High quantities, extreme quality requirements and keen competition are shaping the production of injection-moulded parts for the automotive industry. To ensure success when performing this delicate balancing act, Gevelsberg, Germany-based Denk Kunststofftechnik relies on Schunk grippers in its self-designed handling systems.

“Around 60% full automation, and the trend is rising rapidly; we are no typical plastic injection moulders,” states Konstantin Spenst, head of automation technology at Denk. “Automation is the only way to output between 500,000 and well over 2 million parts per year, and check them 100%.
“Precision and verifiability are decisive factors for us,” he adds. “The newer the system, the more steps are monitored. Recently we wrote a chain of 800 steps, but only 30 of them were paths. Everything else was just commands of pneumatic components or queries with alarms.”
Around 60% of the range was operator messages such as “end position not reached”, “part lost” or “part not correctly mounted”. What is decisive nowadays is that the user receives as much information as possible, because in the case of a malfunction, the reason must immediately be identified. This factor is particularly thanks to the precise monitoring of grippers, as only in this way can damage to the tools be avoided, along with system downtime.
At Denk, all parts are first monitored to see that they are correctly mounted. Presence monitoring is then deployed immediately before mounting the tool; ultimately checking immediately after removal and finally during storage. This methodology is the only way to prevent parts from being lost in the handling process, causing an expensive tool collision.
The gripping systems that are increasingly being conceived, designed and built independently by Denk since the beginning of 2010 are of double significance. Each system must ensure reliable handling, while at the same time facilitating reliable monitoring of the relevant process steps. Historically, the latter had proved to be a challenge, because not all gripping system components available on the market permanently achieve the required level of precision and process reliability, not even the high-end ones.
“With our gripping systems, precise monitoring is very important, as with 1 mm play in the gripper jaws and a closing stroke of 3 mm, reliable monitoring is not possible,” says Spenst. “It repeatedly transpired with grippers from various manufacturers that sensors delivered unreliable results because the play in the jaw guidance was so large. Over the course of time, we have realised that Schunk grippers can be queried very reliably, as they work very precisely.”
The Schunk MPG-Plus grippers for small components are particularly advantageous in this respect.
“For parallel grippers, not only an end point can be queried, but also a centre point, which can be set very easily,” says Spenst. “If a component gets lost, the end switch is set to zero and reports the loss. When handling metal parts, an inductive sensor usually monitors whether, and at what distance to the sensor, a metal inlay is gripped.”
Besides inductive monitoring, the Schunk MPG-Plus miniature gripper can be monitored by integrated and programmable magnetic switches, by means of which a high degree of flexibility can be attained. Compared with similar modules on the market requiring the same input, the gripper produces a significantly higher output – says Schunk – paving the way for ever smaller and more efficient systems.
The high-performance, individually adapted junction roller guide ensures high load bearing capacity of the entire guidance system, minimal wear and a long life span. Components made of special, high-performance aluminium are used internally. In order for engineers to be as flexible as possible in process and system designing, the module can be screwed through and tightened both on the side, as well as the bottom.
“The grippers must be as light and as small as possible,” stresses Spenst. “If I have a heavy gripper, I have to move slower. This costs cycle time and cycle time is real money.”
On average, the loss of one second of cycle time costs between €2000 and €4000 each year. To keep warehousing as low as possible, Denk uses the miniature gripper primarily in sizes 40 and 64, in order to dock gripping systems on to the tools in a stable manner when loading. For large strokes, the Schunk KGG 80 two-finger parallel gripper is used. This gripper even allows handling of T-nuts with adhered chips. For larger, round components, Denk uses the Schunk PZN-plus centric gripper, which due to patented multi-tooth guidance and manually ground base jaw guidance, combines a high level of precision with low wear.

For Spenst, the standardisation of the gripping system components is elementary: “We want to keep inventory as low as possible to ensure the universality of our systems, and to react flexibly in the event of damage. When we design grippers with Schunk, we know that we will be able to handle 2 million parts a year for seven years, without losing any precision or having to fit new grippers.”
For normal use without overloading the grippers, these cycle rates can definitely be achieved and sometimes even exceeded. The temperatures in the injection moulding machines are generally non-problematic for Schunk grippers. Only in critical applications do the designers at Denk contact the manufacturer and ask about maximum permissible values.
Despite the high level of gripping systems expertise, it is not possible for Denk to manufacture the module components in-house.
“We could certainly build parallel grippers, but they would cost 20 times as much and would still not achieve the level of quality provided by the Schunk modules,” says Spenst.
After the relaunch of the PGN-Plus-P parallel gripper, Schunk has now transferred the features of its flagship product to the three-finger gripper series. The Schunk PZN-Plus-P centric gripper is now equipped with a permanent lubrication unit in the multi-tooth guidance system which, under normal, clean working conditions, ensures lifelong maintenance-free operation.
With short strokes in particular, the continuous lubrication pockets are said to produce a fast and even distribution of lubricant along the entire multi-tooth guidance contour. By enlarging the supporting dimensions between the six load-bearing shoulders of the patented multi-tooth guidance system, higher moments can be accommodated and thus longer fingers can be used. In order to ensure fit accuracy, each individual base jaw is carefully ground (manually) and fitted to the individual housing. Moreover, the large piston drive area helps to maximise gripping force.
For further information www.schunk.com

A sheet-metal subcontractor has recently switched over to Radan software to drive its fleet of four laser cutters and two waterjet machines following an intensive three months of development, trials and training. Jason George, IT and facilities manager at Nottinghamshire-based Lasershape, says that ROI in Radan looks likely to be achieved within two and half months.

Manufacturing components primarily for the general engineering, aerospace, rail and automotive industries, Lasershape’s core products are laser cut, folded and powder coated, with some assembly where required, and include parts for a wide range of interesting applications.
George has been implementing a series of measures over the past two years aimed at driving down costs, and felt the company’s CADCAM package was falling behind in terms of efficiency: “The system was very manual, and although we had a project with our supplier who was trying to automate it, we simply couldn’t rely on the results being produced, and had to have an operative watching over it, which defeated the object.”
Lasershape opted to replace the system with Radan, and found in numerous trials that it led to considerable savings.
“We use around £400,000 worth of material a month, and with the previous CADCAM package our scrap rate was around 20-30%,” says George. “We compared a trial we ran through Radan with what our production team had actually sent to the shop floor after making manual changes to improve the nest from the previous system, and it still reduced wastage by approximately 15%.”
The company also logs the reason for every scrapped part, and George says poor sequencing was the biggest single cause under the old system, which was not producing the high standard required by the company.
“With the large number of parts we produce, it’s impossible to go through each nest and manually select the cutting sequence; we have to rely on automation,” says George. “We ran the same job through Radan – and I even tried to trick it – but it was much better at getting out of areas without crashing the head.
“Radan’s not just about accelerating processes, it’s about accuracy, both in terms of the cutting sequence, and the finished component,” he adds.
Another Radan test involved a production job of 400+ runs involving 3 mm aluminium parts.

“This particular job had ‘head collision’ written all over it, but Radan cut each sheet 52 minutes quicker than the old system, and with no collisions,” explains George. “When I looked at the code I saw this was because Radan was able to cut at full speed, while the other software applied slower cutting conditions for small features. This would save us considerable time.”
And an optimised Radan nest in one of the early trials saved over five hours compared with the company’s previous nests, which George says represents shaving a full minute off each part. Having built a number of apps around Radan to meet Lasershape’s own specific requirements, the company benefits from two-way communication between CADCAM and its Epicor production control software.
“We’ve customised the main menus inside Radan and linked them to our own Lasershape menus,” says George. “This is helpful right from when we receive an initial inquiry, in that we can see at a glance how many sheets we’ll need for the job.
“And significant benefits
stem from our new ‘Workflow’ system,” he continues. “It controls stock, live updates of programs and remnant creation inside Radan. All this gives us an up-to-the-minute overview of what’s happening on the shop floor.”
He explains that Workflow means the tasks of marking programs as complete, and releasing remnants in Radan, can be performed by Android PDAs on the shop floor. George has also created a part editor app to mass edit components.
“It automates Radan’s functionality to work on multiple parts at the same time, and means we can mass import DXF files and edit the data quickly,” he says. “This is particularly important as we work on around 20,000 live items every month, and have nearly 200,000 repeat parts in the system.”
The company’s first task when an inquiry comes in, is to add a quote in Epicor.

“We’ve got a button in Epicor that says ‘Prepare Radan.’ This generates a quotation folder for us, a standard project template ready for the nester to nest in, and sub directories for the parts. Then we’re ready to start drawing the part in Radan 2D. The parts are imported and saved in the quote directory, which means quoted parts don’t touch our master part library. With the previous CADCAM system we had a bulging part library containing parts for jobs we didn’t win, and never cut. So this is a huge improvement.”
After that, Lasershape uses the part editor app to set customers, materials and machining operations, including any required countersinking and folding. This task is followed by another customised operation, running what the company’s calls ‘The Migrator’, which scans the entire project, calculates how long each part is going to take, and the exact percentage of a sheet it will use.
“Migrator then populates all relevant fields within Epicor,” says George. “When we win the job, it’s converted to an order, and Epicor tells Radan which customer the parts are for, creating directories for the project.”
The nesting team use Workflow to specify the parts for nesting, and send them to Radan.
“It’s so simple to pull in the raw material sheets, nest them, post them, and send them out for cutting on our Trumpf and Bystronic lasers, or Flow and Techni waterjets,” says George.
He says it’s vital that Radan drives both cutting technologies, and can work with a variety of CNC machine tool brands.
“With Radan we just have the one part library, which services all our machines; we couldn’t have multiple part libraries for the same components.”
Concluding, George says the Radan trials and tests gave consistent results and reduced the task of producing nests to what he calls “a simple admin role” as the system automatically creates efficient, cost-saving component nests.
“As everything we do now is about efficiency and data capture, Radan has become a key, integral part of the business.”
For further information www.radan.com

Established in 1983 by engineer and sports car racer John Moore, Alcon Components initially made brakes for Audi Sport’s Group B Quattro rally cars.

Today, the Tamworth-based company provides braking solutions such as discs, callipers, cylinders, valves, balance bars, pedal boxes, clutches and much more for the top echelons of motorsport and specialist markets. It is this reputation in motorsport that has led the company to Open Mind and its HyperMill CAM software.
Alcon Components designs, manufactures and supplies braking solutions to some of the world’s most prestigious brands, including Audi, Bentley, Brabus and Jaguar Land Rover. The company has products that can be found in anything as diverse as the extreme 900 bhp/tonne Ariel Atom 500 and the 225 mph Noble M600, through to military vehicles, armoured SUVs and anything in-between. To cope with the capacity demands of up to 500 discs a week, Alcon has recently invested in three new Doosan vertical turning lathes (VTLs) for its disc machining line, which is yielding a 30 to 40% cycle time improvement. The Doosan VTLs follow a considerable investment in machining centres that include a Doosan Mynx 6500/50, a DMG Mori NHX 4000 and a Hermle C32U.
When it comes to machining brake callipers, a solid aluminium billet will go through a complete range of five-axis machining cycles with four individual operations. Commenting upon this process, production engineering manager Brian Cutler says: “The first operation will be a lot of roughing on a VMC, which is programmed with HyperMill. We’ll then hold the callipers on their side and machine all the internal features on a five-axis machine. We flip it over again to finish the top faces and it will be turned once more for the final operation, which is the machining of the precision piston bores.”

Whereas many callipers may be small volumes or bespoke specialist products, the company is also manufacturing over 100 callipers per week for a high-end sports car.
Referring particularly to the company’s investment in Open Mind’s HyperMill CAM system, Alcon’s Adam Saweczko says: “The reason we moved from another CAM system to HyperMill was the stability of the software. Since opting for HyperMill, there has been a huge improvement in performance and calculation times. It calculates the paths with greater speed and is far more reliable than the software we used before. Our previous CAM software was problematic, sometimes crashing up to six times a day.
“This crashing was due to the complexity and data requirements of the parts, and the respective programs that we generate here at Alcon,” he continues. “The HyperMill system is very flexible, it allows us to copy proven methods from one program to another, which saves significant time. We can work with a number of windows open at the same time and this also reduces our programming times.”
Referring to the HyperMill tool library, Saweczko adds: “We can store more detail than ever before. We can now store all the cutting data, tooling suppliers and even the product codes. It has become the one-stop solution for our tool management data.”
Commenting upon the five-axis credentials of HyperMill, he says: “The five-axis routines are very easy to use. You no longer have to go into hundreds of different settings to get the job done. The parts we are making are quite complex, but our new CAM software has given us the ability to take existing programs and copy them over to HyperMill. So, existing and proven cycles can be applied to the existing part.”

Alcon manufactures its automotive brakes in sets, with left and right hand parts. Commenting on this requirement, Saweczko states: “Typically, HyperMill can save 50% on programming times as it can be done instantly. This also saves time where we have parts that are symmetrical to other components we machine. We actually save a lot of time by programming one half of a part and performing a mirroring routine, so the next component is produced automatically. The cutting conditions are respected also, meaning that if the one half is climb-cutting, then the mirrored half would also climb cut.”
Confidently backing this statement, Cutler adds: “In terms of improvements with HyperMill, we’ve made some pretty big savings in programming times. I would say that a complex five-axis calliper previously took upwards of four weeks to program with our previous CAM system; this is now less than 2 weeks with HyperMill. Producing brake callipers, we typically do a left and right-hand calliper and the first side takes 3-4 weeks to program. Mirroring the first calliper would then take up to another week. The mirroring function in HyperMill is really impressive and enables us to produce the opposite mirrored part in less than half a day.”
The feature recognition package has also been a major benefit for this progressive brake manufacturer, as Saweczko states: “For example, we have an M4 tapped hole and, to conduct that operation, we will need a tapping cycle, a drill and maybe even a countersink operation. HyperMill’s feature recognition will automatically recognise the task in hand and apply the correct tools and machining procedure.”

Alluding to the benefits of purchasing HyperMill, Saweczko concludes: “We are very pleased that we have moved over to HyperMill from another CAM suite. It has not only improved our product quality and surface finishes, it has also improved the working environment because staff are not as frustrated as before. This is because the software is more reliable and easier to work with.”
For further information www.openmind-tech.com

Many people will have fired a rifle, but for Robert Nibbs it has been a lifelong passion that evolved from childhood enthusiasm, through professional career, to the founding of a high-end rifle manufacturing business. Since joining his first rifle club at the age of 14, Nibbs has immersed himself in the sport, representing Team GB during his career. For the past 26 years, he has proudly been making rifles of distinction and precision.

Located in rural Somerset, Nibbs runs a small business that designs, manufactures, builds and sells high-end target and professional rifles. As an SME, the company relies on a blend of innovative manufacturing techniques and productive processes – it is here that Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC) Ltd has stepped into the sights of this progressive company.
At the end of 2017, Nibbs was having tool life issues when producing a component from 303 stainless steel. Existing solid-carbide end mills were struggling to cope with the skin on the stainless and the intermittent machining process. Applying an existing solid-carbide end mill, the business could only produce 25 parts prior to tool failure. This limited tool life resulted in increased tool costs, and inconvenient and repeated tool changes.
Recalling the introduction of ITC cutting tools, Nibbs says: “I was familiar with the ITC brand and I made an enquiry via their website. They subsequently came in to review the stainless steel components and we haven’t looked back since. ITC’s engineers initially trialled the Widia M1200HF high-feed face mill, but this was a little too aggressive for the machine parameters. We moved to the Widia M200 button end mills and the results have been exceptional.”

The 40 mm diameter Widia M200 button mill cutter with WP25-PM grade inserts instantly ramped up productivity and decreased tooling costs. Commenting on this first installation, ITC’s Matt White says: “The M200 increased the feed rate from 0.1 mm/tooth to 0.3 mm/tooth, cutting the cycle time by more than 50%. For all of his machining processes, Robert would use a Microloc work-holding system to set up to 20 parts in a single cycle; the M200 slashed the cycle time from over one hour, to 35 minutes. This would give him valuable time to leave the machine running while he moved to other tasks, knowing that the tooling would finish the cycle intact.”
Tool costs and changeovers were also reduced, as White recalls: “The previous solid-carbide end mills would need to be replaced after 30 components. However, the
40 mm diameter M200 featuring four insert seats has six edged double-sided inserts with a location lug for precision indexing. This reduced tool changeovers and set-ups drastically, but more important was the reduced tooling costs. Each edge of the inserts could achieve the same performance as the previous solid-carbide end mill; but with 12 edges the M200 is 12 times more cost efficient. Machining to a 2 mm depth of cut, we suggested that Robert use the Widia M1200 for finishing operations. Applying a 0.2 mm depth of cut, the M1200 has machined over 300 parts without changing an insert edge to date.”
The success of the Widia face milling tools opened the door to trial other ITC products on Nibbs’ Haas VF2- SSYT thee-axis machining centre.
“We introduced the Widia 49N9 solid carbide three-flute rougher to the profiling of pockets on 6082-T6 grade chassis sections,” says Nibbs. “Previously we used solid carbide end mills from two well-known brands with limited success.”

Then Tom Lindley, ITC area sales engineer, suggested running the WIDIA 49N9 at 12,000rpm and just shy of 8 m/min at full 24 mm depth of cut with a 10 mm step-over; each parameter at least 50% greater than the previous tools.
“I was very apprehensive, but the Widia tool cut through the aluminium like a hot knife through butter,” states Nibbs. “Processing the roughing operation at double the speed and feed parameters of the previous tools, and with manageable chip size, the Widia 49N9 contributed to reducing the overall cycle time of rifle butt components. This high-speed machining operation reduced the chassis blank from 4.1 to 1.7 kg in 75 just seconds.”
The success of the Widia face mill and solid-carbide end mills gave Nibbs the confidence in the application expertise of ITC’s Lindley and White and, moreover, the quality of the products applied. This confidence opened the door for more ITC innovations to be introduced.
Since the initial introduction, company now utilises ITC 2041 and 2052 solid-carbide square-end tools, as well as 3041, 3051, 2201 and 3081 corner radius end mills on aluminium parts. Offering another example of the productivity gains from ITC’s cutters for aluminium, Nibbs says: “We used to manufacture aluminium thumb wheel adjustors in three minutes with our previous tooling supplier and machine, but the investment in the Haas machining centre and ITC’s 3081 radius end mill for profiling the thumb wheels has reduced the cycle time to 45 seconds, a 75% cycle time improvement. Likewise, the three-flute, 20 mm diameter 3051 series with 0.5 mm radius, and the 10 mm diameter 3041 series with 3 mm radius, have both made similar improvements on a scope stand project while generating excellent surface finishes.”
Referring to this influx of ITC products, Nibbs continues: “The rifles consist of over 30 major components and a huge variety of smaller parts. There is a complete range of rifle variants with three different stock configurations for a multitude of action types, and then surface finish options and colours.”
For profiling stainless steel components, Robert Nibbs has introduced ITC’s 4777 solid-carbide end mills in 10 and 16 mm diameters. With regard to hole-making, the Widia VDS series of drills has been successfully implemented in combination with the TTMM range of ITC mini thread mills.

“I’ve not had any ITC tools that haven’t achieved what the engineers have said they would do,” says Nibbs. “As a small business owner, I don’t have time to endlessly trial new tools in the hope of achieving success, so the recommendations and results of ITC tools have been invaluable. In just 12 months, I have changed out the majority of tooling and ITC now supplies almost 90% of our tools. This is down to the results and the service, support and technical solutions that have improved the productivity of my business by at least 30% in the past year.”
Producing more than 50 rifles each year that are accurate up to 2000 yards (1829 m), Nibbs says the rifles are instruments of true precision: “During my professional career, I spent 40 hours training every week. It is the years of training and a lifetime spent working with rifles that sets my business and products apart and puts them in the very top echelon of the market. A precision rifle is all about balance, not weight; the balance and the recoil action are what sets high-end rifles apart. Controlling the recoil action and efficiently using the energy expended from the action to benefit the user is all about the application of physics. To continually develop and enhance rifles is something that requires considerable design and development effort. By introducing ITC to my business and reducing my production times, I now have more time to spend on designing and trialling new components and techniques.”
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk

GF Machining Solutions has supplied Renault F1 Team with two bespoke five-axis machining centres for the accurate and safe machining of epoxy resin patterns, carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) parts and Rohacell foam core components.

To cope with the different demands of machining composite materials, both machines were significantly modified and supplied with integrated, high-efficiency extraction systems, as well as fully enclosed and sealed working areas. The machine modifications were implemented seamlessly as part of the long-standing technical partnership agreement that exists between the two companies.
The two Mikron HPM 1350U machines have been installed at Renault F1 Team’s manufacturing facility in Enstone, Oxfordshire, within the team’s expanding Composites Department. Both machines were acquired, initially, to machine high-precision patterns (made from epoxy resin tooling board), which are used to make moulds for CFRP body parts.
However, owing to the machines’ versatility and performance attributes, the HPM 1350Us are also being used (now) to machine carbon inserts, and Rohacell foam (used as a structural filler to strengthen CFRP parts), as well as a range of jigs and fixtures.
The decision to invest in the two Mikron HPM 1350U machines was made as a direct result of accuracy issues being experienced in Renault F1 Team’s Composites Department, and the inability of existing equipment to meet increasingly stringent part precision requirements.
Explains Renault F1 Team’s composites manager Keith Dunsby: “We are committed to continuous improvement and striving for excellence. So, when it became apparent to us in 2016 that two of our machines were not able to meet the accuracy and repeatability requirements demanded by our design engineers, we acted quickly to rectify the situation.

“Since being installed, the machines have been working around the clock – including at weekends – and haven’t missed a beat. From struggling to hit 0.5 mm positional accuracies previously, we are now, since investing in the HPM 1350U machines, achieving 0.1 mm accuracies or better.”
The working envelope of the HPM 1350U machines (1350 x 1150 x 700 mm) enables Renault F1 Team to machine a majority (up to 60%) of these parts. For larger components, like the car chassis itself or a rear crash structure, Renault F1 Team relies on big gantry-type machines with a 4 x 3 m working area.
Renault F1 Team has a long-established technical partnership agreement with GF Machining Solutions. The partnership has been instrumental in Renault F1 Team investing, over recent years, in a number of AgieCharmilles wire and die-sink EDM machines, and Mikron five-axis machining centres. To address the accuracy issues being experienced in the Composites Department it was therefore natural that Renault F1 Team first approached GF Machining Solutions.
Explains Richard Ferguson, Renault F1 Team’s composites supervisor: “This was, to all intents and purposes, a different requirement in that previously, the Mikron machines acquired for the machine shop were for machining metal components. We explained the issues and our requirements to GF Machining Solutions and they recommended the HPM 1350U machines for their size, power, versatility and performance, but with a number of significant modifications to make them more suitable for machining composite parts.”
These modifications included the integration of a high-efficiency extraction system
on the table of the machines.
“Machining carbon fibre composites and Rohacell foam essentially creates a significant amount of dust,” says Ferguson. “This dust needs to be removed quickly and safely from the interior of the machine and the wider machining area and environment. Positioning the extraction units on the tables delivered an effective and optimal solution.”
The modifications to the HPM 1350U machines also included the removal of the swarf conveyors, enclosing the Y-axes and providing additional guarding to prevent dust ingress and escape. A final modification on both machines was the inclusion and integration of the more advanced Renishaw RMP600 – a compact workpiece probing system featuring radio signal transmission which, working in conjunction with Renault F1 Team’s MSP software, ensures improved process reliability, faster and more accurate set-ups, and reduced scrap.
Says Dunsby: “The customisation of the HPM 1350 machines demonstrates the power of the positive partnership, and the way in which specific needs can be quickly addressed and solved through collaboration, and by thinking outside the box.”

The HPM 1350U machines’ arrival has enabled the Composites Department to improve its own productivity, as well as having a direct and positive impact on Renault F1 Team’s performance. The team finished fourth in the 2018 season’s Constructors’ Championship – two places higher than in 2017.
“Our HPM 1350U machines are reliable high-performance machines,” concludes Dunsby. “They are equipped with high-torque spindles that enable us to ramp-up feed rates and achieve big depths of cut which, as a result, have helped us improve our productivity levels, reduce part cycle times and meet tight lead times.
“The configuration of the machines also has a positive impact on productivity [and accuracy] as complex and intricate parts can be machined in fewer set-ups using 3+2 and full simultaneous five-axis machining operations,” he continues. “Although initially acquired to machine bodywork patterns, the machines’ versatility and all-round performance has meant that they are being used to machine a wide range and variety of parts, which has clearly resulted in a better ROI than was originally imagined.”
For further information www.gfms.com