How to properly increase manufacturing efficiency in a mechanical workshop.
In recent years many machine shops and manufacturing companies have invested heavily in new CNC machines and have certainly increased their production capacity but the net result is not always to achieve higher total productivity.
A non-contact tool presetter is definitely a consideration which can assist any facility to head better towards this direction. Presetting ensures that an operator is no longer tying up valuable machine time for measuring tools and instead allows for a greater increase in the actual ‘cutting time’ available to production.
The advantages of tool presetters are quite diverse and we will try to list them to provide a better understanding of how such technology can improve any production process.
We have so far highlighted probably the most known aspect of non-contact presetting outside the machine tools, the saving of downtime. While the machine is performing a machining operation, the operator, or the staff of the tool room, can preset additional tooling for subsequent operations. This means that once the process in progress is completed it is a simple requirement of loading the next set of tools to allow the machine to once again be cutting in the shortest possible time.
Another benefit of the non-contact tool presetter is that it is possible to analyze aspects of the tools that are not identifiable when using integrated tool presetting systems within the machine. With magnetic-based touch probes or with the machine presetter, now more and more often already supplied as standard, it is possible to measure only the length of a tool and its radius (or diameter) but that is all.
In modern mechanical processing, the use of form tools or multi-cutting geometries is increasingly widespread and for these types of tools it is not always sufficient to know only the values of X and Z. Different angles, radii or diameters are not measurable with contact presetting which is where camera based presetters can be of great assistance. The latest generation of vision systems, combined with our software allow us to be able to analyze all the geometric entities on the cutting-edge profile, measure them and store them.
One final example, which we are sure has already happened to everyone who presets a tool in the machine, the process is started only to discover that the surface of the work piece shows the clear signs left by a worn or chipped tool. This would not have happened if we had preset our tool outside the machine! Most Elbo Controlli NIKKEN tool presetters provide a tool inspection capability which makes it possible to observe and rectify such problems before the tool enters the cut.
In the light of this basic analysis we believe that we have made several of the advantages and benefits of non-contact presetting simple and clear to understand. With our latest developments and technology we strive to provides the tools that not only make the work of machine operators easier, and practically without the possibility of errors, but also ensure the maximum productivity required from any machine tool investment.
