Narrator: What if you could increase your material removal rates an average 300 percent? Gain an average 100 hours of capacity? Or reduce cycle time by 50% on average? These are some of the game-changing possibilities machine shops have discovered with the MSC MillMax ® service.
MSC MillMax ® was developed out of a partnership between MSC and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Let’s hear more about this award-winning service from two metalworking experts.
Michael Gomez: My name is Dr. Michael Gomez. I’m a senior innovation R&D engineer here at MSC Industrial Supply Co. I spend my time looking at new technologies within our R&D portfolio like MillMax ® and trying to expand the capabilities of those technologies to help our customers and the U.S. manufacturing workforce as a whole.
Tony Schmitz: I’m Tony Schmitz. I’m a professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and joint faculty at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. I’ve been working with MSC and MillMax ® to develop this technology over the last year or so. It has been a collaboration between MSC, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and myself here at the University of Tennessee and has resulted in a tremendous product.
Narrator: Every machine, holder, and cutting tool has a point of highest quality and productivity. In the past, that point would have been identified by trial and error. Today, a metalworking specialist using MSC MillMax ® can find regions of maximum productivity in minutes, not hours, with a scientifically proven method known as tap testing.
Text: How does tap testing work?
Michael Gomez: We use a MillMax ® test to identify dynamic information about a machine tool system, and one of the benefits of this test is that it’s quick and relatively simple. We use a small sensor called an accelerometer and attach it to our cutting tool using a wax adhesive. We then excite that cutting tool with an instrumented and calibrated modal hammer which allows us to record the impact force that we use to excite that tool. We can then use the vibration response and that impact force and feed those two signals into software algorithms which help us determine regions of stable and unstable cutting. One of the benefits of these tests is that we can perform a pre-process measurement to help us have better CAD programming abilities and more stable cutting regions.
Narrator: Why have so many machine shops tried MSC MillMax ®? It helps find the best machining parameters for new tools or materials and ensures timing and cost can be easily and accurately quoted.
Tony Schmitz: First, you might have selected a new tool and holder that you don’t have a lot of experience with or maybe you have a new work material that you haven’t machined previously. Rather than completing trial-and-error testing to arrive at machining parameters that are acceptable, you can use MillMax ® in order to identify machining parameters that are optimized for that particular combination.
Text: How can MSC MillMax ® help with job quoting?
Tony Schmitz: If at the time I’m quoting a particular job, I could know best machining parameters, input those into my CAM software and use that to estimate cycle time, I can have a better chance of quoting a job accurately that will enable me to make money at the end of the day.
Text: How can you get this technology on your shop floor?
Tony Schmitz: MSC MillMax ® has solved that problem by equipping its metalworking specialists with the tools necessary to perform the tap test and the software to predict best machining conditions. That’s the dashboard in MillMax ®. Now that that’s available for your tools on your shop floor, it can radically transform your ability to select best machining conditions in your production environment. It’s a big deal.
Narrator: MSC MillMax ® makes a major difference to individual shops, but the impact is greater still.
Michael Gomez: We understand that American manufacturers are under constant pressure to meet their own customer demands amongst myriad challenges such as supply chain instability and labor shortages.
Text: How does MSC MillMax ® help tackle those challenges?
Michael Gomez: Because of the simplicity and speed of the MSC MillMax ® service, we have the opportunity to help our customers in just minutes. Our team of metalworking specialists are trained to take these MSC MillMax ® measurements and interpret the results for our customers so that our customers can focus on the things that matter most, namely improving their own productivity enhancements and getting parts out the door.
Text: How can MSC MillMax ® make your business better? Learn more and sign up for a tap test today: https://www.mscdirect.com/millmax
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