Product category:
EDM wire cutting
News Release from: 600 Centre | Subject: Fanuc Robocut Alpha wire EDM machines
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 25 December 2001
Wire EDMs improves metal cutting
efficiency
The acquisition of two Fanuc Robocut Alpha wire EDM machines has paid major dividends for Gateshead based Omega Plastics UK.
The acquisition of two Fanuc Robocut Alpha wire EDM machines has paid major dividends for Gateshead based Omega Plastics UK Since the installation Omega has reduced its dependence on third party sub-contract wire erosion which has enabled the company to maintain high levels of service with shorter lead times leading to a rapid expansion of the business
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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As a result, production of wire eroded components is so much more efficient with machines often running unmanned in its 'Rapid Cut' injection mould tooling business.
And, following the benefits of the high performance of the Fanuc wire machines coupled with service back-up from 600 Centre of Shepshed near Loughborough, Omega has now ordered a Joemars CNC vertical die sinking EDM machine, with Hirschmann automated toolchanger, for cavity work.
Omega Plastics UK is a 75/25 partnership between Omega Plastics, of Mount Clemens, Michigan, USA, and the prestigious Tyneside-based Express Engineering Group.
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The UK company began trading in 1998, offering fast turnaround on plastic injection mould tooling for prototype, bridging production and low volume production applications.
Since it was set up turnover has risen to around GBP 3m with customers drawn mainly from the automotive and medical sectors.
However, with the 'Rapid Cut' tooling concept the company can apply its service to any sector that has need of pre-production moulding services and this concept is set to increase sales further in the future.
As well as manufacturing tooling, Omega has plastic injection moulding (PIM) machines up to 2000kN clamping force to enable tool trials to be carried out and production runs of components.
This service has been instrumental in allaying any doubts that a potential customer might have about using relatively soft aluminium tooling under production conditions.
Prior to Omega Plastics starting its wire EDM production it had access to good quality subcontract facilities.
But as the business expanded, it became apparent that the volume of work being sent out would easily justify the installation of the technology at the Gateshead plant.
"We looked hard at the machines that were currently available." Peter Angus, technical manager recalls: "We were obviously looking for the best performance/price combination that we could achieve and sought a quotation from a local supplier, Rotary Machine Tool Company which suggested the Fanuc Robocut Alpha 1iA.
One of the attractions of the machine was its comparatively large work tank of 1100mm by 730mm by 400mm which would take our largest components.
The machine was also so easy to use especially for programming the Fanuc 18i-W control and process control software which led to excellent erosion performance - using plain brass wire.
Not only were running costs lower but the machine offered very high levels of productivity." Features of the Fanuc machine include adaptive control software which detects any changes in the workpiece thickness and automatically adjusts the process settings for maximum cutting efficiency and less tendency to wire breakage.
When wire does break, the automatic wire feed takes less than 15 seconds and can be performed while submerged.
By the end of 2000 Omega Plastics' business had grown to the extent that the toolmaking workforce had doubled to 12 and wire EDM capacity was becoming very tight.
This led it to purchase the smaller Fanuc Robocut Alpha OiA on the basis that the smaller machine would release capacity on the larger Alpha-1iA for larger jobs.
Managing director Paul McMorris explains how the business was developed: "Omega Plastics was established by Tom Kaczperski in 1985 to fill a gap in the US market for short-run PIM tooling targeted at prototype and short run applications; the potential for setting up a UK based subsidiary was explored following a visit by senior Express Engineering personnel to the US company in 1998.
We offer fast track production of injection mould tools in aluminium or P20 steel to provide OEMs and first tier suppliers with a means of generating small quantities of full specification injection mouldings.
Our product stands mid-way between the output from rapid prototyping shops and the traditional toolmaker, combining the speed of the former with the quality of output achieved by the latter.
This fills a gap in the market by making available production specification components well ahead of volume production." Omega's tooling thereby offers the opportunity to run full trials without committing to full production tooling.
Almost all the tooling produced at Gateshead is single impression and much of it is 'manual' in that cores are loaded and extracted manually following single shot moulding.
This means moulding cycles are significantly longer than full production moulds.
For example a vehicle pedal moulding takes around 15 minutes to produce versus 90 seconds for the equivalent full production technology item.
But at prototype stage, time is not an issue.
The company can also produce sliding core tools for production runs up to 100,000 which compares with a maximum of 500 from cast resin type tooling and an expectation of 25 million from a hardened multi-impression production mould.
As Peter Angus, explains: "Using easily machined materials like aluminium or P20 means we can provide a very rapid turn-around on tools.
We are geared to get a working tool running within two to five weeks of receiving the component geometry which means wire erosion is a key production process to us.
The Fanuc machines allow us to cut aluminium components to very high levels of accuracy very quickly and, as they are able to operate unmanned once programmed, this leaves the toolmaker free to concentrate on other aspects of the job." The Omega set-up is novel in that each toolmaker is fully responsible for design and production of a particular job.
To that end the factory layout comprises a series of 'cells', each containing a CAD/CAM terminal, a digital-readout equipped turret mill and toolmaker's bench.
These are set up around a CNC services block which includes machining centres and the EDM facilities with each toolmaker having access to all the facilities to produce the components for the tool.
Peter Angus continued: "Nearly all of the tools we manufacture are built up with a series of feature inserts which provide the customer with plenty of scope for change.
In practice we use CNC milling to generate the surfaces of cavities but as much as possible is performed using the Fanuc wire EDMs.
For instance, we usually wire the split lines of a tool, the pockets for inserts and the corresponding shape of the inserts themselves.
In some cases we even wire cut the form of the inserts.
The reason for using the process so extensively is that it is very quick, accurate and consistent." According to Peter Angus: "The Fanuc machines have proved very successful while the technical back-up from 600 Centre has also been very good.
Programming has been very straightforward and the ability of the machines to automatically re-thread while submerged means that multiple components can be set-up for lights-out manufacture without any concerns.
This obviously helps us by shortening lead times and providing rapid turn-around on tooling and has helped the business to grow.
The 600 Centre Joemars die sinking machine will also offer similarly good value and we believe it will complement and enhance our EDM capabilities.".
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