Among the rolling hills between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, lies the small town of Fredericktown. Founded in 1807, the town retains much of its historical center and rural charm. In fact, the main source of income revenue for its citizens remains the family-owned farm, with some of them being handed down for generations over the past 100 years. Fredericktown managed to stay off the radar until 1994 when auto component supplier to Honda Motor Co., Tanaka Seimitsu Kogyo Co., Ltd., decided to set up shop. The American segment of the company, FT Precision Inc., takes its name from the “F” of Fredericktown, the town in which the company resides, and the “T” from Tanaka, the last name of the company’s founder Giichiro Tanaka, and Precision which is derived from the Japanese word seimitsu, meaning precision.To get more news about cad and cam software , you can visit shine news official website.
The 376,500 ft2 (34,978 m2) facility began mass producing rocker arm assemblies for the four and six cylinder engines exclusively for Honda of America in 1996, just two years after its founding. Located just north of Columbus, FTP is within one to two hours of Honda’s engine and assembly plants in central Ohio, making it well-positioned as a Tier One supplier to the automaker’s U.S. production centers. Engineer Matt Kline has worked in the manufacturing operation at FTP for the past eight years. He has seen a lot of growth since then. When Kline arrived, there were multiple CNC machine lines, die casting machines, and assembly machines on the shop floor. As FTP continued to expand, Kline consulted with management about the equipment he needed to increase component part production. He requested a couple CNC machines for maintenance and prototyping parts, including a Haas TL15 dual-spindle lathe with live tooling, and a Haas VF3 CNC vertical milling machine. In 2016, Kline pursued the idea of producing his own aluminum die casting die components and purchased the first of two Mazak Variaxis i-600 5-axis vertical machining centers. To keep all of his machines running smoothly, he needed a robust CAD/CAM software program that could handle the roughing power and delicate finishing cycles that allow him to customize his production processes.
Bringing Work In-House “I recommended purchasing Mastercam because of its availability and the features I saw at trade shows,” Kline said, referring to the software from CNC Software Inc., Tolland, Conn. He worked with Mastercam Reseller FASTech, Inc., Findlay, Ohio, to get up and running and to learn the different features of the software. Soon, he was able to manufacture replacement die cast parts in-house with a substantial payback and return on investment.
“I am able to produce a lot of the parts I am making at an amazing rate. What used to take us months to get from overseas, I can usually produce within weeks. The software has really improved our production on this,” Kline said. In the past, die insert manufacturing was outsourced—it took four to six months before shipments arrived and they cost about $2,000 per piece. Kline is making them for nearly one-third of the cost by bringing production in-house. “Having the ability to produce in-house is definitely a game changer,” Kline said. So, how are they doing it?
Kline is the sole CNC programmer and operator of the Mazak machines. He used trial and error to figure out how to best manufacture the die inserts in-house. He began by creating his own fixtures in the software and pushing the machine as hard as it would go. When creating these fixtures, he used Mastercam Simulator to identify any crash or collision points, improving manufacturing capabilities.
In addition to the right fixtures, high speed machining requires a toolholder that can withstand the strong vibration within the machine. Kline favors the REGO-FIX powRgrip tool holder.
“I’ve learned that whenever you insert a tool into the REGO-FIX, the runout is within a couple of microns. If you use a solid, expandable collet or hydraulic endmill holder, the total indicator reading can produce tool run out,” he said. “To produce a correct cavity or insert within Mastercam without the correct tooling to run it, you will have a difficult time holding finish and tolerances.” The die inserts are made from a Japanese matrix tool steel chosen to handle the constant abuse in aluminum die casting.
