Environnement de machine à flux à deux codes pour un usinage rationalisé
In order to fulfill customer demand and meet production deadlines, GK Machine Company invested in a host of manual and multiaxis machines including a mill-turn center with simultaneous 5-axis machining capability. With so many machines running at the same time, the company significantly reduced machining time by implementing a single CAD/CAM software platform that could power several machines at once.
En bref
Product Used: Mill-Turn
Industry: Agriculture, Tool & Die
Détails du projet
- Le défi : Réduire le temps d’usinage et rationaliser l’opération de fabrication parmi de nombreuses machines différentes.
- The Solution: Mastercam, including Mill-Turn, Dynamic Motion, Tool Library, Verify Simulation, and PrimeTurning™ integration.
- Avantages :
- Environnement d’usinage à un ou deux codes.
- La simulation garantit un usinage précis.
- La technologie Dynamic Motion® réduit considérablement les cycles d’ébauche et les coûts des outils de coupe.
- La bibliothèque d’outils permet de glisser-déposer rapidement des outils dans les parcours d’outils.
- Les plaquettes et la technologie PrimeTurning™ fonctionnent de manière transparente dans l’interface Mastercam.
GK Machine Company, Inc., manufactures parts for heavy agricultural equipment like harvesters, sprayers, tree diggers, and hose reels. The Donald, Oregon, company also produces pre-made greenhouses, nursery supplies, and a variety of farming tools.
« Nous fabriquons des collecteurs, des axes de pivotement, des supports, des verrous de lame, des broches, des pièces de voitures de course – à peu près tout ce que nous pouvons mettre dans nos machines », explique James Houdyshell, directeur de production. « Nous faisons tout, de la pièce unique à l’assemblage de 20 000 pièces. Nous pouvons avoir de nombreux travaux différents en cours à tout moment ».
GK Machine requires a manufacturing environment that is reliable and efficient. Their 175,000 square-foot facility houses milling machines, lathes, and mill-turn centers, including one mill-turn center with simultaneous 5-axis machining capability, two 4-axis mill-turn lathes, one 4-axis horizontal machining center, three vertical machining centers, one 2-axis turning center, and a manual lathe and mill. They chose to invest in Mastercam software due to its ease of use, numerous capabilities, and local tech support.
Récemment, GK Machine a ajouté un environnement de machine à flux unique à son centre de tournage et a acheté un siège de Fraisage enage fraisage-tournage pour fabriquer des pièces pour les moissonneuses et les enrouleurs de tuyaux.
According to Garik Schmidt, Machine Shop Supervisor, Mastercam’s Tool Library allows them to set up databases—or libraries—with custom form tools, drills, appropriate cutting parameters, and work-holding devices specific to the manifold applications. “All we need to do is select the material, then just ‘drag and drop’ our toolpaths for where our points are, and we have a good program. We merge the library with our current file so that it will all be in the machine environment.”
GK Machine also manufactures blade locks for wind turbines. They start by programing milling toolpaths which incorporate Dynamic Motion technology, toolpathing strategies that employ proprietary algorithms programmed into the software to keep the tool constantly engaged with the material, allowing it to cut intricate geometries at higher speeds. Both Mastercam Lathe and Mastercam Mill-Turn feature CAM turning strategies to support Sandvik Coromant PrimeTurning™ methodology. The CoroTurn® Prime B-type inserts are used for roughing the 8620 cold rolled steel while the Prime A-type inserts are for finishing. High material removal rates are possible because turning can be performed in all directions. PrimeTurning can be seamlessly added to the Mastercam interface with a full library of 3D tools available to drop into the toolpaths as needed.
“Initially machining blade locks was a slow process for us,” Houdyshell said. “We had a pin we were turning down, roughing out a good amount of 8620 cold rolled steel. Run time on that was about four hours. Now, we’re using the PrimeTurning toolpath with a Sandvik Coromant roughing turning tool and finishing turning tool. We’ve cut that time down to one hour, and we’ve extended tool life.”
This approach has allowed the shop to deliver pivot pins for harvesters and agricultural tractors in a fraction of the time it took prior to installing the larger mill-turn lathe. Previously, it took three machines to complete the process.
“We’d prep the piece in the manual lathe, then put it into our 2-axis lathe to turn, then load it into the horizontal to do the milling and drill work on either end. Start-to-finish, the process took about four hours,” said Schmidt. Now, they perform a quick prep in the 2-axis lathe and load the material into the mill-turn machine, support it with the tail stock and finish machining. They removed approximately 148 lbs. of material in around 20 minutes, starting with stock measuring 9.5” in diameter at 25” length, bringing the diameter down to just under 8”, turning that 8” diameter 23.25” down the length of the part.
« Nous l’avons fait fonctionner à un M2/MIN de 800 ou 381 révolutions par minute et à une charge de copeaux de 0,030 pouce par révolution avec une profondeur de coupe de 0,090 pouce. Lors de la finition, nous l’avons fait tourner à 477 tours par minute avec une profondeur de coupe de 0,030 pouce et une charge de copeaux de 0,015 pouce par tour pour la passe de finition. » Il leur faut un peu plus d’une heure pour réaliser l’ensemble du processus.
Mastercam Reseller, MCAM Northwest, Inc., helped get Mastercam Mill-Turn working and setting up the 2-code stream machine environment. This, when combined with the Mastercam network license, allows the programmers to work from any computer equipped with a license in the shop. “When we initially got our Mill-Turn license, there were some tweaks that needed to be made to the machine post file. We sent a Zip2Go file within Mastercam to them, and they were able to fix those issues and get the files back to me in a short period of time,” shared Schmidt.
GK Machine s’engage à investir dans son personnel, sa technologie, ses clients et sa communauté, non seulement pour développer un portefeuille d’activités diversifié, mais aussi pour partager son expertise afin de contribuer au succès des industries agricoles et de l’usinage dans l’Oregon.
Devis client
« Mastercam nous a vraiment aidés à optimiser notre opération d’usinage. Nous avons réduit les temps de production, amélioré l’efficacité, gagné en productivité et même réalisé d’importantes économies. Nous l’utilisons certainement au maximum. Je dirais que nous utilisons presque tous les aspects de Mastercam qui sont à notre disposition pour accomplir notre travail ».
– Garik Schmidt, superviseur de l’atelier d’usinage, GK Machine, Inc.
Devis revendeur
“When we initially got our Mill-Turn license, there were some tweaks that needed to be made to the machine post file. We sent a Zip2Go file within Mastercam to the folks at MCAM Northwest and they were able to fix those issues and get the files back to me in a short period of time so we could get back up and running.”
– Garik Schmidt, superviseur de l’atelier d’usinage, GK Machine, Inc.
