CUTTING TIMES

    In our business of designing and manufacturing boring systems, new designs are not exactly an everyday occurrence. While seemingly simple in concept, designing hardware for machine tools can be as difficult as designing new software for the computer industry.
    Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we announce our new 3F-HBD CNC Boring and Facing Head. Four years in the making, we wanted to thoroughly test our design before releasing it to production.
    But producing something new and telling the world about it is a whole different matter. As a result, we have initiated an extensive marketing campaign that includes press releases, four color ads and even a video.
    We believe that our new tool is exciting and we want you to catch our enthusiasm by stopping by our booth (E-2594). We will be glad to show you how this and other Criterion products can save you some big dollars. Please see the story further on about the show.

New Product To Be Showcased
Criterion manufactures one of the most complete lines of boring heads, tools, bars, shanks and adapters on the market today. As a manufacturer of machine tool accessories for over 65 years, Criterion products have become the standard by which others are measured. At the upcoming IMTS show in Chicago, Criterion will introduce its new 3F-HBD CNC boring and Facing Head.

Criterion has taken its popular and proven 3F-HBD Boring and Facing Head and adapted it to operate in a machining center. Using a unique "Stop Arm Attachment," the head can be activated to feed forward or reverse and return to its original position, ready to repeat its movement.

Criterion has taken its popular and proven 3F-HBD CNC Boring and Facing Head and adapted it to operate in a machining center. Then new 3F-HBD CNC Boring and Facing Head features a gear drive system that can perform the following operations: Facing, Grooving, Boring, Turning, Backfacing, Undercutting and Counterboring.

The forward mode (moving from the inside to the outside) or the reverse mode (moving form the outside to the inside) can be activated to perform the following operations: Facing, Grooving, Boring, Turning, Backfacing, Undercutting and Counterboring.

Using the preset adjustable stops on the head, forward and reverse movement can be controlled to within .001". As an example, the head can cut an internal groove feeding in the forward mode and by reversing the spindle, the head will return to its original position ready to perform the same operation in a different place or on the next part.
The 3F-HBD CNC Boring and Facing Head features a gear drive system that generates a continuous feed rate of 0.003" per revolution. The head also features a special shank lock mechanism built into the head's Top Cap to accommodate the reversing function when the machine's spindle is reversed.

Imagine! Being able to perform all of these operations with the 3F-HBD CNC Boring and Facing Head. You will be able to view this new item at our IMTS exhibit. We will be in Booth E-2594.

Maintaining A Commitment To High Technology With Criterion Precision Boring Systems

    Maintaining precision tolerances in boring and finishing operations is a constant challenge when serving the high technology industry of today. TMS, Inc. of Lincoln, RI is a very cost conscious shop dedicated to providing its customers quality parts and precision assemblies for medium high volume production requirements. Bernard Croteau, Sr., President of TMS, stated, "Today's technology requires higher standards of quality to meet SPC, Mil Spec 01-45208A, and ISO 9002 qualifications. Criterion's precision modular boring system, with its CRI-BORE and tenth adjusting boring system, and its unique CRIDEX vibration dampening boring bars, provides us the tooling system to solve this challenge and match our commitment to quality for producing precision bores."
    TMS began operations in 1947 handling short runs and specialty parts for the textile industry. It has grown and evolved into one of the largest machine shops in this area. In 1996 the company moved into its present 70,000 sq. ft facility. With the textile industry moving form New England, TMS now counts among its customers aerospace, automotive, and other manufacturers requiring precision parts an components.
    As early as the 1950s, the company began modernizing its production capabilities with the introduction of high precision, close tolerance equipment. Over the past four decades, TMS has continually added sophisticated precision tooling to meet its customers' demand.
    An example is the requirement to machine bores, counterbores and faces of an aluminum housing for a pneumatic nail gun. The bearing bore tolerances were ą.001 to Sigma 6 specifications. The mating cylinder component has similar precision boring requirements with added specifications to maintain 8 RMS maximum finish for all of the bearing and seal surfaces. The thin wall section of the parts would not permit roller burnishing for finish and size control, therefore, TMS turned to the Criterion precision boring tool system to solve its production needs.

TMS could also act as a showplace for Criterion products as it also uses the CRI-TWIN Dual Insert Boring System. Using inserts of the same length allows the system to operate at twice the feed rate of a typical single insert boring bar and still maintain the proper chip load per insert.

    The standard Criterion modular CRI-BORE tenth adjusting boring system with two precision micrometer adjustments, provide the rigidity and accuracy to maintain the ultra-precision adjustments. The final adjustment of the CRI-BORE tenth adjustments. The final adjustment of the CRI-BORE tenth adjusting heads is made in increments of 50 millionths (.00005) with the unique tapered wedge movement assuring stability of the boring system. According to Croteau, "Our production problems on our vertical machining centers were completely eliminated by the Criterion CRI-BORE tenth adjusting system.
    Maintaining the precision tolerances and 8 RMS finish in very thin walled aluminum cylinders on CNC lathes provided TMS engineers with a potentially difficult machining challenge. Due to the length to diameter ratio of the parts, they could not be machined with standard boring bars. Criterion again solved the problem with its LF series CRIDEX vibration control dampening bar. The CRIDEX system has a dampening mass encapsulated inside the front end of the boring bar. The inertia effect of the high density mass makes it remain stationary without the high frequency vibrations that could cause chatter, thereby stabilizing the entire bar assembly and more importantly, the carbide insert. Bernard Croteau Jr. cautions his operators to use a split bushing setup for holding the shank of the CRIDEX bar. He stated, "This permits us to bore to finishes of better than 8 RMS even with extended length to diameter ratios of 12 to 1 at very high RPM".
    Bernard Croteau Jr., states his overall philosophy for maintaining leadership in today's highly competitive environment, "The smartest investments are the ones that put your committed resources to work and give you the highest possible return. Our first investment is having dedicated personnel who can provide productive solutions for our customers. Our next responsibility is investing in the best machines to assure the lowest production costs to consistently produce quality parts with the highest efficiency. The final key is to provide the operators with the highest quality flexible precision tooling to produce these components, part after part, with the least amount of downtime. Criterion's precision boring systems have proven to be the right investment to fill this critical need."

Our thanks to Manufacturer's Rep Don Bohac of Boh Associates, Inc., Cumberland, RI for obtaining this story.

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The CRI-TWIN Boring System can be set up with two insert holders in three different configurations:

Two standard length insert holders.
A standard length and a short length insert holder.
Two short length insert holders.

The drawing demonstrates how the CRI-TWIN can be set up. Insert holder "A" is a standard length holder and "B" a short length holder. Holder "A" has been set to bore a diameter smaller than the finish diameter. Holder "B" is set to the desired final bore size. The illustration shown is an example of a rougher/rougher, whereby the standard insert holder would "lead" as the rougher and the short insert holder would " follow" as the finisher or secondary rougher.

While not exactly a production of epic proportions, making a video to explain our new 3F-HBD CNC Boring and Facing Head was exciting to all of us at Criterion. From Gary Vanderpol perspiring under the klieg lights, to Randy Cloud showing his stuff at the CAD terminal, to the "boys" in the manufacturing area, everyone participated in one way or another. You can get your copy of this video by writing, calling, faxing or letting us know via our Web stie. We believe you will find it a wise investment of your time to view our 8 minute video featuring our new 3F-HBD CNC Boring and Facing Head.

   The metal working magazines have been writing about the International Machine Tool Show for months now, and like all other exhibitors we have been doing our part to ensure that the show is a success - both for the attendees and exhibitors. We invite you to stop by our booth and see the new 3F-HBD CNC Boring and Facing Head.
    The show opens in Chicago on Sept. 6 and by the time it closes on Sept. 13, an estimated 125,000 visitors from some 95 countries will have viewed many of the more than 1,400 exhibits. If you haven't already registered, IMTS provides on-line registration at www.imts.org.
   Nearly all of the 1.4 million square feet of exhibits will be subdivided into 10 distinct pavilions. Exhibitors whose products fit into a pavilion theme benefit because the pavilion acts as a magnet for attendees looking for those particular products.
    Please note that Criterion will be located in the Tooling and Workholding Systems Pavilion (Lakeside Center, East Building, Hall E). Featuring 175,00 sq. ft. of tooling solutions, from cutting tools to Z-axis fixturing, there will be 300 exhibitors in the hall. Just so you won't miss us, our booth number is listed below.