Product category:
CNC punching and profiling
News Release from: Mate Precision Tooling | Subject: Mate Xcel thin turret tooling at USS
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 19 May 2008
Punch press tooling life tripled, set-up
times cut
Fabricator equipped a Strippitt CNC turret punch with Mate Xcel thin turret tooling, and more than tripled tool life and improved part quality and set-up times.
USA fabricator reported that equipping a new Strippitt CNC turret punch with Mate Xcel thin turret tooling more than tripled tool life and improved part quality and set-up times, when compared with tooling used before The company said that it switched tooling supplier after a 45-day trial in which it compared set-up time requirements, part quality and frequency of punch tool resharpenings
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 3 May 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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Based in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, United Support Solutions (USS), a screen printer and finishing company, had expanded into full service fabrication and branded products manufacturing.
In early '07, USS said it had acquired its third Strippit CNC punch press and tooled it with the Mate Xcel thin turret tooling.
The results were astonishing, said Joe Ostering, president of USS.
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The company has since applied Mate Xcel tooling to all three Strippit presses.
Ostering said that tooling was extremely important to the company: "Because it has a major impact on all aspects of our operation, everything from quality and fabricating speed to efficient labor utilisation and ultimately profitability.
The company punches 10 tons of sheet metal/week.
Most of the material is 5052 and 6061 aluminum in thicknesses up to 3/16in (4.8mm).
USS punches up to 2000 parts an hour.
Ostering added: "The latest Mate Xcel tooling, as we've experienced, really impacts our punching operations for the better.
By constantly upgrading our tooling and using it in innovative ways, we perform a 'smarter' service for our customers that translates into a better, more cost-effective product".
* Mate Xcel tooling reduces Tool set-up by 75% - rapidly growing demand for CNC punched parts led USS to look for ways to improve its punch press operations and tool utilisation.
Ostering said: "Mate has a reputation for long life tooling and we wanted the best.
Glen Winters, Mate Precision Tooling sales engineer, gave us an Xcel tool to try".
He continued: "The first thing we noticed was that we weren't sharpening the Xcel tool as often as the others we were using".
USS said it was getting much better run times and the daily savings steadily increased.
The decision was made to convert the entire Strippit Global 1225 model (30 stations) to the Mate Xcel tooling system early in 2007.
Osterling said: "We installed basic square, oval and rectangle tools, which immediately gave us set-up time reductions of over 75% and more than tripled tool life.
We haven't looked back since".
The push-button design of Mate Xcel not only allows length adjustment of the punch length, it USS to change the angle of the punch within the guide to 0 deg, 45 deg and 90 deg without the need to remove and reinstall the punch.
"That feature alone saves 10 minutes/tool so with five of these assemblies in the turret, the set-up time savings add up fast." said Osterling.
"Time is money, plus the initial cost of these Mate Xcel tools was significantly less expensive than our earlier tools".
* About Mate Xcel - Mate Xcel is an easy tool system to phase in because its components are compatible with conventional thin turret tooling.
USS uses a canister assembly for the 1.1/4in station, a punch guide assembly for the Strippit Style 3.1/2in station, together with punches, strippers and Slug Free dies.
The Mate Xcel canister assembly features a push button length adjustment mechanism.
It allowed USS to make punch length adjustment in 0.008in (0.20mm) increments for quick and precise tool set-up without tooling disassembly.
The adjustment mechanism enables rapid tool change and maximum productivity and so saves set-up times at USS.
Stripper guides are hardened and ground with superior angularity and concentricity for reduced friction and longer tool life.
Punches are made with DuraSteel for superior hardness and toughness.
These features generate immediate payback for USS with triple the tool life and far fewer trips to the tool grinder.
Mate's exclusive 'Slug Free' die geometry also raises USS' productivity by eliminating slug pulling to improve piece part quality and increase tool life, said Mate.
Mate told manufacturingtalk that USS' press operators like the easy setting up of the Xcel tooling.
The Xcel canister positively locks onto the guide to hold the punch and stripper with greater rigidity than other tooling.
The entire system snaps and locks together as a unit without the shims and tiny set screws, which are required when using other tool assemblies.
Ostering said that tooling set-up used to be a complicated process.
It required removing the tool assembly from the turret, setting the punch length, measuring, shimming and re-checking the punch length and then locking up the assembly with set screws.
"Not so with Mate Xcel", he said.
* About USS Tooling - United Support Solutions (USS) has 75 employees, and reported an 80% growth during 2007.
The company is an aggressive, intelligently run job shop and product manufacturer.
Integration of the latest Mate tooling technology on this journey is increasingly important to USS diversification and growth, said Mate.
USS had quickly became northern New Jersey's premier finishing shop having a complete powder coating, alodine conversion and screen printing.
While this business thrived, Ostering said that providing a complete fabrication service made even more sense.
The company could expand into fabricated assemblies for military, telecommunications and medical OEM customers.
This expansion included all areas of fabricating, with new systems and processes added for CNC punching, laser cutting, forming, welding, drilling, tapping and component assembly as well as metal finishing, graphics and marking.
USS developed and marketed in 2005 an innovative product called "Radiant Wraps" decorative metal enclosures for baseboard heating units (http://www.radiantwraps.com).
Now accounting for 15% of USS overall volume, the company said that the product line has been a 'big hit' in commercial building and residential markets.
Similarly, USS' military fabricating work has grown rapidly with a very heavy reliance on Mate Xcel tooling to punch the wide range of complex assemblies.
By standardizing on Mate Xcel, USS said it will stay ahead of its expanding tooling needs with the many options and accessories within the Xcel system for new punching requirements.
Mate has the answer by offering the following.
* Three-station and eight-station Multi Tools.
* Cluster assemblies with replacable inserts.
* Multi-function maintenance fixtures for assembling and adjusting tool components.
* Alignment tools for aligning each turret station.
Operating its CNC punch presses on two 40h shifts, USS said it also needs tooling ideas and service for new projects.
"Glenn Winters of Mate has the required tooling experience," said Ostering.
"Our programmers and operators like to talk tooling 'face-to-face' with someone with 'hands-on' experience and Glenn Winters is the expert in that area.
He helps us to be creative with our tooling and that's a really important benefit to us." Mate is a world-leading supplier of superior high quality punch press tooling providing best in-field technical support and friendly, helpful factory customer service, sales and technical support. Request a free brochure from Mate Precision Tooling ...
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