I sat down with one of our Metalworking Specialists in the Baltimore area and asked him to share a success story that resulted in bottom line savings for the customer.
Q: Tell me about a time your customer had a machining challenge they needed help solving?
A: The customer had a large repeat job for a (24) piece order machining aluminum bronze plates (ASTM B271 Alloy) approximately 40”x15”x6”. The job was run in a Haas VF10 with CAT50 spindle using a 1” end mill holder flood coolant. One operation required milling (2) .500” tall undercut slots (half a t-slot) and (1) .625” wide, both with .060” corner radii, across the entire length of the 40” plate reach down in the z-axis 4-7/8” deep (slots were arced on a large radius). Original order was run using modified HSS extra long Keo 8-flute t-slot cutters (1-1/4” dia x ½” wide x 8” long) at a cycle time of almost 8.5 hours to generate (3) slots (tools had to be resharpened after every plate).
Q: Can you tell me how you solved this problem?
A: I contacted Cutting Tool Technologies (CTT) to have a special indexable 4-flute 1-3/8” dia x ½” wide x 7-1/32” long t-slot cutter designed and manufactured.
Q: Finally, share with me the results and cost savings for the customer?
A: Cost savings of almost $12k resulted from reducing the cycle time by just over 5 hours per part and by eliminating the prior regrind cost for the special Keo HSS tools.
Do you have an impressive story to share when your MSC rep helped you? Or even when you made a change yourself that made an impact. Share with us and others right here!