Machining services, especially CNC costs can inflate if you are not aware of some of the following concepts in machining. If at all possible when designing an interior pocket section of the part you need to have machined; stay away from using sharp corners by allowing for the radii of the end mill to be used. If it is absolutely necessary to have this sharp corner, there are ways of achieving this but it will increase the cost of the part. A couple of processes can suffice which are broaching and a process called “cut-away”.

Cut away is a process of cutting out the corner areas in the pocket a little deeper allowing the mating part to retain its sharp 90 degree angles while not interfering with alignment. Cutting deep pockets in to the material requires a little finesse and more time as you want to step down the end mill in small increments and run a very slow feed rate and low RPM’s. It will be necessary to use the technique of broaching if you require a pocket with sharp interior corners. It’s also probable that the company providing your machining services will use a large diameter end mill to rough and finish the pocket and use the broach technique for the corners, this will achieve the desired results but increase the time needed to machine these parts.

The reason the machinist will not use a smaller radii end mill is to prevent breakage and to eliminate chatter on the material resulting in a poor finish of the part. An additional aspect of savings when you are designing a new part is to think about how the material will be held when the machining process begins. If a part requires more than a simple vise to be secured, meaning if the part requires a custom fixture as a result of the complexity, then the costs involved will naturally be increased. If the part has parallel edges you can generally asses that a common machining vise can be used which will keep the costs as low as possible. Parts that do not require multiple steps will also reduce costs and the machinists at Hi-Tech Mechanics are masters at figuring out how to machine a part in the least amount of steps. If you are machining a part from a flat sheet quick fixtures can result from existing areas in the part that will be cut out of the final part.

Using an area known to be cut out in the final part, the machinist will use this area with a thru hole to bolt the material down to the platen while cutting away the outer dimensions and can generally clamp the material down to the platen when cutting away the interior thus saving time building a fixture. When designing your part, take this into consideration and add this as a note to your drawing. Your machinist will normally see these opportunities when assessing your drawing but it is a good idea for you to be aware of them also. Also 10 to 20 parts will cost you less than 2 parts because of the off set in the set up of the machine and the creation of the program among other related fees.

 

HI-Tech Mechanics has enhanced its precision machining division through investments in additional equipment such as milling and turning centers increasing our out put capability while making us a more flexible producer of  tight tolerance machining. State of the art testing equipment - top quality staff and hi-end management systems allow us to produce parts more accurately while enhancing efficiencies. Great expense and attention has gone into the development of our QA suites with an emphasis on obtaining the highest quality testing tools, software and ergonomics. This stage in our planned investment strategy in machining is designed to reposition the company as one of Israel’s leading businesses in machining services.

Currently we are seeking our Aero Space certification AS:9100 which will extend our reach into new markets.  Our current production facility consists of 9,000 sq. ft. of production area containing our precision machining division and conventional machining division. Additionally are the engineering and design departments Plans for expansion into a larger facility have begun in anticipation for the new markets in the coming years.

Contact: Ivanna Emek:    mailto:ivanna@hitech-global.com      http://www.hitechm.com                                                                                           Phone: 972-2-648-2008  Fax: 972-2-678-1353

 

I came to work at Hitech Mechanics in the marketing department and was very intrigued with what these specialist in CNC machining were able to create for the military, fiber optic, aviation, robotics and communication industries, and I needed to learn more.  So I started to play around on the Mazak simulator and this was the first program I created.  I will pass along my experience and knowledge that I have gained on this subject to all the newbies to CNC machining.  The following program I am going to explain is for a part being machined on turning center and the dimension are 25mm X150 mm. If there are areas that are not understood, please let me know so I can adjust it for a more clear understanding.  

Step 1, take a look at your print and determine what size (Outside dimension) of bar stock you will need and the type of material that is specified.  The first thing you will need to do is call up a blank program screen by pressing the “Mazatrol Program” menu key.  Set the type of material to be machined by using the corresponding keys at the bottom of the screen and then set the outer dimension of the material being used with the numeric key pad.  For example: you would press the Stainless key specifying that you are using Stainless as the material and by in-putting the digits 25 you are indicating that your material 25 millimeters in diameter.  The next thing you will want to do is in-put a number for the inside diameter of the piece which would be “0″ since we are using solid bar stock, then for the length of the piece you are going to want to add at least 10 to 15 millimeters to the over all length as a safety cushion for the tool, as to not come into contact with the spindle.  Adding numbers for the “FIN-X and FIN-Z” I generally will use 0.2 and 0.1 respectively for Stainless.  Now the last item to fill in is the work face, this is how close the tool will come to the work piece before the actual cutting process begins, I like to use any where from 0.3 to 0.5 here.  When you enter data in these sections, referred to as “Common Unit” the curser will automatically move to the position.  Now that we have set up the Common Unit we can move on to the program creation. The sequence of turning bar stock is thus, you should rough the out side dimensions of  the work piece and then perform the finish machining to the out side dimensions of  the work piece before moving on to the inside dimension machining process.  On a turning center, the X axis are North and South and the Z axis are West and East.  On the program we are going to create here, there will be three parts to it after completing the common unit, they are the “Manual Program Unit” (MNP) the “Unit” and the” Sequence”  of the Unit in the program.  Press the Manual Program menu key to call the MNP up and fill in the data, you can skip over filling in the “Gear” for this program. After each time you in-put data into a field, press the input button on the control panel.  Under change point, in-put the number 1 and for the tool, in-put the number  4, this is where you will installed the roughing tool for the outside dimension when its time to do so.  After filling in the last item which is the Tool, press input and the Unit line will appear below.  Locate the menu button “EDG FCE” directly below the lcd screen on the control panel and press it.  Now you’ll see this appear on the screen underneath “Unit”  Unit 1 (RV, FV, R-FEED, R-DEP, R-TOOL, F-TOOL) in-put these numbers 500/500/.01/.1/.5 respectively and press the input key after each set of numeric data entered to move to the next field. Now you’ll see these fields appear  to the left of the title “Seq” Unit 1 Seq. 1  (STP-X, STP-Z,  FTP- X, FTP-Z, RGH)  Starting with STP-X,  in-put the following  numbers (80.)( 5.) (0.) (0.) respectively and press the input key after each set of numeric data entered to move to the next field.  Notice on the far left side the (UNo) as you progress you will add to the numbers sequentially (UNo 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) the sequences will do the same until you add a new unit to the program. So far we have made the “common unit” Unit 1 and the sequence for 1 Unit.   Now for Unit 2, press Bar out button on the menu keys to bring up the Bar out process and you’ll see (Unit, #, DEP-X, DEP-Z, RV, FV, R-FEED, R-DEP, R-TOOL, F-TOOL,)  in-put these numbers respectively and press the input key after each set of numeric data entered to move to the next field ( under Unit, it should already have Bar out, (0) (80) (0) (130) (200) (0.3) (2.5) (3) (6)  Now for Unit 2 Seq. 1. (S-CNR, STP-X, STP-Z,  FTP- X,  CNR/$, RADIOUS/th, RGH) Press LIN and ,)  in-put these numbers respectively and press the input key after each set of numeric data entered to move to the next field.  Press (5) (you’ll see a diamond shape for the next two fields (50) (45) (cnr/$ is left blank)( you’ll see a diamond shape in the next field) (in-put 3 for  the RGH field) press input and then press LIN again for a second line of sequence data. Unit 2 Seq. 2   Press (5) (you’ll see a diamond shape for the next two fields (70) (70) (cnr/$ is left blank)( you’ll see a diamond shape in the next field) (3 in the RGH field) press input again for a third line of sequence data and then press the “bar in” icon (this looks like a black block with the middle section remove half of the way down) Unit 2 Seq. 3   (SNR is left blank)(70)( 70)(80)(125) (cnr/$ is left blank)( RADIOUS/th =50) (3 in the RGH field) Now for unit #3, press the groove out Unit 2 Seq. 2   (#, No., PITCH, WIDTH, FINISH, RV, FV, FEED, DEP, R-TOOL, F-TOOL) (Press 0 for #)(1)(0)(10)( (you’ll see a diamond shape for the next two fields)(120)(0.08)(2)( you’ll see a diamond shape in the next field)(8)  Unit 3 Seq. 1 Now you’ll see these fields appear  to the left of the title “Sequence” (S-CNR, STP-X, STP-Z,  FTP- X, FTP-Z, CNR, ANG, RGH)  Starting with S-CNR,  in-put the following  data,( S-CNR is left blank)(50)(45)(40)(45) (the last two fields are left blank) Unit 4  Locate the menu button “THR” directly below the lcd screen on the control panel and press “OUT”.  Now you’ll see “THR” appear underneath “UNIT” in the data fields. (#)(CHAMF)(LEAD)(ANG)(MULTI)(HGT)(NUM)(C-SP)(DEPTH)(TOOL) Starting with #,  in-put the following  data respectively, (0)(0)(2.)(55)(1)(1.299)(10)(120)(0.3)(7) Unit 4 Seq. 1 Now you’ll see these fields appear  to the left of the title “Seq” (STP-X, STP-Z,  FTP- X, FTP-Z)  Starting with #,  in-put the following  data respectively, (50)(0)(50)(38) We have now come to end of the program so locate the menu button “END” directly below the lcd screen on the control panel and press “END”.  Now you’ll see “END” appear underneath “UNIT” in the data fields.  (COUNTER =0)(RETURN = 0)(WK.No. =blank)(CONT = 0)(NUM. = 0)(SHIFT = 0)

Now from this point you can check out the program you have just created on the lcd screen by using the “check program” menu button.  You can also check the tool path and see how the tool will move across the work piece and how much time one piece will take to be produced.  Later you will learn how to optimize the program to reduce the amount of time to produce 1 part.  So until next time take a look at what fun things can be done with CNC and a pumkpin

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