improved internationally

under these conditions, the tool life of Euclid universal is also extended from 100 pieces per cutting edge to 150 pieces per cutting edge. This 50% increase reduces the times that the machine tool stops working to replace worn tools and reduces the whole cycle time. The previous process with a cycle of 2 minutes now only needs 1.33 points; The process that used to use 3 minutes of cycle time is now reduced to 1.75 minutes; The previous process of 1.75 points is now 1 minute

heliturn LD blade also makes cutting more reliable and eliminates the defect of tool edge collapse, which has been a problem of Eaton universal tools before. The blade makes the cutting surface smoother than the previous tool, reducing or omitting the next finishing process. LD blade is characterized by positive rake angle, radial and spiral cutting edge. Positive rake angle reduces cutting force and improves metal removal rate. The surface quality cut by the blade is better than that of the traditional rough turning tool. According to our experience, car said that a higher surface finish is required, such as grade 38, and the top corner heliturn LD blade can be used

software solves problems

customers often come to Bernard mold () company to bring some designs, which look good but actually have defects. Some of these defects come from manufacturing process errors; Some are errors caused by the transformation of the design software package; There are also difficulties in surface modeling. However, Windsor company in Ontario never hesitated to get these manufacturing projects that are impossible to see at a glance, because they use keycreator software of kubotek ()

for such a difficult project, a first-class manufacturer specializing in engine temperature control system has developed a new type of hot water exchange valve for Japanese original equipment manufacturers. Although Bernard previously cooperated with this customer to produce parts for domestic automakers, this is the first time to cooperate with overseas automakers

the current parts are sand cast aluminum parts, which are more expensive to produce. After reverse engineering the parts, this first-class customer asked Bernard to design a part that was easy to manufacture. Bernard designed a new hot water exchange valve with keycreator in less than two weeks. The result is A-level prototype manufacturing, with 7 institutions. At the same time, it contains product level parts and can be produced within the workshop capacity cycle

keycreator can carry out rapid design, efficient valve processing and error free conversion, so that Bernard's customers can export the design to other cad/cam tools. Bernard can reverse engineer any design with keycreator, and can identify very small errors and design defects. The processing process is accelerated and the cost of producing inferior products is minimized. "In the final analysis, it's all about competition," said Ed Bernard, President of Bernard mold. "Keycreator not only gives us a reputation for developing innovative products quickly, but also enables our customers to respond quickly to the increasingly fierce market competition."

because keycreator is based on graphics, it enables designers to draw and model intuitively, and it is very convenient to exchange data between other cad/cam components. Designers can mix solid, surface and wireframe technology. This also enables companies like Bernard to provide their customers with a wide range of design and manufacturing methods to meet their goals

the software also has a built-in time-saving function, which can convert the defined surface and wireframe models into entities and extract surface and wireframe models from entities. This flexibility creates more possibilities for Bernard and its customers

this article is extracted from American Machinist magazine

International metal processing business information (end)