Building in critical cutting: an automotive supplier which had to meet both tight budget constraints and tolerances, turned to pivot-head sawing to succeed.The automotive industry The automotive industry is the industry involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of motor vehicles. In 2006, more than 69 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide. is a demanding customer, seeking higher quality at lower costs. Suppliers to the industry must find better ways of producing parts that not only maintain the quality demanded, but also do so at a profit. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Schuler Hydroforming hy·dro·form·ing n. A process in which naphthas are converted to high-octane aromatics in the presence of hydrogen and a catalyst under pressure and heat. hy , Inc., Canton, MI, faced such a problem with producing parts for a stainless steel stainless steel: see steel. stainless steel Any of a family of alloy steels usually containing 10–30% chromium. The presence of chromium, together with low carbon content, gives remarkable resistance to corrosion and heat. automotive exhaust system Noun 1. exhaust system - system consisting of the parts of an engine through which burned gases or steam are discharged exhaust automobile engine - the engine that propels an automobile . The systems are constructed from several parts. An OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and approached Schuler for the manufacturer of an exhaust system with both tight target costs and tolerances. Craig Zeleji, company operations manager, knew traditional manufacturing methods wouldn't produce the tolerances as tight as 0.25mm and allow for a profit. He pulled together a team to produce a solution. Schuler's expertise is in the engineering and manufacture of metalforming systems, and produces components and parts, such as hydroformed stainless steel exhaust systems. The Hydroforming Solution Company engineers, Klaus Hertell and Prashant Soman soman, colorless liquid used as a nerve gas. It boils at 167°C;, evolving an odorless vapor. It is rapidly absorbed through the skin; death may result within 15 min of exposure. In nonfatal concentrations it is hazardous to the eyes. , proposed hydroforming multiple parts from a single work-piece. Then, using a complex fixture, three simultaneous saw cuts would create four separate parts, all in the time former methods would take to finish a single part. While Schuler engineers worked to develop the dies necessary to hydroform the workpiece Noun 1. workpiece - work consisting of a piece of metal being machined piece of work, work - a product produced or accomplished through the effort or activity or agency of a person or thing; "it is not regarded as one of his more memorable works"; "the symphony was , Zeleji surveyed cold sawing capabilities to determine which would be suitable. Even though cold saws were built for heavy-duty production work, he found the saws had pivoting heads like chop saws. The pivot would keep tolerances greater than those required by the customer. After doing his homework, Zeleji contacted Jon Oak, vice president, Rock Tool & Machine, Plymouth, MI, for an evaluation of the pivot-head saw solution. After analysis, Oak called Jim Larson, president, Kalamazoo Machine Tool, Kalamazoo, MI, for an equipment recommendation. Sliding Heads Larson suggested the semi-automatic KMT KMT Kuomintang (Taiwan's Political Party) KMT Kemet KMT Kinetic Molecular Theory KMT Kiss My Teeth KMT Key Management and Distribution Toolkit Model 360 Vertical Column cold saw. The KMT saw heads slide in a machined dovetail dovetail (dov´tāl), n a widened or fanned-out portion of a prepared cavity, usually established deliberately to increase the retention and resistance form. in a heavy-duty column. The vertical column construction provides saw frame guidance and stability, with vibration-free sawing to maintain tolerances to within those required by Schuler's customer. KMT supplied Rock Tool & Machine with flat-base columns to be attached to the fixture. Rock Tool designed the base to hold Schuler's hyrdoformed workpiece and provide a platform for the three KMT saws. Since the workpiece had a number of angles, each column had to be positioned so its saw head would make contact perpendicular to the workpiece, creating a circular, instead of oblate ob·late 1 adj. 1. Having the shape of a spheroid generated by rotating an ellipse about its shorter axis. 2. , cut. With the help of the Schuler team, Rock Tool designed a fixture that positioned the left and right columns at a 5[degrees] angle so the saw heads could cut though the cross section of the workpiece correctly. One Minute Managed The center saw head and column were mounted at 90?as the section of the workpiece at that point of encounter, was horizontal. Timing of all three saws was critical. To ensure that all three blades made contact at the same time, Rock Tool developed a control system with a one-button initiation. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The initial setup resulted in a cycle time of just under one minute, which was within the Schuler requirement. Because the shop runs the parts in batches, the company can experiment with various parameters to further improve productivity. Kalamazoo Machine Tool Visit www.rsleads.com/711mn-207 for more information What do you think? Will the information in this article increase efficiency or save time, money, or effort? Let us know by e-mail from our website at www.ModernApplicationsNews.com or e-mail the editor at pnofel@nelsonpub.com. |
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