VIDEO: TOOLING UP – 3 Must-Know Pre-Machining Process Steps

Narrator: Welcome to Tooling Up, a series by MSC Industrial Supply Company that provides real-world insights brought to you by leading industry experts and aimed at improving the efficiency and productivity of your operations.

Eddie: What's up everybody, this is Eddie with MSC and welcome to MSC's Tooling Up featuring Haimer. So today we're going to talk about the consistency in your setup, how often it can be overlooked. And we're going to talk about the problems that we're solving using Haimer tools and technology. So here to tell us everything that we need to know is our good friend Rob. Hey Rob thank you so much for joining us today, but before we get started why don't you tell us a little bit about what you do for the team at Haimer.

Rob: Well thank you for having me here today. As you said my name is Rob Salley with Haimer. I'm an application engineer and I've been here with the team for over 10 years now.

Eddie: Hey Rob thank you so much for joining us today. Let's get jumping right in. So the first piece of technology we're going to be talking about is shrink fitting. So right as we get into it, why don't you give us a little bit of insight on what that is.

Rob: So shrink fit is a tool holding system that utilizes the thermal expansion of steel. The bores of the shrink fit holder extensions or even shrink fit collets are slightly smaller than the shank of the cutting tools. When we heat up the tool it expands, we are able to slide a tool in, and as the holder itself cools down it retracts and grips 360 degrees around the tool.

Eddie: No this is great to know and now that we're familiar with shrink fitting, tell us why it's so important.

Rob: It's important, beneficial, it's fast. So we use induction heat technology to heat the holder within five seconds and then the tool is able to slide in and we've got a couple seconds to push it up and down depending on the length we need it, and then as it cools it retracts around a tool we complete the cooling process with our contact cooling system that takes about 30 seconds to a minute. So tool change, five seconds, cooling down 30 seconds to a minute.

Eddie: No these are all good things, we appreciate you highlighting those options and of course this isn't the only method, if you will. So really what issues can arise from other holding options?

Rob: So with a couple other holding options or friction fit options you're not going to have as strong of a gripping torque as you would with a shrink fit chuck so you could have the possibility of a tool coming out on you or micro creeping. Other methods like let's say you have a set screw holding the tool in place, that set screw kind of pushes the tool off center which creates run out which diminishes tool life and surface finish. You know another advantage that I forgot to mention about shrink fit is that we offer many holders with slim noses so you can get down into deep pockets or cavities, hard to reach areas where with other systems you might be limited on reach and also the size some holders are bulky. In shrink fit we have holders that are designed for all applications so we can do finishing work all the way up to heavy-duty roughing with with shrink fit holders and our system is not proprietary. So there are some systems that require you to only use one company's product.

Eddie: Right no, and then from that point is this only able to shrink Haimer tools?

Rob: We can shrink any manufacturer strength holder on all of our machines.

Eddie: Very good, very good. Wonderful to know that you have that compatibility across you know a variety of different tool brands, so good information. So now that we know a little about shrink fitting, looks like the next step in that process would be the pre-setting. What do we need to know about this?

Rob: So a pre-setting is taking a tool assembly, clamping it into our Haimer microset presetter, and measuring with an optical camera gauge lengths, radius, diameters, amongst other things as well, but it's done offline.

Eddie: No absolutely and so now that we're a little bit more familiar with that presetting, why is it so important for operators to know about this?

Rob: So it's important because of machine output increases productivity because you are measuring your tools outside of the machine. So while the machine's running, an operator can measure a set of tools and get the next job ready and you can print tickets and enter the offsets into the machine control or with a data output system we can either write to an RFID chip or post to a network and then the machine tool can pull from the offsets from that network, but like I said it's all being done while the machine's running.

Eddie: No, which is a big convenience when it comes to cycle time nonetheless and additionally there are of course alternatives to this, so what are some alternatives or incorrect practices that you see when it comes specifically to pre-setting Rob?

Rob: One big alternative is measuring or touching your tool off in the machine which takes time away from the machine actually running or lasers on a machine so that also needs to be done while the machine's not running so it takes away time and output of the actual machine. Another thing with lasers you need one for every machine whereas a tool pre-setter can handle 10, 20, 30 machine tools with just one pre-setting unit.

Eddie: Oh very, very convenient for the operators for sure. And then additionally to that there has to be some big misconceptions with the presetting. Let's talk about some of those Rob.

Rob: One of the big misconceptions that I see is thinking that measuring or touching tools off or the laser on the machine tool as a method of measuring your tools is faster. But in the long run you know measuring it offline, measuring a group of tools, inputting that like I said either the operator can print a ticket input that or the output, you're doing all this while the machine's running. So you're setting up the next job or let's say you have to change a tool in the middle of a job, rather than stopping the machine, touching the tool off, you can go ahead and change your tool, preset it offline, and then put it back in the machine while the job is still running basically.

Eddie: No that definitely clears up a lot of fog when it comes to that misconception so we appreciate you highlighting that. And we've gone from shrinking, we've then made our way over to presetting, and then the last step in this specific process is going to be our balancing. Rob, what do we need to know?

Rob: So with a balancing machine by Haimer we take a complete tool assembly and we clamp it into our machine which we have multiple adapters that can accommodate all size tapers, pull studs, different size HSK holders, you just swap them out and you don't need to change anything. But what we do is we rotate the complete tool assembly at 1100 RPMs and four sensors in the machine detect the unbalance of that assembly and the position of the unbalance, so once that's determined the software on the balancing machine will then tell us how to make a correction based on our preference or the method we choose to do the correction. Some of the methods include hard balancing, which is drilling or milling to remove material on the heavy side, adding weight we have a weighted screw system and all of our tap or all of our shrink fit holders will have tap holes in them that we can add a weighted screw where it tells us on the opposite side of that unbalance and then another version is rings where we kind of rotate or shift the mass of the rings opposite of the heavy position.

Eddie: No this is a great visual for all the viewers checking out this episode. And then now that we know a little bit about balancing, why does it matter?

Rob: Well, balancing you know will give you less wear and tear on the machine tool spindle, less vibrations, less wear that goes up in the spindle, and then less vibration. You get a better surface finish, you get a better tool life when you're running the balance holder, longer tool life, fewer tool changes, many benefits.

Eddie: No, it's absolutely a list of benefits there that look wonderful to the operator and then additionally to this, why is balancing so misunderstood Rob?

Rob: Misunderstanding comes from times when I hear people say that I'm not running fast enough to require a balancer when oftentimes with like a fixed boring tool or an adjustable boring head that's not meant to run very fast, you'd be surprised you throw it on a balancer and you know you might be running at 1500 RPMs, it could only be rated at you know 60, 80, you know 200 RPMs and I've seen it a bunch of times, so definitely balancing the tool like that along with all your other tools you know creates the opportunity to make better parts, to bore a hole to size rather than making it oversized so that's definitely an advantage or misconception with I'm not fast enough. It's good for all RPMs, all applications.

Eddie: We appreciate you clearing that up for us and then additionally, what type of productivity can we expect by utilizing this?

Rob: So by utilizing a balancing machine you know all of your assemblies that you're putting into the machine are balanced, so you can get a better predictability on tool life and a better consistency. Let's say you know you don't have the ability to check balance of an assembly, you might throw one in the machine that's balanced and run 100 parts with a cutting tool. The next assembly might not be balanced, same cutting tool, same assembly, but you're only getting 50 parts whereas you know what's the difference, one's balanced, one's not. So if you run all balanced tools and get 100 parts consistently, then you're in a better situation.

Eddie: Right, I'd imagine. So, what do you have to say to the individuals who may pose the question, pre-balanced holders are good enough right?

Rob: I'm glad you asked that because a pre-balanced holder and a balanced tool assembly are two completely different things. So a pre-balanced holder from a manufacturer is going to be just the core of the holder, it's not including the pull stud, the collet, the nut and the cutting tool. So once you put all those components into play and you have a complete assembly, that pre-balanced core of the holder, pre-balanced holder goes out the window. So the ultimate goal is to balance the complete assembly just before it's ready to go into the machine tool. And that could be cutting tool assemblies, grinding wheel assemblies, any type of tool assembly for a machine.

Eddie: Right, right no great points indeed. I'm glad we were able to cover that. And then lastly, with us going through all these different items, how does balancing really and truly complete the pre-machine process?

Rob: So one thing you know I didn't touch on, I'd like to add into that, is balanced versus unbalanced. So if you have a machine and you start to experience chatter or vibration, the operator what they normally do is they'll dial the machine down or back off the speeds and feeds. And the reason they'd have to do that is because their holder or their assembly is off balance. So if you balance your all of your assemblies going to the machine, you can run them at the intended speeds and feeds for the job, but what you can also do is probably increase those from what you normally or what you have them set at to begin with. So you're actually going to run faster, higher output of the machine.

Eddie: Higher output of the machine. That is what it's all about so really great way to put that point there and really when it comes down to it Rob, we've covered the shrink fit. We then transitioned over to presetting and we wrapped up that pre-machine process with our balancing. So as we wrap up this episode, are there any other final points you'd like to make for all of our viewers checking out this episode today?

Rob: First, thanks for taking the time to check this out and you know to recap, with the shrink fit we're assembling our tools. Getting it all ready. Next step would be taking it over the pre-setter, measuring our our gauge length offsets, our diameters, and then final step taking it to the balancer and you know factoring out or getting rid of the unbalanced by the correction methods that are available for that holder. Another thing you know, all three are really easy processes, so it doesn't take a lot of know how to do it. Shrinking a tool is easy, measuring it with the presetter is very easy, and then running the balance cycle. We want to make it easy. It's very easy to implement into your production.

Eddie: Well thanks for sharing this info., giving us a quick recap of not only the shrink fit portion but then readdressing presetting and how we're bringing everything home utilizing the balancing technology. So, for those who are looking for more information on not only the cool tools and technology that we've covered, but also to learn how other Haimer products and solutions can help them provide more consistency at the setup, where can we get more info Rob?

Rob: So to see more of Haimer's product offering and to see what advances and technology we offer, you can visit mscdirect.com/haimer.

Eddie: Right on. Well again, thank you so much for your expertise and your time today. We greatly appreciate it and we thank all of you for checking out our latest episode of MSC's Tooling Up featuring Haimer.

Narrator: Want more insights and ideas to improve the efficiency and productivity of your operations? Check out the Tooling Up video playlist to see how we can help improve your operations and subscribe to our channel so you never miss out.