FX5 Linear with 19 kW spindle, AR300 automation and laser measurement
Items produced in-house at Acutec.
Acutec is a contract manufacturer of CNC machined components and subassemblies, using precision-ground carbide end mills to machine materials on its nearly 300 machine tools and other equipment. Recently, Acutec was faced with a bottleneck in its tooling production.
Chris Wagner, Tool Grinding Team Leader at the Saegertown facility, said, "We were having availability issues with our current cutting tool suppliers on quick-turnaround production order needs and wanted to bring the work in-house to have better control of quality and lead time."
Sounds simple, right? Not exactly. Acutec runs most of its tooling work in small batch orders of three to 10 pieces, with occasional needs for 150 pieces. The company produces form tools, broaches, lollipops, burrs, drills, step drills, reamers, boring bars, trepanning and engraving tools.
At an IMTS in Chicago, the company reviewed a number of tool grinder suppliers and saw the ANCA MX7 Linear machine. The MX7 Linear is a versatile CNC tool grinder designed for production grinding. It is built to meet the demands of high output, high-precision manufacturing. The powerful 38 kW (51 HP) permanent magnet spindle provides high torque at lower RPM, which is ideal for carbide grinding and a wide range of other applications.
At Acutec, 99% of the work is solid carbide with the remainder of the work involving the regrind of HSS cutting tools. After a demo at the ANCA facility in Wixom, MI, the machine was purchased, followed by a second machine, the FX5 Linear with a 19 kW (25 HP) spindle, AR300 robot automation and laser measurement. Tracking of the machines' performance in real time is made possible by the ANCA RedaX process monitoring software.
As Wagner explained, "We run the RN34.1 software package and use three Cimulators to create and save our programs. We have about 30 individual wheel packs preset for both machines to reduce set-up time." He further noted that most of the jobs at Acutec require special tools, so knowing the ANCA software and machine capabilities has been his team's biggest advantage.
The ability to manipulate the software easily to create special operations for features that are specific to a tool is very helpful for the team. Wagner credits his previous 12 years as an applications engineer for ANCA and over 27 years of tool grinding experience with giving him and his team a real leg up on the design of tool geometry, but he noted the software is intuitive and easy to learn.
"The most helpful feature of the ANCA machines is the profile editor. I would say over 70% of the tools we grind utilize it," Wagner said. The profile editor allows a designer to visualize and track the grinding wheel and tool profile machining operation for optimum efficiency in machine set-up. Further, it offers the ability to combine multiple tools from a previous set-up into a single, multistep tool with easy modifications possible. As a result, according to Wagner, Acutec has been able to save over 75% of the cost by manufacturing its own tools vs purchasing them from an outside supplier. "We would often wait 6-10 weeks for a short batch of tools we can now produce next day or, when needed, same day to keep the spindles turning," he said.
Wagner also highlighted the ANCA special operations manager and scripting, which his team uses to create tool-specific operations as well as wizards to aid in the creation of tool files, quickly and consistently.
In the area of in-process tool measurement, Wagner observed that, on longer run orders, the company has been able to utilize the laser measurement on the ANCA FX5 Linear machine to run up to 26 hours of unattended grinding.
Through the use of its ANCA machines, Acutec has achieved an ability to respond to down machine tools and change geometries on cutters without the long lead times from outside vendors. This ability to quickly respond to engineering changes has been recognized as a differentiator by customers on R&D collaborations.
Currently, Acutec performs 95% of its regrinding in-house and manufactures that same percentage of its special form tools. A consistent reduction of 50-75% in cost has been realized on the company's end mills and form cutters, translating into an annual tooling spend reduction of $200,000, according to the company.
Corporate accounting further reports the ROI on the ANCA machines has been under three years, plus the additional cost of equipment and labor were offset by the drastic reduction in spending with outside vendors for regrind and special form tools within one year.
Acutec Precision Aerospace serves the commercial aircraft, defense, aerospace and power generation markets, supplying critical parts to systems providers for OEM platforms. Its products range from vibration damping and rotor components to engine, fuel system and air control, hydraulic actuation, avionics, landing gear and braking, rod ends, bearing and metal seals. The company performs machining, EDM, metal finishing, welding and minor assembly operations at its three locations. A Certified Woman-Owned Small Business, Acutec carries AS9100D, ITAR and NADCAP certifications.
For more information contact:
Acutec Precision Aerospace, Inc.
16891 State Hwy. 198
Saegertown, PA 16433
814-763-3214
www.acutecprecision.com
ANCA Inc.
31129 Century Drive
Wixom, MI 48393
248-926-4466
usainfo@anca.com
www.anca.com