During my travels around the globe, I’ve had the opportunity to visit many customers in a range of manufacturing facilities. My estimation is that more than 80% of customers who have quick-change tooling don’t use it as designed.
Typically, when an insert reaches end of life, we see the operator indexing it on the machine. This means the machine is sitting idle during this time with no production taking place.
In many cases, to change the tooling, the operator must go to the tool crib to get the required inserts. Sometimes, this also involves stopping for coffee, chatting with friends, and taking a stroll back to their machine to index the insert. This can take up to 20 minutes.
Quick-change tooling was designed to be either in the machine as a backup (if there’s a tool changer available) or in a tool rack sitting at the machine. The tool has been preset at the tool setting station and has the offset listed on the tool. When the tool in the machine needs to be replaced, the operator releases the tool and replaces it with a new one – a quick-change.
Mike Ramsey, president of CMR Consulting, retired from Kennametal Inc. as vice president, global machine tool industry sales, after 39 years of service in sales and marketing. He can be reached at miker2468@aol.com.
Either a chip reader on the machine reads the offset, or the operator manually inputs the information. This takes a couple of minutes and ensures workpiece dimensions don’t change.
The reason most of you invested in quick-change tooling was because it allowed you to keep your machine time up and your downtime down. The overall goal with using quick-change tooling is to keep the machine running and producing parts at least 85% of the time. I know customers who have been able to attain 90% uptime due to quick-change tooling.
This tooling was also designed around presetting and maintaining the tooling in a tool crib or a tool-setting station. During this process, the tools can be measured, cleaned, and any parts that are worn or damaged replaced.
If you have quick-change tooling in your shop, make sure you are using it as it’s designed to maximize the return on investment (ROI) you planned when you purchased the machine with the tooling. If you aren’t sure how to use the tooling or need help in setting it up, please contact your local tooling salesperson, whom I’m sure will be happy to assist you.
Aerospace Manufacturing and Design welcomes all aircraft enthusiasts to join the fun and NAME THAT PLANE! Each issue, a new aircraft will be featured. Given a photo and a clue box, readers are encouraged to guess what plane is being described and submit their answers to www.AerospaceManufacturingAndDesign.com/Form/NameThatPlane.
How long have you been in the aerospace business? 25 years
How did you become interested in aircraft? My grandfather fought in WWII and had a picture of his crew on his wall. He flew on a B-24 Liberator nick-named O-B***h-U-Airy Mary.
What is your favorite aircraft and why? F-16: We go to the local airshow annually in Chino, California, to see and hear it flying – truly amazing.
Runners-up:
Kevin Gough Manufacturing Engineer Ex-Cell Kaiser Franklin Park, Illinois
George Bogrand IV Sales Engineer ATI Forged Products Hales Corners, Wisconsin
The U.S. Army has awarded S3 AeroDefense a five-year contract as the sole service partner for overhaul and repair of Moog auxiliary power unit (APU) hydraulic accumulators across the Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk fleet. The work will be performed in S3’s repair shop at its Milwaukee, Wisconsin headquarters.
Photo credit: Babcock Int’l
Antavia to provide landing gear MRO services
Babcock Canada – part of Babcock Int’l., providers of aerial firefighting services across Europe and Canada, operating more than 100 aircraft – has chosen Antavia Ametek MRO for its Viking CL215/415 landing gear maintenance services.
Antavia has nearly 20 years of experience supporting Viking’s Canadair CL-215, CL-215T, and CL-415 waterbombers and is the main supplier of landing gear maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for the fleet.
VSE Aviation to distribute Triumph landing gear parts
An exclusive agreement allows VSE Aviation to distribute more than 1,600 original equipment spare parts for various Boeing and Airbus commercial platforms from Triumph Group’s Systems & Support business. VSE will supply the hydraulic landing gear components through distribution centers in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Triumph and VSE have worked together to distribute flight-critical parts including air drive units, rotorcraft engine accessories, and fuel controls since 2013.
The U.S. Air Force awarded LiquidPiston Inc. a $150,000 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract to adapt its high-efficiency, hybrid cycle, rotary X-Engine for use in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles to carry people and cargo. The engine is being evaluated for direct power or hybrid-electric propulsion.
The contract supports AFWERX Agility Prime, a non-traditional program seeking to leverage commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles for government missions and the emerging commercial market.
LiquidPiston’s X-Engine can operate on JP-8, jet fuel, diesel, and other heavy fuels. Coupled with a generator, it can charge UAS batteries during flight to extend electric propulsion system range or be configured in parallel with an electric drive, using the engine directly to produce thrust or lift.
Elroy Air joins advanced air mobility project
San Francisco, California-based unmanned aerial systems (UAS) developer Elroy Air is joining NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Campaign to integrate urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles into the national airspace system.
Along with other partners, Elroy Air will share information to accelerate AAM operations through tests starting in 2022 that will assess the safety of automation and vehicle designs.
“Elroy Air is pursuing fully autonomous in-flight capability as well as semi-autonomous and automated ground and payload handling operations,” says Starr Ginn, AAM National Campaign lead. “This partnership will help inform development of landing zones and ground operations, in addition to aircraft storage, maintenance, infrastructure, and procedures.”
Elroy Air will test its Chaparral hybrid electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle, designed to deliver 250 lb to 500 lb of cargo across 300 miles, as a commercial or medical supply transport.
Fully sealed pull-down chucks
Departments - On the Radar
Rings and springs catalog; Stationary clamping; XRF material analyzer; Threaded shank drills; CMM arm verification; Chip cleaning.
The TX Series 3-jaw pull-down chucks feature repeatability of up to 4µm (0.00015") and precise, self-centering accuracy for heavy-duty metal cutting applications.
Available in two versions – TX-C (tongue and groove) and TX-RV (quick jaw change) – both styles are suitable for first- and second-operation while providing exceptional parallelism.
A symmetrical master jaw design disperses cutting forces over a wide area, allowing the chucks to maintain accuracy and ensure workpiece quality. Centrifugal force compensation provides constant clamp force at higher speeds and feeds, reducing production time.
The TX-RV model features a quick-change top jaw for part families and all models have active pull-down for enhanced plane parallelism.
“An Engineer’s Go-To Guide for Rings and Springs,” is now available in print or to download. It contains product charts with detailed specifications, engineering equations, and custom product support.
Topics covered include:
Expanded sizes
Custom design configurations, capabilities
Engineering design resources, equations
Material types, finishes
Part specifications for >10,000 rings, springs
Nested Spirawave series for high-force applications
The Kontec KSX-C2 5-axis vise is equipped with a tool-free jaw quick-change system and an active jaw pull-down for precise 6-sided machining. It enables efficient machining at high precision with short set-up times on 5-axis machines.
A torque wrench continuously adjusts clamping forces to achieve maximum torque of 40kN at 120N•m. The forces for clamping sensitive parts can be finely adjusted, and integrated elastomer damping absorbs oscillations during machining for excellent workpiece surface quality and tool life. Drive and adjustment mechanisms are fully encapsulated to prevent chips, dirt, and coolant.
The Vanta iX in-line X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer automates material analysis and alloy identification on the manufacturing line, delivering instant results for real-time process monitoring and 100% inspection. Designed to operate 24/7, the analyzer streamlines quality inspections for metal fabrication.
With a silicon drift detector (SDD) and Axon Technology, the analyzer can test a range of alloy and metal grades – including light elements.
The analyzer is controlled with either the Vanta Connect API or a PLC and discrete wire. Connector options include Ethernet (RJ-45) for Power over Ethernet, USB, Discrete I/O (16 pins), and AUX DC power.
The analyzer is vibration tested (MIL-STD-810G), IP54 rated, and can operate from -10°C to 50°C (14°F to 122°F) with continuous testing. A built-in heat sink lowers internal temperature, while fan attachment points are available for extra cooling.
The expanded standard threaded shank drill portfolio includes additional sizes and lengths.
Available in high-speed steel and cobalt, the selection is manufactured to NAS 965 Type B and NAS 965 Type D standards. Options include wire gauge, fractional, and letter sizes with stub-, short-, and long-length options.
The array of threaded shanks meet airframe and aerospace assembly needs.
The 2mm ArmBar:250 allows dual-process verification of the arm’s probing tip or scanner functions. Its low thermal expansion (LTE) design provides additional stability and measurement predictability through a kinematic mount.
The ArmBar:250 provides critical verification for contact or non-contact devices. The reference artifact features two, 1" diameter, grade 50, satin-finish spheres and two 6mm probe tip seats. It easily mounts to a work cart, can be bolted to a table, or clamped to any horizontal surface.
The ArmBar:250 is serialized and its lengths are certified. A protective, hard-plastic storage case is also available.
The updated Chip Blower has an extended steel shank, from 1.77" to 2.5", for added compatibility with hydraulic and milling chucks. They are designed to make removing chips and coolant from parts and machine tables fast, easy, and safe.
Automated in-machine cleaning is achieved by a high-volume air flow with spindle rotation. When not in use, the Chip Blower fits easily into any automatic tool change system for vertical, horizontal, or multi-tasking machining centers. The Chip Blower can be used with automatic tool changers and programmed into a machining cycle, improving machine use and increasing productivity. It’s available with three blade length options and has center-through coolant capability for high-pressure washing.
