Product category:
Miscellaneous machine tool equipment (fixtures, rotary tables etc.)
News Release from: Mori Seiki UK | Subject: Workholding and tooling services
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 03 December 2001
Builder offers extensive workholding and
tooling
Mori Seiki maintains extensive jig and tool design and manufacturing facilities to support special purpose machine building, cell systems and Mori Seiki CNC machine tool sales.
Mori Seiki maintains extensive jig and tool design and manufacturing facilities to support special purpose machine building, Mori Seiki CNC machine tool sales and the specification and construction of CNC machine tool based flexible manufacturing cells The company has been building special purpose, linear and rotary transfer machines for over 80 years
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 5 Jun 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The extensive jig and tool design experience accumulated ensures a realistic approach to machining system design at a time when many suppliers - and even OEMs - have come to rely more on the machine tool supplier for jig and tool, system design and programming software.
The four most important areas where extensive experience is the major factor in insuring 'right first time' and value engineered systems are as follows.
* Workholding.
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* Automation and work handling.
* Product and methods development.
* Information technology.
"There is much more thought involved in the design of jigs and fixtures than merely clamping and locating a component," said Peter Russell, Technical Director, Fredk Pollard and Co.
A manually loaded fixture requires ergonomic study.
The component has to be placed easily and located securely without the operator having to waste time 'juggling' it into position.
Clever design of the fixture itself affords easy swarf removal - or in the case of dry machining - most of the swarf falls cleanly away from the job, so requiring only a simple air jet to maintain cleanliness.
The trend with manually loaded fixtures is that of automatic component ejection, particularly in 'Nagare' or 'lean' manufacturing systems.
The fixtures have to be 'fool-proofed' as one cannot rely on the operator to make decisions or report faults.
In semi-automated or automated work holding systems, using hydraulically powered or servo motor systems, not only are back-up systems required to ensure that a component is correctly located, but also to ensure that the Fixture plus component assembly avoids collisions with tooling, machine structure elements and mechanical handling systems.
Fredk Pollard and Co has acquired extensive experience in the use of sensor systems in the fixturing itself, to ensure that closely-toleranced location faces are in contact with the location points or surfaces in the jig.
Output from sensors can generate alarms or be integrated into production management IT systems.
A very important area is that of knowing the materials being machined.
For example, thin-sectioned or thin-walled castings and forgings can 'creep' when machining relieves stresses.
An example is a commercial vehicle brake carrier.
This spheroidal graphite (SG) iron casting had to have pad gaps.
Disc clearance and mounting faces rough-and finish-milled and various features spot-faced, surface milled, drilled, reamed, countersunk and tapped.
After the initial rough milling, Pollard experience dictated that the casting be released and re-clamped at lower pressure to allow to 'settle down' before the finishing operations commenced.
Peter Russell said this was a most challenging job, which had to conform to a cpk of 1.67.
Sometimes, the attention paid to machining process development and jig and fixture design can result in the saving of one or two CNC machine axes.
For example, having two set-ups in which a component feature is set at an angle can mean the difference between machining the job in a three-axis or a more expensive four-axis machining centre.
Fredk Pollard's experience in value-engineered jig and tool design also pays dividends for customers by making extensive use of proprietary modular fixturing systems when appropriate.
Also the design of special tooling - for example combining drilling and reaming, recommending step-drills, and so on - will save money for the customer.
Fredk Pollard has developed automatic loading/unloading fixtures over the years.
It often pays to incorporate a certain amount of workhandling automation in fixtures.
It saves extra movements by a robotic gantry - or even facilitates a simpler gantry system using fewer manipulation axes.
Another aspect is that the fixture can pass on a component to, for example, a cleaning or 'air blow' station to remove swarf, and on to a gauging or probing station.
Accurate workpiece orientation during a component loading process is often an important requirement where experience counts.
For example, a cast iron differential case, currently being engineered, has to be located in the fixture with one of its five peripheral 'window' apertures - the only possible one - lined up with the central bearing bore.
The case has a grooved, shallow boss at one end, which is used to locate the part in a simple conveyor.
A 'quacker' (split location spigot) on a manipulator arm then locates on a window in the case, loads it to the fixture, ready for hydraulic clamping and machining of two sets grooves and milling of flats using two workstations and three unit heads.
Cycle time is 16sec/part.
Another example involved the loading and machining of brake discs.
Air sensors are used in the fixturing to ensure that the discs are seating correctly.
In one instance, a fault at the customer's plant was producing 'wedge-shaped' disc profiles, which were automatically rejected by the Pollard machine.
"The key is to be able to handle, manipulate and orientate," said Peter Russell.
"It is not just a question of clamping and holding." Extensive experience counts here too.
Fredk Pollard is becoming more involved at the customers' products design stage.
Applying experience of tooling, machining methods and jig and fixture design not only saves methods development expenditure, but also ensures a 'faster time to market' for the product.
Fredk Pollard's expanded knowledge of alternative production technologies - such as dry machining, hard machining and advanced tooling materials - means more savings for the customer.
The capability of being to exchange IT data between Pollard and customer IT systems considerably speeds up product development.
Computer modelling is used extensively to verify the feasibility of methods development and the proving out of fixture, jig and tool designs.
On product, tooling and methods, design and development, Fredk.
Pollard applies 3D AutoCAD, CAD Desktop 5 (AutoCAD 2000) and Inventor 5.
Also on board is a variety of programming and modelling systems.
These include Vericut, Edge Cam, Unigraphics and DelCam.
All of Fredk Pollard's fixture, jig and tool design expertise can be applied to other makes of machine other than Mori Seiki and Pollard's own designs.
The company is often asked to update existing machine tools when installing new ones from Mori Seiki.
"We are more than happy to provide support services in its own entity," said Peter Russell.
Fredk Pollard is able to offer customers a wide range of engineering services.
It is able to combined some 60 years of fixture and methods design gained from linear and rotary transfer systems building with today's alternative production systems, such as flexible cells, robotic cells and 'agile' systems.
Extensive IT back-up takes the 'guesswork' from the design, evaluation and proving-out process. Request a free brochure from Mori Seiki UK ...
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