Built for use with 7 different models of Huot ToolScoot[R], tool covers protect machine operators from cuts and scratches inflicted when retrieving sharp tooling. Products also prevent cutting tools from getting nicked or dinged. Semi-transparent top reduces industrial espionage and let operator see tooling. It can be written on with dry erase marker. Covers are available in EDP No. 14000 for tapers 30, 35, 40, or HSK 63A and EDP No. 14015 for tapers 45, 50, or HSK 100A.

A new, Patent Pending Tool Cover for CNC tooling greatly increases worker safety while protecting valuable cutting tools. The new safety tooling cover easily covers sharp CNC tooling to keep people’s arms from being cut open when reaching in to get tooling. Huot President John Huot explains “For years customers would ask us for a product that would prevent a person’s arm from getting ripped open from the sharp tooling. It’s such a common problem in the industry that people would show us scars on their forearms.” Priced at $11.99 per Safety Tooling Cover, they are far cheaper than going to the emergency room for stitches.

The new safety tooling covers are built for use with 7 different models of the Huot ToolScoot[R]. They are available in EDP# 14000 for tapers 30, 35, 40 or HSK 63A and EDP# 14015 for tapers 45, 50 or HSK 100A. In addition to protecting machine operators from accidental injuries on sharp tooling, the covers keep other tooling from getting nicked or dinged as the tooling is retrieved. Covers are held in place with key hole slots molded in to their base and shoulder bolts installed on the ToolScoot[R].

The Safety CNC Tooling Covers feature a semi-transparent top. It reduces industrial espionage of unique tooling while allowing the operator to see the tooling. The top can be written on with dry erase marker. The covers keep staged tooling clean and ready to go for faster set-ups.

Company Description: Huot Manufacturing is located at 550 North Wheeler Street in St. Paul, Minnesota 55104. The company manufactures and markets cutting tool storage cabinets, dispensers, towers and tool carts for a variety of tooling including drills, taps, inserts, CNC V-flange, CAPTO and HSK tooling.

A Techno CNC router paid for itself on the first job by producing an order of aluminum signs with acrylic letters for a bookstore chain in about one-tenth the time that would have been required to produce them by hand. The push-through acrylic letters had to be produced to demanding tolerances that would have been difficult or impossible to meet by hand. The Techno CNC router has helped the company enter new markets by producing signs and related specialty items from a range of materials including plastics, aluminum, wood and other materials in one-fifth to one-tenth of the time that would have been required by hand.

Creative Accessories is a 25-employee company that is constantly seeking new niche markets for its products. The company’s primary product is signs and displays but it also produces a range of specialty items, most of which are made from a variety of acrylic plastics and woods. For example, the company has recently begun producing carved wood signs and marketing them through sign stores and catalogs. In the past, the company produced these items using traditional hand and power tools including bandsaws, shapers, and routers. This meant that a considerable amount of time was required to produce each piece and that accuracy was dependent on the skill of the person doing the work.

The difficulty of producing these products by hand came to a head recently when the company had the opportunity to bid on a large order for display signs to be used by a bookstore chain in their coffee shops. The displays each consist of a rectangular aluminum display cut out in order to insert acrylic letters. Each of the letters is flanged so they are retained in the sign. Creative Accessories management realized that the cost of producing the job with manual methods would have been too high to get the order and the accuracy that could have been achieved would probably not be up to the customer’s demanding standards.

The company examined several CNC routers and selected the Gantry System from Techno-Isel, New Hyde Park, New York because of its accuracy, relatively low cost and its ability to interface with popular software packages. It then submitted a bid for the bookstore displays stating that it would purchase the machine if it received the order. When it got the order, Creative Accessories immediately ordered the router and began work. Techno customer support was very helpful in providing guidance on the cutting speeds and type of bits required to machine aluminum and acrylics.

While the aluminum display was easily clamped to the machine table, attaching the softer acrylic letters without damaging them proved to be a bit more of a challenge. On this first project, Creative Accessories used double sided carpet tape which held the letters without difficulty but was somewhat time-consuming to remove them. Later, the company developed a universal vacuum deck with multiple chambers that can exert tons of clamp-down force. This deck is being used for all of the company’s internal plastics work on the machine.

The first job covered the cost of the machine despite the fact that a fair amount of time was required for learning how to program, set up and run it. In general, the company has found that it can produce signs and other specialty products in about one-tenth the time previously required. Since then, Creative Accessories has significantly increased its business in a number of areas due largely to the increased productivity and accuracy.

Creative Accessories has picked up a considerable amount of wholesale work for other signmakers that still produce signs by hand. These include carved wood signs, plastic signs and electrified signs. Small, carved wood signs normally take three to four hours to produce by hand yet can be cut on the router in about 15 minutes. CASmate Pro has proven to be quite a valuable tool in this area. In particular, the program’s “scan to cut” feature makes it possible to scan a logo or other design and create a vector image with square corners and sharp angles in no time at all. The program downloads quite easily to the Techno gantry system.

Quality of work produced by the company has also been greatly improved. The machine has a resolution of 0.0005 inch which is about 100 times the precision that can be achieved by hand. So the letters and specialized shapes produced on the router are far more precise than hand-cut, and any required copies are identical to the originals. The company trains its employees to achieve high standards all the way from design through production and finishing and the router makes it relatively easy to achieve these standards.

The strength and rigidity of the table was also important. The Techno machine is constructed from extruded aluminum profiles which can support all the materials that the company uses and provides easy clamping. The machine also has four ground and hardened steel shafts and eight recirculating bearings in each axis. This shaft and bearing system produces very smooth play free motion which produces high quality cuts.

Heartland Fabrication & Machine, Inc., Lee’s Summit, Missouri, has recently installed a new Komo High-speed VR 1205TT CNC Router.

“This new CNC router, first in the U.S. in a job shop, enables us to diversify our offerings and serve new customers in a wide variety of industries,” stated Mike Hudson, owner.

“A lot of companies that currently own a CNC router are industry specific and don’t promote the machine due to the competitive edge they get when quoting parts.”

Hudson plans to promote this machine to reach multiple industries.

The Komo features: twin spindles (24,000 rpm); dual pallets-, a 6′ x 12′ work surface, 3,000-ipm cut rate, .00005″ repeatability and automated chip removal. It can handle aluminum, plastics, wood, cultured marble and many manmade materials.

The company will be releasing 3-D sculptured products under the name of No Limitations at a new location in Kingsville, Missouri. No Limitations will be working with many local companies to enhance their product line.

“We continually strive to stay current with the latest technologies to improve our efficiencies and service,” commented Hudson as he noted the company’s ongoing investment in software and training.

Heartland Fabrication and Machine, a CNC machine and fabrication shop also offers CNC turning (including y-axis) and milling, drilling, tapping, welding (MIG & TIG), CNC sawing, tube bending and light punching.

Other services such as painting, heat treating, powder coating, plating and robotic welding are also available through a wide range of suppliers.

Heartland Fabrication and Machine serves a wide range of industries in mid-America including: elevator/lift equipment; architectural/ornamental; construction; communications; trucking; railroad; agriculture; lawn and garden; food processing and custom motorcycle components.

The company is a family affair with Mike’s wife, Kristi, his mother, Joann Hatch and his Father-in-law, Larry Jones, all involved in the company’s operations.

Huot Manufacturing Company’s offering of carts; towers; wall or machine-mount racks; benchtop platforms; portable tool totes; covers; drill, tap, end mill, reamer and insert dispensers; index cases and stands; collet racks; and accessories is outlined in this catalog.

Suited for X Class range of CNC tools and cutter grinders, Wheel Editor v27 includes key hole punch software for creation of punch geometries from library of shapes. Software also enables creation of customized contours and punches with concave and convex shapes. Additional features include Delta-C R850 drill point sharpening function and Profile Pivot Editor function to optimize feedrate.

Melbourne - ANCA has recently released version 27 for their X Class range of CNC Tools and Cutter Grinders. This version is packed with new innovative features that make the performance of an ANCA machine more efficient, provide significantly extended flexibility and enhance the possible spectrum of applications.

Product Details

The two main new features with version 27 are the addition of Key Hole Punch software and Delta-C R850 Drill Point. This increases the applications on version 27 to more industries. The Keyhole Punch software allows creation of punch geometries from a library of shapes and also allows creation of customised contours. Unlike standard punch grinders this solution is able to create punches with concave and convex shapes. Once the shape is designed the software will specify the wheel shape required to grind the punch. This wheel shape can then be loaded into the ANCA Wheel Editor. The Delta-C R850 drill point has been implemented in iGrind and is available in the drill wizard. This is a proprietary drill shape. Version 27 enables sharpening of this drill shape under license.

Version 27 has a wide range of applications, which enable users from many different industries to utilise its broad and flexible functionalities. Some of the more common applications which have been improved are:

Profile

Profile Pivot Editor function is a new feature of profile software. This option changes the way in which nine o’clock grinding positions the wheel. If full control is selected then the pivot angle can be specified at the start and end of each profile element. An option has been added in profile grinding that allows the feedrate to be optimised to maintain a constat passage of the grinding point across the profile.

Step

The wizard has been added to the Step editor operation that will allow a single DXF file to be split into multiple step sections. A new menu has been added to the Step Editor operation that allows geometry to be displayed and selected in iView.

You have gone through the effort of identifying opportunities for improving your plant’s operation. You have given thought to how long it will take and who is in the best position to make things happen. You have energized the staff through training and open communication and you think everything will work out, yet nothing happens. Your staff eventually gets lost in the daily ritual of putting out fires and trying to run a chaotic business, and all of the good ideas become distant memories.

Why does this happen? More often than not, it is because you did not have an implementation plan that was understood by those responsible fur getting it done. If you have encountered this problem in your company, consider the following steps for developing and managing an effective implementation plan.

1. Identify the action items to be addressed. Be sure they are written in a clear and concise manner and that everyone involved really understands them. Whenever possible, make these action items “achievement oriented.” Typical action items might include “reduce change-over time by 50 pecent on the CNC lathe,” “eliminate all unneeded items from the assembly area” or “develop a pull scheduling signal for the paint shop.”Avoid “activity oriented” action items such as “investigate the possibility of instituting a preventive maintenance program on the vertical machining center” or “evaluate running the machine at faster speeds and feeds.” If it turns out one of your achievement-oriented action items does not materialize, so be it. At least there was a clear vision of what was expected, and perhaps it can be revisited later.

2. Determine the person best suited to assume responsibility for the action item. This is not necessarily the person who has to do all of the work; rather, it is just the person who assumes responsibility for getting the work done. Obviously, the person will need access to resources to be successful, and this must go into the decision of selecting the right person.

3. Before you assign target completion dates for the action items, determine priorities. This will help in setting the target dates. Use any prioritization system you feel comfortable with, but be careful not to establish too many priority levels. At this point, a simple A-B-C prioritization identification may be sufficient. This forces everyone to examine which are the most important items and which can be put off for a while.

4. Determine target completion dates for each action item. Resource availability will generally dictate these dates, which should be reasonable (don’t forget you also have to keep the business running) and have the buy-in of everyone involved. It may be necessary to establish multiple phased dates for certain action items. For example, you may choose to list a date for an initial step in the process along with a completion date.

5. Document the implementation plan and post it somewhere in the company. The plan can be recorded on anything from a handwritten flip chart to a more formal computer-generated document. Posting the plan establishes a communication board for everyone to see.

6. Determine the frequency and type of follow-up meetings for the sole purpose of discussing progress with the implementation plan. In terms of frequency, more frequent is better than less frequent, especially early in the life of the plan. If follow-up meetings are planned too far apart, time may be lost upfront, leading to delays down stream. Intervals of 1, 2 or 4 weeks are probably the most common frequency for these meetings.

When it comes to meetings types, avoid long, drawn-out meetings that accomplish little and waste valuable time. Identify what should be discussed by the team and what should be taken off-line for discussion by a limited few. Many like the “15-minute stand up meeting” format that can be held anywhere. (For maximum effect, try scheduling such meetings at a quarter to an hour–maybe just before the lunch hour.)

7. Keep the implementation plan alive. This means doing what you say you are going to do, especially in terms of follow-up. Recognizing that there may be times when people are not available for meetings, they should send representatives who are authorized to speak on their behalf. Maintaining momentum and enthusiasm may also require being flexible with dates. When target dates are not met, or are in danger of not being met, immediately establish new target dates and keep moving forward.

Sometimes obvious improvement possibilities go unnoticed. It could be that you are too close to a problem (you can’t see the forest for the trees), or you may not be spending enough time out in the shop to spot them. Or, if you’re not communicating enough with your setup people and/or operators, they’re not going to be able to tell you when they’re having time-wasting problems.

For whatever reason, you may have room for improvements that aren’t being addressed. We’d like to offer some down-and-dirty suggestions to get your creative juices flowing again. Most of these suggestions are quite simple to implement, and they address common and obvious problems.

Color-code your pull studs. If you have machining centers made by two or more machine tool builders, even if they require the same tool holder shanks (CAT-40, for example), it is likely that each machine tool will require its own pull stud (a stud that allows the toolholder to be clamped in the spindle). Pull studs can vary dramatically from one machine tool builder to another. But sometimes the differences between pull studs are subtle and hard to spot. If the wrong pull stud is used, the results can be disastrous. At best, the tool will be insufficiently held in the spindle, resulting in vibration and chatter during machining. At worst, the tool might be thrown from the machine when the spindle is started. One easy fix is to use dye to color all of the pull studs for a given machine with a specific color. This way, setup people and operators will easily be able to tell if they’ve got the right pull stud(s) on the toolholders.

Use Velcro. Velcro makes a great way to keep needed components where they’re supposed to be. With turning centers, for example, you can Velcro the wrenches needed for changing inserts right to the turret, next to the turret station that requires them. You can Velcro the wrench that releases the bar feeder clamp into position next to the release bolt. For vertical machining centers, you can Velcro the vise clamp to the front of the machine. You get the idea. Velcro allows you to stick almost anything right where you need it to minimize searching time during CNC operation.

Get organized. Watch setup people and operators. It’s easy to tell just how organized they are. If they can quickly find each item they need, use it and then put it back where it belongs, they’re probably pretty organized. But if you see people searching the shop to find needed items and/or if you see them leaving items wherever they choose (or worse, if there’s no storage location for items), then there is room for improvement.

Get prepared. This goes hand-in-hand with getting organized. Appropriate preparation is the key to doing nearly anything in an efficient manner. When it comes to making setups, for example, just how prepared is the setup person? Is everything readily available, or does the person have to search the shop (while the machine is down) to find the components needed for the setup?

Document repeated tasks. I have often said the more often a task is repeated, the easier it is to justify improving it. The first thing you should do is ensure that the repeated task is appropriately documented. The more people involved with the task and the lower their skill level, the more important it is to provide adequate documentation for the task. Admittedly, the more a task is repeated, the more likely it is that a given person will eventually memorize how to perform the task. But the key word in the previous sentence is eventually. Until the task is memorized, the person performing it will struggle, which translates to taking more time to perform the task and possibly making mistakes when performing it.

The company’s CNC products and services, including cell systems with

optional automated materials are described.

For more information from CNC Engineering Inc., call (860) 749-1780 or enter MMS Direct code 131RX at www.mmsonline.com

Haas Automation has added three pieces of CNC equipment to the Applied Technology Center at the Wichita Area Technical College (WATC).

Established as a Haas Technical Center (HTEC), with nine pieces of Haas CNC equipment in 2001, the center provides support for the manufacturing base in Wichita and the surrounding areas of Kansas.

The new equipment includes: An SL-20 lathe, A High Speed VF-2TR vertical machining center (5-axis); and a Superspeed VF-2SS VMC.

This equipment represents the 3 rd entrustment provided by Haas Automation to the center, and brings the number of pieces of Haas CNC equipment in the facility up to 11 (plus six control simulators).

The HTEC gives students the opportunity to experience what industry refers to as the process of “art to part.”

“Thanks to the HTEC, WATC students are able to learn true hands-on industrial machining practices that provide them with the education and training necessary to prepare them for rewarding high-tech careers in the worldwide manufacturing field,” noted George Gray, dean of manufacturing and engineering technologies.

The Sinumerik 840D NCU 573.5 is a CNC system that offers a range of specialized functions for milling, drilling, turning and grinding. Its capabilities include nibbling, punching and laser machining technologies. When used with the integrated PLC 317-2DP, the company says the NCU provides approximately 160 percent higher numerical control performance and 300 percent PLC performance over previous versions, as well as additional CNC user memory. When expanded to the maximum, the NCU 573.5 has 31 axes/spindles and 10 channels/10 mode groups. The CNC also has features for high speed and five-axis machining.