matic requires only 5 sec to heat-shrink and 30 sec to cool a tool in a single setup.
for a chamfer width for example, the Zoller saves hours a day and is very consistent.”
“I love the thing. If you had any experience the old way, you would really appreciate this. No manual intervention,” said Joe Barto, Cummins machine technician. Ideal for the large tools used to machine the heads and blocks at Cummins, the measuring range of the redomatic is 600 mm in Z and 175 mm in X with a swivel-mounted heating element diameter of 440 mm. The snap gage is 200 mm. The largest tool measured at Cummins is referred to as “Big Blue,” a crank boring tool.
A carrier system adjacent to the heat-shrink unit includes the heat-shrink control, cooling bodies, location holder, Zoller masterPiece heating element and tool length adjustment rods. These adjustment rods are used to automatically adjust tool length and position the cutters in the heat-shrink holders easily, quickly, and precisely to correct length within ±10 μm accuracy. “On tool regrinds, this helps us keep the cutting tool at the correct length, accounting for the material ground away,” Malone said.
A variety of cutters are measured and preset with the Zoller at Cummins Engine’s Jamestown, NY, plant.
“A big advantage the Zoller brings us is the elimination of operator error, judging and entering offsets manually,” said David Malone, tool engineer at the plant. “We eliminate tool setting on the machine tools. Compared to the previous manual setting of our boring bars and milling cutters, such as
Zoller image processing software pilot allows Cummins op- erators to measure and preset standard tools without data input or previous knowledge. Included in the software is a library of more than 200 cutter shapes the operator can use to select the type of tool to be measured. He is next prompted to confirm selection, and then start the automatic measuring sequence. The complex milling cutters used on the head and block lines are completely measured and inspected in very short cycles.