Production Machining - Your access to the precision machining industrial buyer.
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Redefining Swiss-Type Machining the Part "Te programmer's imagination is the only limitation," says Mr. Ortiz. To make the point, he asked second shift CNC supervisor, John Jones, to make a demonstration part with features similar to one of the parts that obviously was not for a traditional Swiss-type machine. Te material is brass and the part is 0.275 inch wide by 0.125 inch thick and less than an inch long. Rather than use rectangular stock, Mr. Jones ran the part form 0.375 inch diameter round stock. "Round stock is cheaper and much more readily available than shapes" Mr. Jones says. "Overall, machine time is the most expensive ingredient in manufacturing the parts. If you're thinking about the amount of material, remember: We get paid for recycling the chips, too. Tere is also some additional rigidity when cutting oversized barstock." Being a rectangular part, one might expect to see milling for the frst operation. For this part, facing and guide bushing support system ofers. Te next operation was use of a side milling tool to contour the part with a little 0.040 inch diameter end mill, the full part thickness of 0.125 inch. One might expect to see a number of end mills to achieve this operation, but a single cutter was able to make quick work of it. In one area, of the workpiece, the end mill was buried with 180-degree engagement milling a notch in the shape, but the 0.020 inch corner radius was neatly generated in one quick operation. Hole drilling and chamfers fnished the part geometry in normal fashion in the main spindle. Next, the subspindle moved in and grabbed the front-end of the part, and with both ends engaged and fully supported, a large 0.25-inch end mill cut the back-end shape while simultaneously cutting of the part from the barstock. In just minutes, a complex, little part, that would otherwise have required numerous operations on a conventional machining center, was automatically made in one setup. Te moral of the story is that Swiss-type turning isn't only for parts that are predominantly round. Tis part had nothing round on it other than the holes through it, yet inside of a few minutes, Roberts Swiss clearly demonstrated their mantra of "All Swiss, All the Time." CoNtrIbutor: Todd Schuett is the owner of Creative Technology Corporation based in Carol Stream, Ill. WatCh the VIdeo of roberts sWIss A video companion to this article is available online that was produced for Production Machining by Todd Schuett of Creative Technology Corporation and includes interviews with the principals at Roberts Swiss. Watch the video at short.productionmachining.com/Roberts. :: The part's back-end shape is milled with 0.25-inch end mills as the part is cut off from the main spindle. The part is complete, ready for the unloader and tumbling. then turning the OD were the frst operations. "We use turning wherever practical to remove material as quickly as possible," Mr. Jones says. "We leave fnishing stock for the milling operations, but get rid of as much as we can by virtue of the speed and economy of turning." Once the milling started, a 0.25-inch end mill made quick work of making the fat sides. Te end of the mill was used frst to rough down the length and then go back and put a nice fnish on the surfaces. Te fnal dimension is tight, 0.125/0.124 inch. With that tight of a tolerance, it might seem that part defection could degrade the accuracy, but this was a great example of the rigidity the pmpa.org Roberts Swiss Inc. has been a member of the Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA) since 2008. Swiss Shop Serves Medical and More For more than 20 years, this Chicagoland shop has been a supplier to one of the world's largest manufacturers of medical devices. It's a relationship that is built on mutual trust. LINK :: short.productionmachining.com/ecafbpgw For more information: Star CNC Machine Tool Corp. :: 516-484-0500 Perfectioninmotion.com Roberts Swiss Inc. :: 630-467-9100 productionmachining.com :: 31