CUTTING TIMES

    In our last issue I mention that one of the best ways to ensure our American way of life is in the proper education of our children. This is why we believe in providing assistance to educational institutions that teach classes on machine technology.
    Orange Coast Community College, located in Orange County near us, is another school we would like to mention. It prides itself in the training of students for an industrial vocation.
    A former student who studied at Orange Coast College is Bob Brewer. After graduation from OCC, he did his shop apprenticeship at Criterion. After completing his apprenticeship, Bob decided to get into plastic injection molding. After working at several first rate mold companies, Bob formed his own company -- El Dorado Molds of Rancho Cordova, California. He is also co-owner of Northern California Injection Molding.
    This is just another example of how successful a person can be if he focuses on schooling and then turns to manufacturing. We are proud to have been part of Bob's career and wish him continued success.
    By the way, Bob uses Criterion tools in his shop. You can read more about his story further on in this issue.
    We title this column "The Future Is Now" because successful businessmen, like Bob, often mention how quickly time passes and that they are glad they got their training when they did.
    It is never too late to initiate training or school for yourself, your employees or for your own family members. Just remember, your future begins now.

By:     Scott Little
            President
            Little Enterprises, Inc.
            Ipswich, MA

Ipswich is noted for being one of the oldest towns in the United States. However, since we are a manufacturer of high tech industrial products, we like to think of ourselves as users of the latest in technology and a leader in the production of mechanical parts for the semiconductor industry. The semiconductor, magnetic, and flat panel display industries require extensive automation, which in turn requires exceptionally precise mechanical parts.

Little Enterprises has been in operation for more than 17 years and occupies a 22,000 sq. ft. facility. With 50 employees, our extensive machining operations are comprised of 26 CNC machines, including lathes, HMCs and VMCs. In one of our operations where we have 3 Mazak Palletech FH 4800 horizontal machining centers, we had a particularly troublesome boring problem on a part form one of our key customers. Thanks to Criterion, we were able to solve our problem with their 3F-HB boring and facing head.

The part in question was for a leading supplier of factory and tool automation solutions for the semiconductor, data storage, and flat panel display industries. Used on the fastest and most reliable robots in the semiconductor industry, the part had to be machined to extreme accuracy. This particular robot has an unprecedented 11 million MCBF reliability design that uses direct drives with zero backlash and has a repeatability of <25 microns. Throughput of up to 625 wafers/hour is attributed to the continuous rotation capabilities of the direct drives and highly optimized robot moves.

Machined on a Mazak Palletech FH 4800 horizontal machining center, it allows us virtually continuous machining through its palletized system. There are eight pallets in the system and each pallet is 15.75" square. Its travel is 22.05" inn the X-axis, 22.05" in the Y, and 20.08" in the Z. The tool storage capacity is 30 and tool change times are 3 seconds (chip to chip).

Because of the part's complexity, we required more than just a simple boring tool. Our solution was the Criterion 3F-HB boring and facing head. This is the ideal tool for counterboring operations. The head also incorporates a reversing function, and can be used in either the forward mode (moving from the inside to the outside) or in the reversing mode (from the outside to the inside). This reversing function is accomplished by reversing the spindle and using the special shank lock mechanism built into the head.

This horizontal machining center allows virtually continuous machining through its palletized system.

Featuring a gear drive mechanism that generates a continuous feedrate, the unit has a feedrate of 0.003 per revolution. To prevent damage to the gear train, a specially designed detent clutch automatically disengages when a preset stop is reached or when cutting pressure becomes excessive.

While we have a plethora of high tech marvels in our plant, from CNC to CAM to CMM, we can't say enough about our Criterion Boring Head. It always get the job done.

Learning manufacturing excellence in his formative training years has helped Bob Brewer become a premier mold maker in the Sacramento, California area.

We like success stories, especially when they concern someone we know. Bob Brewer has such a story. Bob attended Orange Coast Community College and specialized in an industrial curriculum. Upon graduation, he performed his apprenticeship at Criterion. According to Bob, it is at Criterion where he really realized that there will always be a need for quality-built products. Something that he has applied to his own business life.

According to Bob, "After completing my apprenticeship at Criterion, I decided to get into plastic injection mold making. I wen to work at an excellent mold making company called Caco Pacific in Covina, California, which was already one of the biggest plastic injection mold making companies in the Western United States." After a stint in another mold making company, Bob decided to move to the Sacramento area and formed his own mold making company in 1989. Calling his company El Dorado Molds, he opened his shop in Rancho Cordova, which is located just east Sacramento.

Starting out as a three person shop, there are now 24 employees at El Dorado Molds. The size of the facility has quadrupled and he has ended up with a variety of mills, CNC machining centers and EDM machines, as well as CAD and CAM operations.

A key to his operation and something that sets him apart from many mold makers, is that his company builds all molds to the numbers. One way to ensure that the numbers are always accurate is to maintain a climate controlled shop because it gets very warm in Rancho Cordova during the summer and is relatively cool during the winter. Bob installed full climate-controlled system that maintains the temperature between 70º and 75º throughout the year. By maintaining constant temperature tight tolerances can be held.

Unlike the cut-to-fit technique used by many other mold makers, making components right to the numbers simplifies assemblies and eliminates problems down the line. According to Bob, "if everything has been machined to proper numbers, the tool goes together in an expedient fashion with a factor of interchangeability included. The ongoing criteria for interchangeability within the modern mold has become a permanent concern to all molders. If an accident occurs during molding and the mold gets damaged, a new component can be easily manufactured to take the place of the damaged one by working off the original numbers."

There is a variety of equipment located at El Dorado Molds, which enables them to build most everything themselves. this capability allows better scheduling as they are not dependent upon others for making deliveries.

Equally important is that El Dorado Molds has established a reputation for building "good" molds. The company produces plastic injection molds that are ranked by the Society of Plastic engineering as Class 101, molds that last for runner molds, which can be quite complex. Some may produce 32 parts per cycle and have over 750 components.

Many molds are used in El Dorado Mold's sister company, Northern California Injection Molding. El Dorado Mold produces plastic injection molds that are ranked by the Society of Plastic Engineering as Class 101, molds that last for millions of cycles.

From the start to the finish, everything is controlled by the numbers. The Charmilles EDMs (below) operate unassisted 75% of the time. They at hooked up to a page system that alerts the operators at home if they stop for any reason.

machines.jpg (158631 bytes)

What sets hot runners apart from standard molds is that they rely on a sharp gate opening so that the part separates at the point upon part ejection. The advantage of hot runner molds is that there is mush less and in some cases no excessive plastic that requires trimming. In this environmentally regulated world this can be quite important. excessive molds, forgotten his Criterion day? "No Way," states Bob. "We use Criterion boring tools in the machine shop."

Criterion recently displayed its complete product line as well as three new tool line products at Eastec 2000, Eastern States Exposition Grounds, West Springfield, MA. Criterion manufactures one of the most complete lines of boring heads, tools, shanks and adapters available. As a manufacturer of machine tool accessories for over 60 years, Criterion products have become the standard by which others are measured.

Featured at both Westec and Eastec is Criterion's new line of micro grain boring tools and inserts. Micro grain materials offer considerable advantages during finishing operations. The micro grain materials are submicron in size and allow tools to have a sharper edge that holds up longer. these 10% cobalt based materials are superior for finishing operations and the boring tools come in six different sizes. the micro grain boring tools are intended primarily for use with Criterion boring heads. However, they can also be used in engine lathes, turret lathes and automatics. They are equally adaptable in machines where the tool - or the work - turns.

In addition to a series of boring tools, Criterion is introducing four of its most popular indexable inserts in micro grain material. As with the micro grain boring tools, the indexable inserts are made from submicron grain carbide and allow tools to have a sharper edge that holds up longer.

Criterion will be offering a line of heavy metal boring bars, which greatly enhance boring applications by absorbing vibration and drastically reducing chatter. This enables the machining of deeper bores with greater precision and finish.

Criterion's heavy metal boring bars are manufactured from sintered alloys of 95% tungsten with a nickel-copper-iron matrix. these alloys are quite similar to tungsten-carbides, but the chemical composition was developed differently to reduce embrittlement. The high density (twice as heavy as steel) and tensile strength (100kpsi) of this alloy makes it the ideal combination for chatter free boring bars.

New brochure describes Criterion's latest offerings. Call 800-854-7441
and ask for "Heavy Metal Boring Bars".