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It’s not uncommon for a shop to spend the better part of an entire shift attempting to optimize its setup before beginning parts production, Goettler says. It’s easy to see why businesses take this time, he says: They strive to achieve maximum productivity, control waste and extend tool and machine life.
Some shops may keep detailed logs and spreadsheets for different combinations of tooling setups for specific work products, only to find that the next time they use that combination it may chatter because their original findings were not robust or repeatable. Other shops fight chatter every day using manual overrides or trying different tools.
A New Tooling Technology to Reduce Chatter
Barton and Schmitz say MSC MillMax, the milling parameter selection tool that they developed, can make optimization a faster process.
Of greatest concern is how the tool is cutting at its tip, Schmitz explains. Measuring the “specific vibration behavior at the tool tip” provides the vital data that shops need to perfect each setup combination, he adds. “You can think of each tool-holder-spindle-machine combination as having a unique dynamic fingerprint. MillMax enables you to measure the fingerprint and make the best use of that combination.”
MillMax is a small kit that uses a sensor to gather the vibration frequency data and then present it in near real-time to a digital dashboard. Armed with that information, a shop can build a setup that will let its machinists produce parts at the fastest possible speed and maximize metal removal, Barton says.
“We attach a small sensor to the tip of the tool, then tap the tool with an instrumented hammer to get the vibration data,” he explains. There are “billions of potential milling system combinations of items in the MillMax system.”
Once you have the setup for a specific work product on a specific machine, there’s no need to retap, Schmitz adds. You only retap if you change the tool length or the machine you plan to use.
“We aren’t trying to sell a specific tool, but help them find the right tool,” Barton says. Essentially, “we’re the truth detector” that can show a shop actual data about what’s happening with vibration frequency on their unique setups or to compare multiple setups. “And we can do it in a matter of minutes,” he adds.
Are you using the right end mill for the job? Read our article “When to Upgrade Your End Mills” to find out.
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