manufacturing technology
machines weren’t able to consistently hold tolerances without an operator continuously monitoring the program, and often required additional benchwork and hand polishing to meet requirements. The F5s changed all that.
Hetherington estimates that with the F5s in place, down-
time for repairs or maintenance has been improved by 100%. As a result, jobs can be set up and run untended for six hours or longer during the second shift with only one operator on duty. The reliability of the equipment has also given Franchino the confi dence to run some mold components over the weekend with no one in the shop.
Each F5 is equipped with the Makino Professional 5 con-
trol, which comes with an easy-to-use touchscreen interface and provides operators with convenient access to the tools and information necessary to program and process cavity components quickly and effi ciently. The 30% cycle-time improvement Franchino has realized is due in no small part to how well the control assists the operators, Hetherington said. One of the key process improvements SST and Makino engineers recommended was a standardization of the machines’ toolchangers. Each F5 has an automatic toolchanger (ATC) loaded with the same fi rst 15 tools. Additional tools fi ll out the 30-tool magazines as needed, simplify programming and enable Franchino to defi ne and standardize processes. Franchino also has cut in half the amount of time required for polishing and other benchwork because the rigid F5s cut accurately and consistently. A program can be set up and tuned on one machine, then transferred to some or all of the other F5s. No matter how busy the shop is, or which operator is scheduled, Franchino can easily accommodate engineering modifi cations and production schedule changes without affecting quality. “We now can take details off one machine and put them on any one of our six Makinos and be confi dent that it’s going to run exactly the same on any of our machines,” Hetherington said.
A close-up look at a machining operation in the Makino F5. A close-up look at a machining operation in the Makino F5.
“One of the biggest things we have now with the Makinos that we didn’t have before is the ability to trust that they’re actually going to do what we tell them to do,” Hetherington said. “We don’t worry about the machines going down or not making it through the programs that we run. We are able right now to send a program to the machine and go home for the weekend, and rely on the fact that the machine is going to be running when we come back in on Monday.”
Secondary Finishing Cut 30 to 40% Blending issues are a common problem for manufacturers when they have to use two or more cutters of different sizes. With the Makino F5s, Franchino no longer has to worry about those issues; the repeatable accuracy of the F5s has eliminated that problem, because the rigid design of the machines reduces chatter. Core-cooled
spindles, thermal-controlled spindle jackets and high-pres- sure through-spindle coolant also ensure long hours of rigid, stable cutting. In addition, the Professional 5 control quickly manages more tool points, and an automated tool-length monitor ensures tool integrity. The cutting feed rate reaches 787" (2000 cm) per minute. “The F5s’ capabilities are just amazing,” said Jim Walter, Franchino Mold’s CNC supervisor. “They process
58 — Motorized Vehicle Manufacturing 2017
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176