Cutting tool design.

When Mr Ken Krystofolski began his career as a draftsman 36 years ago, the latest technology in drawing boards was the two-arm mechanical band featuring two knuckle joints for flexible positioning. Years later the mechanical band and joints gave way to arms and dials on a rail system for much more accurate positioning. Then along came the microprocessor chip, and 10 years ago, a revolutionized methodology for generating drawings. With computer-aided-design (CAD) hardware and software programs, combined with computerized electronic plotters, the draftsman's drawing board in 1995 is a computer. For cutting tool designers like Mr Krystofolski, the new method is a remarkable time-saver.

Mr Krystofolski is a project engineer at Fansteel/VR Wesson's Plantsville, CT, plant. He has been employed there 27 years. Fansteel/VR Wesson, which makes a wide range of standard or special boring tools, toolholders, milling cutters, indexable or straight on inserts-carbide, Tantung, CBN, and PCD, has four CAD stations, networked via a Veisa ALR system. Mr Krystofolski and his team of designers use Cadkey 7, which is the latest generation of CAD software from Cadkey Inc, Windsor, CT. For hard copies of the computer images, the bits and bytes are downloaded to a Mitutoyo plotter which automatically draws the form on paper or plastic.

Mr Krystofolski not only welcomed the new technology, he pushed for the company to make the transition. "I think there are many drafters my age who are terrified of the computer. Some are taking early retirement packages or changing careers altogether just to avoid making the change," he says. "I want to tell them that if they're smart enough to make precision part drawings by hand, then they can certainly pick up computer skills easily. It just takes a little time. And once they get the hang of it, their jobs actually become easier!"

Mr Krystofolski says he leaves the plant after a day's work more refreshed than he did when he was drawing everything by hand and figuring dimensions on a calculator.

"I'd go home with a stiff neck and a cramped hand and just dread going in the next day knowing I'd have eight hours worth of calculating to do," adds Mr Krystofolski. He experiences a savings ratio of about eight hours to one.

A case in point is a forming/boring cutter design used to bore a shallow inside diameter and a mating form of an engine exhaust manifold Fansteel/VR Wesson made for an automotive customer. "The compound trigonometry to figure these dimensions on this cutter would take pages of calculations," states Mr Krystofolski. "Now, we ask the computer to calculate the dimensions for us, and it's done immediately--and correctly. That's an important point because before we would go over our figures several times, just to make sure we didn't miss a step. There's a lot less mental strain now. The pace is faster because I can do so many more tasks in a day, but the work is less fatiguing."

CAD allows the Fansteel designers to draw tools in oblique, 3D forms, enabling the designers to spot problems with the tools immediately and correct them. Memory storage within this system allows the designers to access and use known and proven standard VR/Wesson cutting tool geometries and to store new designs for future use.

"The biggest beneficiary of the CAD system for tool design is the customer," concludes Mr Krystofolski. "We can now get preliminary drawings of a custom design to him within a few days rather than weeks. He gets the finished tool much faster, and it's made within tolerance, so he can be up and running with his project that much quicker. At Fansteel/VR Wesson, CAD has created a progression of improved productivity."

For more information from Fansteel/VE Wesson, Plantsville, CT, circle 206.