Arch Cutting Tools Acquires Custom Carbide Cutter Inc.

To be competitive today, manufacturers must manage not only their own internal operations well, but they must also understand and manage all aspects of their external environment that affect production. Real-time two-way communication with the factory floor via the Internet gives managers up-to-the-minute information when they need it, wherever they happen to be. In industry, the Internet promises to connect the enterprise with suppliers and vendors enabling a new paradigm in manufacturing—Enterprise Production Management (EPM).

The use of the Internet will soon force companies to manage production across the extended enterprise. Ordering online is allowing customers to purchase a product tailored to their needs. This custom ordering is shifting manufacturing away from one order of 1,000 units to a 1,000 orders of different variations of a product. Maintaining inventory in a warehouse is no longer possible because the product must be made-to-order. However, the product must be delivered to the customer in an acceptable timeframe so that it feels like the product came from a warehouse. This concept of manufacturing the product after the order is received is called the "virtual product" because the product does not actually exist until after the customer places the order.

In order to create virtual products, it is essential that a company practice EPM. To do so requires a company to have all of its systems connected down to the level of the machine tool inside its divisions and to its extended enterprise, its suppliers. When an order is received, the ERP system communicates electronically with all machines in the supply chain. This new communication of manufacturing information takes supply chain management (SCM) to a new level, a level beyond just electronic purchasing and invoicing. A customer order results in an immediate capacity assessment of what machine time is available in the supply chain. Machining instructions are automatically downloaded to the appropriate machines so that they can begin part production even as the order processing is taking place. Electronically linking the ordering process to the manufacturing process is the link that will enable companies to stock virtual products instead of maintaining inventory. The connection between business-to-business systems and the factory floor may be referred to as factory to business or F2B.

Most of the investment in e-commerce over the past 5 years has been focused on improving the connection between company divisions for the purpose of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Other e-commerce investments include connecting vendor and supplier accounting systems electronically and connecting electronically to customers to improve customer service. Today's ERP systems now manage a company's machines and materials in a static manner and proceed to schedule with specific times and dates, often relying upon the efforts (often heroic) of human managers to keep things running. These initiatives ignore connecting to the devices that make up the bulk of the company's capital investment, the machines on the factory floor. These machines contain a wealth of information about what is happening right now, yet this information is not accessible and as a result cannot be used to make critical decisions.

To achieve EPM, all machines in the factory must be connected and able to broadcast their status. In the realm of discrete manufacturing, most metalworking shops employ machine tools with computerized numerical control (CNC) systems. Although more than 2 million CNCs are now in production, most have only basic serial communications at low data transfer (baud) rates. The serial connection itself uses proprietary protocols for communication. No communications standard has ever been developed because the CNC has up until now been viewed as a downstream device that processes G-code and controls motion on a machine tool or robot. Most of the machines in production today were created before the Internet explosion took place.

There are several barriers for the introduction of the Internet to the factory floor. No one in an office environment would imagine using a computer that is 8 or 9 years old. In 1993, the so-called 486 central processing unit provided the fastest personal computer on the market. The Pentium-based P60 and P90 processors were introduced in 1994. Office computers are routinely replaced every 3 years, an action justified by the increased productivity available to of the user.

In contrast, the lifespan of the CNC, the computer which controls the motion of the machine tool, is determined by the lifespan of the machine tool itself. Machine tools represent the most significant assets a metalworking company has. As long as a machine tool is productive and able to cut metal in an acceptable manner, most shops continues to use it as is. Replacing the CNC unit on the machine tool is expensive and rarely justified because the replacement may not improve the performance of the machine tool itself. In fact, the original CNC was developed and tuned to maximize the performance of the machine.

The core competency of CNC vendors is developing the best control system for optimal operation of the machine tool it is installed on. While most CNC vendors have an Internet strategy, few have the expertise to develop an open, scalable, Internet ready line of CNC models. Virtually all of the controls developed over the past 15 years (some two million worldwide) lack any Ethernet connection, a basic requirement for effective network connection. Some newer controls developed with an Ethernet connection lack the software protocols to communicate effectively over the Internet. Most Ethernet connections were provided simply to facilitate faster downloading of G-code data to the control for applications such as high speed machining.

Recent CNC controls and PC software-based controls have come to market with an option for Ethernet connectivity. They also support the appropriate protocols to provide information needed for EPM. However, most CNCs are still solitary islands of technology. To bridge this gap, several companies are looking to the Open Modular Architecture Controls (OMAC) group in North America for its proposed web-centric Global HMI Protocol, which is based upon an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema. OMAC was formed in an effort to move away from proprietary control technologies, non-common user interfaces and the need for special training. The Global HMI sub-committee aims to create a common user interface and a common language for the communication with any control. The extensibility and scalability of XML makes it the ideal language upon which to establish future Web-based two-way communication with existing CNCs.

Another important communications standard is OLE for Process Control (OPC). Recently OLE has been restructured by Microsoft from object-oriented to object-based and renamed to Active-X. The OPC specification is a non-proprietary technical specification that defines a set of standard interfaces based on Microsoft's OLE/COM technology. The application of the OPC standard interface makes possible interoperability between automation/control applications, field systems/devices and business/office applications. The Active-X/COM technologies define how individual software components can interact and share data.

When all CNC machines in the supply chain, whether these machines are recently installed or not, have been securely connected in a local area network and are accessible with this OMAC protocol and sharing data using OPC, it finally will be possible to monitor production in real-time. This capability ushers in EPM. Gone are the days of reports generated daily, weekly or even monthly after the fact. This new level of inter-connectivity between local and remote nodes should prove to enable the enterprise to compete effectively in the F2B world of tomorrow.

With CNC machines integrated through Internet-enabled EPM, the truly made-to-order virtual product becomes a reality. The virtual product is actually a logical extension of JIT (just in time) production. Instead of producing enough parts to meet a projected order level, the part is produced only after a real order is processed. Because no finished-goods inventory exists, the key to obtaining cost-effective and timely virtual product systems is an integrated information technology (IT) infrastructure.

All large organizations have an IT department, and most have succeeded in connecting their business systems electronically across divisions using the Internet as the network backbone. The next logical extension of the corporate network is to connect the factory floor and to extend the Internet connection to their suppliers.

This virtual world means an order for a product, such as an automobile, will soon begin with little or no human intervention—utilizing Indexable Inserts the Internet. The entire design and production cycle will need to be online. EPM systems must be able to communicate with every machine on the shop or plant floor—a challenge only now being conquered. EPM systems will start a process, track its progress and determine when the finished car will be ready for delivery.

Automated optimization can also take into account unplanned production problems—such as machines breaking down, inventory not arriving, or even excess capacity not being utilized. To manage production for maximum efficiency, a company must be able to continuously monitor the shop floor and feed this information back in real-time to existing scheduling and planning systems. With accurate, instantaneous information from the machines on the floor, companies will then be able to re-route jobs dynamically to alternative machines or process stations and CNMG Insert keep production running smoothly with little human intervention. The system may search for and enlist substitute resources, and immediately "push" new job orders down to the affected machines—even if they are in another plant or even in another country.

To see how an enterprise integrated with two-way communication to the plant floor can increase productivity, one need only look at the process manufacturing industry. Most of the machines in a process manufacturing environment, such as food processors or raw material refineries, employ programmable logic controllers (PLCs). The PLC is a device that can be monitored for its current state, typically indicating whether a particular switch is on or off. Most PLC vendors now support OPC, so they have written applications to gather data and report the information to management. These applications are now becoming quite mature, and some are even available off-the-shelf, although most are still customized for the application being monitored.

In many cases, the return on investment in this technology has been dramatic. The key is being able to interface Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) software to ERP systems. Together, this software is used to apply management concepts based on theory-of-constraints to the factory floor. Using real-time data, managers can easily identify and monitor bottlenecks. The bottleneck is not eliminated, but rather, throughput at the bottleneck is optimized, and all other systems adjusted to the speed of the bottleneck.

Using the open standards proposed by EPM, it is possible to gather data from CNCs on the factory floor. The previously closed world of CNCs is opened up, allowing bottlenecks to be identified and monitored as effectively in discrete parts manufacturing as they are in the process industries.

Utilizing the Internet, information can be gathered from the extended enterprise allowing real-time decisions to be made. Manufacturing capacity can be planned across multiple plant locations and even multiple companies in the supply chain. Scheduling can be kept up-to-date with machines feeding production information directly into front office applications. Bottlenecks in the enterprise can be identified, and ultimately throughput can be optimized in order to maximize productivity and profits for the entire supply chain.

About the author. Tom Gaasenbeek is president of e-Manufacturing Networks Inc. in Burlington, Ontario, Canada

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

Today's CNC Gives You More Control

Today’s tool-life management systems provide several benefits for companies that have long production runs. Primarily, they enable users to place multiple, identical cutting tools in the machine and will automatically select another tool in the group when one is dull. 

Another Cemented Carbide Inserts feature of such tool-life management systems is their ability to automatically make sizing adjustments. To use this feature, however, the user must first determine the appropriate frequency and amount of each sizing adjustment for a given cutting tool. Even though sizing adjustments are only required for finishing tools (so there won’t be many tools that require sizing in a given job), it can still be difficult to acquire the needed data. For this reason, many users do not utilize this automation feature at all.

Admittedly, manually tracking all sizing adjustments an operator makes during each finishing tool’s life can be time-consuming and prone to error. But if we can accurately determine the trend for each tool, we can, in turn, program the sizing adjustments and completely eliminate the need for the operator to perform this task. Programming these adjustments could be done using the tool-life management system or with a custom macro.

Here, we offer a way to automatically track sizing adjustments for turning centers. This can be used over the course of several dull-tool replacements, so that you can get the trend data you need to program automatic adjustments. 

At the end of each cycle, call the custom macro to see if any offset adjustments have been made:
O0001 (Machining program)
G65 P9110 (Call the custom macro)
M30

If none of the offsets have been changed, no data will be recorded. If an offset value (X or Z) has been changed, the custom macro will use the DPRNT command and output the current part count, the tool station number and the amount of the adjustment. A printer or computer connected to the machine’s communications port will receive and print/store the data. You can use this method to track offset adjustments for as long as it takes to develop accurate trend data.

Here is the custom macro:
O9510 (Track offset changes)
#500=#500 + 1 (Step part counter)
#100=1 (Current tool station number)
#101=12 (Number of tool stations to monitor)
N5 IF [#100 GT #102] GOTO 99 (Test if finished)
(Test X register of offset)
IF [[#[2000 + #100]] EQ [#[510 + #100]]] GOTO 25
(Test for change to offset)
(X offset changed):
#1=#[2000 + #100] - #[510 + #100] (Change amount)
DPRNT[PART*NO:*#500[50]***TOOL*NO:*#101[20]***OFFSET*CHANGE:*#1[14]]
#[510 + #100]=#[2000 + #100] (Set change tester to new offset value)
N25 (X offset not changed)
(Test Z register to offset)
IF [[#[2100 + #100]] EQ [#[530 + #100]]] GOTO 50
(Test for change to offset)
(Z offest changed):
#2=#[2100 + #100] - #[530 + #100] (CHANGE AMOUNT)
DPRNT[PART*NO:*#500[50]***TOOL*NO:*#101[20]***OFFSET*CHANGE:*#2[14]]
#[530 + #100]=#[2100 + #100] (Set change tester to new offset value)

N50 (Z offset not changed)
#100=#100 + 1 (Step counter)
GOTO 5
N99 M99

Prior to running the first workpiece, the value of permanent common variable #500 must be set to zero to reset the part counter. This can be done by commanding #500=0 in manual data input (MDI) mode or by setting #500 to zero on the variable display screen page.

For 12 tools, the custom macro uses permanent common variables #511 through #522 for X, and #531 through #542 for Z to monitor the current offset settings. Each time the custom macro is executed, this data is compared with the related offset data. If a change has been made, the DPRNT command is given and the value of the permanent common variable is set to the related offset value. This CCMT Insert means the first set of DPRNT commands will not be correct, as each permanent common variable is set to the initial offset settings. Accurate monitoring will begin with the second workpiece.

When an offset value changes, the custom macro will send a message like this:
PART NO: 00053 / TOOL NO: 03 / OFFSET CHANGE: -0.0007

After running production for several hours, days or weeks, you will have accumulated the trend data you need to know when sizing adjustments must be made for your finishing tools.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: steel Inserts

Belmont's CNC EDM Sinker Supports Unattended Machining

Meeting the challenge of machining titanium effectively is the Tungsten Carbide Inserts focus of many machine tool builders and cutting tool manufacturers. A Machining Inserts common theme is “no missing links.” That is, a shop needs the right machine, cutting tool, programmed tool path, workholding setup and coolant delivery system to master titanium machining. Brendt Holden, president of Haimer USA (Villa Park, Illinois) would agree, except he’d add one more critical link to this chain of required elements—the right toolholder. Haimer USA’s parent company in Germany has developed a system specifically designed to address one of the problems encountered when applying high-performance cutting to titanium and other tough alloys. This system, called SafeLock, is designed to prevent a cutting tool from loosening and being pulled out of its holder. This situation could potentially scrap a very expensive aerospace part.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: carbide turning Inserts

What is cemented carbide_2

Global metal cutting leader Sandvik Coromant introduces its second generation of CoroTurn? Prime B-type inserts. The new, double-sided negative insert features four cutting edges and is designed for roughing and finishing in steel, stainless and duplex stainless steel, HRSA and titanium.



PrimeTurning? has, since its introduction in 2017, aptly been called the biggest innovation in turning, since turning. The method enables turning in all directions and is a productive and efficient alternative Cutting Tool Carbide Inserts to conventional machining. The concept Tungsten Carbide Inserts comprises the PrimeTurning method, CoroTurn Prime A- and B-type tools and the CoroPlus? Tool Path for PrimeTurning software.



The second-generation CoroTurn Prime B-type tools have undergone a major upgrade. “We are continuously working on developing our PrimeTurning offering,” says Staffan Lundstr?m, product manager at Sandvik Coromant. “The new B-type tools are improved in all aspects to further support all-directional turning.”



A key benefit is that the new insert is negative and double-sided. Four cutting edges — twice the edges compared to the previous insert — allow more cost-efficient machining. The tool is also equipped with a new robust tip seat design, which prevents tool breakage if the insert breaks and enables shifting of feed directions without insert movements. Furthermore, the geometries are updated for better chip control even in very challenging materials, such as duplex stainless steel and ductile steels.



Comprehensive test results have shown productivity increases ranging from 50 percent up to over 100 percent. One example is an automotive customer producing pump housings, where the new CoroTurn Prime B-type inserts with turning grade GC4415, the -M7 geometry and R1.6 mm, gave predictable edge wear and better chip control. Productivity and tool life increased by 115 percent and 200 percent, respectively.



The new CoroTurn Prime B-type inserts are available for external and internal turning in a range of high-performing grades, including the new steel turning grades GC4415 and GC4425. Programming support is available in the most common CAM platforms and with CoroPlus Tool Path for PrimeTurning.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: tungsten carbide cutting tools

Multitasking Tools Cut More Than Grooves

Drilling holes in thin-walled parts isn’t hugely challenging. The process might require some means of workpiece support to counteract the pressure of the drill as it begins to penetrate the material. Depending on the application, the hole may also need to be deburred or chamfered.

Oftentimes, though, these holes must accept a bearing or fastener for component assembly. With conventional drilling, the hole’s thickness equals APKT Insert that of the workpiece, which likely isn’t suitable for threading or to provide sufficient support for a bearing sleeve. For that reason, it is often necessary to weld or rivet a nut to the workpiece, or install a special insert into the hole. The Flowdrill from Flowdrill Inc. (St. Louis, Missouri) eliminates the need for such devices by using a chip-free drilling technique that creates both a hole and support bushing in one machining operation.

The Flowdrill concept uses a conical drill that contacts material with high axial (downward) pressure and rotational speed. The frictional heat the drill generates softens the material, making it malleable enough for the drill to pierce the workpiece and form a collar and bushing around the hole. The total thickness of the collar (created on the top of the surface) and bushing (located under the surface) can be up to three times the workpiece thickness. This increased thickness offers support for a bearing or can be tapped with a similar Flowtap operation. The process works for wall thicknesses from 0.02 to 0.5 inch in mild and stainless steels, titanium, aluminum, copper, brass and various other malleable materials. Common applications include auto exhaust, steering and frame components; pressure and water tanks; pipes and tubing; HVAC manifolds; and metal furniture.

The tungsten carbide Flowdrills are available in diameters from 0.06 to 2 inches and can hold 0.0005-inch repeatability. They can be used on standard drilling machines or CNC machine tools, operating at power levels between 1.5 to 3.5 kW and spindle speeds from 1,000 to 3,500 rpm. The cutting parameters for each application will vary depending on hole diameter and workpiece material and thickness. To optimize hole quality and precision, lubrication must be applied prior to each operation. This can be done manually or via an automatic spraying system. Typical cycle times range from 2 to 6 seconds. Flowdrill collet toolholders are available with a #2 and #3 Morse Taper shank or a 20-mm straight cylindrical shank.

For applications requiring a smooth joining surface or a chamfered hole, flat Flowdrill versions can be used to cut the collar that is formed on the surface of the workpiece. Fluted-tip Flowdrills are recommended for coated materials because the tip helps remove the coating at the start of the drilling operation. Fluted Flowdrills U Drill Inserts also help prevent the deformation of thin workpieces that can occur because of the drill’s downward pressure. This distortion can also be avoided by drilling a small starter hole.

Flowtap roll forming taps can be used to create various standard, metric and NPT thread profiles. Because they form the threads rather than cut them, a compressed structure is created. This structure offers high pull-out strength and torque specifications.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: Carbide Inserts

Cartridge System Eliminates Face Milling after Parting Off

Seco Tools has introduced a cutting tool line designed for machining medical knee implants. The Jabro range of solid carbide cutters for high-speed medical machining and other aggressive milling strategies can shorten cycle times on knee implants by as much Machining Carbide Inserts as 50 percent, according to the company.

The tools’ continuous grades and coatings are said to reduce or eliminate the need for polishing or fine finishing operations. These features also promote process stability and long tool life, according to the company.&Cutting Carbide Inserts nbsp;

The product line includes nine advanced geometries and 39 tools, most of which are part of the Jabro Tornado high-speed cutting family. Each geometry is designed for particular applications in the machining of tibial tray and femoral knee implant components. Because these tools are designed to machine cobalt-chrome (CoCr) and 3D-printed Ti6Al4V ISO-S12 parts, they can also improve machine performance for other medical implant components, including hip replacements and bone plates, according to the company.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: carbide Insert quotation

3 Ways to Improve CNC Utilization Without Sacrificing Safety

Open Mind Technologies' HyperMill 2014 CAM suite features an extension for advanced five-axis drilling and roughing strategies. The extension makes five-axis drilling in work planes easier and safer, according to the company. Instead of using global clearance planes, holes drilled in the same direction are now combined and defined via work planes. The relative clearance planes of the in-feed movements are then calculated automatically for the different PVD Coated Insert planes. All the holes of a clearance plane form a job step.

HyperMill 2014 also features updates for rework machining. The software's five-axis features have been optimized so that different tool types, such as barrel and woodruff cutters, Shoulder Milling Inserts can be used when converting from three- to five-axis tool paths. In addition to providing strategies for adjusting the tool to the machining model, the function can also be used for the company's HyperMaxx high-performance cutting module.

Open Mind Technologies also offers its HyperCAD-S CAD system for CAM programmers, which includes a module for deforming customized geometries.

The Cemented Carbide Blog: carbide insert canada