Flexible Manufacturing System

REPORT ON WORK HOLDING CONSIDERATIONS

Submitted ByVibhor Sharma 100106366 3rd Year B.Tech(ME)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my guide , Asst. Professor Naveen Kumar for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this report. The blessing, help and guidance given by him time to time shall carry me a long way in the journey of life on which I am about to embark. I am obliged to Library staff members , for the valuable information provided by them in the respective fields by assisting me by providing the required books. I am grateful for their cooperation during the period of my assignment.

Lastly, I thank almighty, my parents, brother, sisters and friends for their constant encouragement without which this assignment would not be possible.

Vibhor Sharma 100106366

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Electing the Proper Workholding

The proper selection of workholding involves more than simply accepting the chuck that came with the machine as the solution, but manufacturing managers on the shop floor often feel that they lack the in-house resources to determine the best non-standard alternatives. In efficient manufacturing process requires good machine selection, proper cutting tools and the right workholding. The first two areas typically receive substantial consideration, but workholding is often overlooked. This can be a costly mistake. The correct workholding selection can increase process stability, efficiency and the safety of a manufacturing process. The proper selection of workholding involves more than simply accepting the chuck that came with the machine as the solution, but manufacturing managers on the shop floor often feel that they lack the in-house resources to determine the best non-standard alternatives. To incorporate the most efficient processes, though, a shop should invest the time to research the most appropriate solutions. Many factors come into play when determining the best workholding option. Engineers will typically want to look at the material being cut, critical tolerance requirements, workpiece shape, workpiece dimensions, lot size and frequency of change-over. Along with these issues the workholding engineer will also look at the manufacturing process in detail to see how it can be optimized with workholding. In many instances altering the process in

conjunction with good workholding can net large gains in throughput as well as part quality.

Stability for high volume work

High volume machining requires a different set of requirements than those used in a job shop. Running high volume parts requires a stable process to ensure consistently produced high quality parts over longer periods of time. This frequently leads to more specialized workholding solutions rather than the flexibility desired in the job shop. To ensure the rigid holding of parts and satisfaction of part datums, pullback chucks are the frequent choice. Simply put, the chucks not only grip a diametric feature of the part, but then pull the part back against a rigid body part stop or locator. Pullback chucks are most commonly available in sealed configurations that aid the process in being less susceptible to varied maintenance schedules. Depending on the machining operation and tolerance goals for the part, pullback chucks can be selected for either high positioning accuracy or length control in secondary machining or for higher gripping force, better suited to gripping forgings or castings for heavy roughing. First, operation turning on a casting or forging can be greatly enhanced with a ball lock style chuck a type of pullback chuck that is specifically designed to grip rough, unmachined surfaces such as castings and forgings.

This chuck also is available in a compensating design. The compensating version uses some type of centering device mounted on the chuck face, such as a bull nose centre or a collet. The jaws of the chuck will compensate around this centre and are there to drive the part.

Quick change If the work is not high volume, the selection process is different. With the increasing use of multifunction machines, milling and turning in the same machine, chuck selection needs to focus on flexibility. The standard chuck that comes on the machine may work fine. However, if the lot sizes are very small, requiring frequent change-over, a quick jaw change chuck can be ideal. Collet chucks are another flexible alternative. Because collet chucks use a sliding sleeve to achieve grip force, they are less prone to the effects of centrifugal force and the resulting grip force loss. They are ideal in a bar feeding application to allow high speed machining of various types of barstock. The different collet types allow the gripping of round, square, hex and non-standard shaped work. Collet chucks are available as pullback and set-length style. A pullback collet chuck will do just as the name implies and pull the workpiece back as it clamps. Set-length collet chucks will grip the workpiece with near zero part movement. Big bore chucks come into play for maximizing the through spindle capacity of the machine tool. In some cases, more spindle bore capacity may be needed, but

tool clearance issues prevent increasing the chuck size. This is often the case on multifunction machines.

The best solution

Good workholding selection involves many factors that must be taken into account to achieve the desired results. Consulting with a workholding specialist early in the development of a new process or changing an existing one is important. Taking workholding into account as part of the manufacturing system can generate significant improvements in throughput, part quality and safety. Good workholding engineers can help to fully understand the details of the application and its workholding requirements. Only after fully understanding the application can the right solution be found. Even the number of jaws in a chuck can play a critical role in the effectiveness of the workholding. The workpiece shape is the most important consideration for the number of jaws to use. Three-jaw chucks are the most common, as they are excellent at gripping round parts. For square work, a two-jaw chuck may be effective, but the best method is to use a four-jaw chuck that is a 2+2 design (each pair of jaws centres the part independently so that it is accurately cantered in both directions). This design is very critical if the workpiece is not perfectly square. The investment in a new, customized workholding solution is a relatively inexpensive strategy considering the additional profit it can bring to a shop. While a state-

of-the-art chuck may amount to as much as 5 percent of the total cost of the turning centre, productivity gains of 30 to 40 percent are not uncommon when the correct workholding solution is used. How a part is held is often as important as how it is cut. From another viewpoint, how a part will be cut often determines how it needs to be held. Here, we take a look at an assortment of applications and the approaches that can be taken to narrow the workholding options to what will fit best. From barstock to blanks, from tiny parts to thin-walled or irregular shapes, and from Swiss turning to part movement throughout a cell, holding the part securely without damaging it requires a thorough understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

Proper Workholding Selection

An efficient manufacturing process requires good machine selection, proper cutting tools and the right workholding. The first two areas typically receive substantial consideration, but workholding is often overlooked. The correct workholding selection can increase manufacturing process stability, efficiency and safety. Workholding requirements can be affected by many factors, including the material being cut, critical tolerance requirements, workpiece shape and dimensions, and frequency of change-over. High volume machining has a different set of requirements than those for a job shop, with closer attention to consistent quality over longer periods of time. Quick-change is often the solution for shorter runs.

A team of experienced workholding engineers can help ensure that all factors are considered in finding the most suitable workholding for a specific job and can help to optimize the manufacturing process with the workholding strategy.

Selecting the Right Workholding Solution

Careful workholding selection isnt only important in turning operations. With manufacturing operations of all kinds using higher cutting speeds that place more force on workholding equipment, choosing the correct system to hold on to the work is trickier than ever. Often, customized solutions are the answer to troublesome workpieces and manufacturing that demand high accuracy and repeatability. Most situations requiring a custom workholding solution involve a difficult workpiece and/or operating environment, such as holding very thin-wall parts that have a tendency to deform. In these cases, as with others, workholding should meet the needs for rigidity, repeatability and accuracy. But not only does the workholding need to be precise; other areas of the operation should also be reviewed to ensure the best possible results. These include suitability of the production environment and tooling and the volume of work to be performed. The clamping solution of choice should be one that not only is effective now, but will suit the needs of the shop well into the future.

Workholding Advantages of Barstock

Barstock is versatile raw material. Its easily held, easily fed and has significant capacity for many parts per bar. Usually we think of barstock and bar feeders in relation to turning machines. But those same advantages realized in turning operations can also be applied to the vertical machining centre. The push to manufacture workpieces in a single part handling to reduce workhandling and cost of production has brought the multi-processing technology of the millturn machine. The application of a bar feeder to a VMC provides the ability to continuously supply the machines with blank material. Therefore, as long as the workpieces major dimension fits within the circumference of the bar, an unlimited variety of workpieces can be machined, including families of parts.

Understanding CNC Collet Chucks

When considering the purchase of a CNC lathe or turning centre, it is important to ensure that the workholding system is matched to both the machines capabilities and the type of work that it will be doing. But workholding for turning is usually fairly basic: The selection comes down to chucks or collets. As a universal workholding device, a three-jaw chuck functions well for many common turning applications. It can hold a range of part sizes is capable of operating at reasonable rotational speeds and achieves good accuracies. However, there are many applications where a jaw chuck is not the best workholding option, which has led to the development of a range of

alternative solutions. The most common among these is the CNC collet chuck.

Change this Chuck: Save Setup Time

Precision parts machining shops are increasingly faced with the need to accept higher-mix/lower-volume work. Putting a job on a machine tool and running it for long periods of time is not as common as it used to be, and the definition of medium- and high-volume lot sizes has changed. To maximize production efficiency, shops look to shorten the time required to change-over a machine tool from one job to another. In a turning application, one area in which a shop can save time is workholding, generally found in the form of universal clamping devices such as the three-jaw chuck. And one practical solution is a quick-change interface. Changing jaw chucks on lathes has always been time consuming, but some products are geared towards reducing this bottleneck.

Workholding for Swiss Turning

Because of its versatility, Swiss turning has found its way deep into the precision turned parts market. To make the most of this technology, a look at workholding considerations is in order. For the most part, workholding on a Swiss is about collets. On a conventional fixed headstock lathe, the collet and spindle are fixed. They function as a rotary axis only. The Swiss-type moving headstock uses the spindle as both a rotary and linear axis. This design

allows for very close coupling of the cross-fed cutter and the point of maximum workpiece support, which is nearest the spindle noseon a Swiss, the guide bushing. As a result of this design, long, slender parts can be efficiently turned without deflection or the need for tailstock or steady rest support. The guide bushing is actually another collet that, in Swiss turning, must be extremely precise.

Applications Determine Workholding Solutions

In turning operations, workholding options often present some difficult choices. While the three-jaw chuck is the obvious choice for certain larger parts, and collet-nose chucks are the clear choice for most low-volume, hightolerance work, the spectrum of turning jobs is far too broad to be able to chart the best workholding choice for each application. Most shops find that the majority of their work calls for one or the other, but rarely can a company count on either the three-jaw chuck or the collet nose to cover its whole line-up. Each situation should be examined to determine the most appropriate workholding option. For this shop, part size is often used as an initial guideline, but accuracy requirements, cutting speeds and change-over times also come into play.

Handling Parts in a Robotic Cell

For many shops, workhandlinghow a part moves from point A to point Bcreates more questions than what

the best workholding options are. The more automation is involved in a manufacturing process, the more attention must be given to handling the part. When a shop implements a robotic cell in its CNC machining operations, for instance, the goal is clear: Save money through better spindle use, more efficient use of labour and more consistent production. But special attention must be given to other factors as well, such as grippers, part orientation, guarding, door openers, part in-feed and out-feed devices, vision systems, and the total integration of the mechanical and electrical components.

Workholding
An efficient manufacturing process requires good machine selection, proper cutting tools and the right workholding. The first two areas typically receive substantial consideration, but workholding is often overlooked. Not so at Melbourne-based Sankey and Andale Repetition Engineering. A passion for beer taps made Andale Australias largest manufacturer, installer and supplier of beer dispensing equipment, while Sankey designs and manufactures a diverse range of metal products, including electrical steel components, general metal product stampings, products for the building industry and aluminium and zinc die-cast products. At both companies, the experienced machinists and production managers know that the correct workholding selection can increase manufacturing process stability,

efficiency and safety; important factors in manufacturers constant strive to be and remain competitive. Workholding requirements can be affected by many factors, including the material being cut, critical tolerance requirements, workpiece shape and dimensions, and frequency of change-over. High volume machining has a different set of requirements than those for a job shop, with closer attention to consistent quality over longer periods of time. Precision parts machining shops such as Sankey and Andale are increasingly faced with the need to accept higher-mix/lower-volume work. Putting a job on a machine tool and running it for long period of time is not as common as it used to be, and the definition of medium- and high-volume lot sizes has changed.

Maximising production efficiency

To maximise production efficiency, Dandenong-based Sankey CNC Supervisor Chris Miles always looks to shorten the time required to change-over a machine tool from one job to another. One area in which he can save time is workholding, by using quick-change chucks or custom jaws, specifically tailored to the job. When a new job comes in, we plan the whole machining process, including workholding and sometimes custom jaws, he says. We get Dimac in to give us a quote for the best way to clamp the job, within the tolerances the customer specifies. While we have the capacity to bore one-off soft-jaws inhouse, we sometimes need a production set of jaws that also need to be hardened and machined with the right

tolerances. In this case, it is often more cost-effective to sub the job out, he explains why he often chooses to work together with expert workholding suppliers and manufacturers such as Dimac. We do not have the time to design and manufacture all of our workholding equipment, so we get the right people to do the job and go from there. Dimac specialises in that, we leave it to their expertise to come up with the most suitable workholding solution for our job. When Sankey was looking to improve its turning process for a pressure pump motor part to make it more accurate and simpler for the operator, Mr Miles and Dimacs Martin Barber sat together and discussed the requirements. Because changing jaw chucks on lathes has always been time consuming, Dimacs Design Team came up with a special fixture, designed to reduce setup and consequently production times. Dimac then designed and manufactured the fixture in-house. With the special fixture we can now change parts easily and quickly, Mr Miles says. The set-up time is greatly reduced and our operators love the easy way of clamping the workpieces. Another area where Sankey was able to reduce its setup time is in its turning operations for aluminium castings. Working together with the client we determine the most economical and appropriate tooling options and methods of manufacture, Mr Miles explains. Sankeys diverse product range includes electrical steel components including motor and transformer lamination, general meal product stampings, metal mesh products and aluminium and zinc die-cast products. To machine

some of our die-cast products, we needed a special set of jaws, capable of gripping three different types of components.

Reduced set-up time

Dimac came up with a custom set of jaws (picture), suitable for the job, ensuring quick change-over and turnover times. Compared to a standard workholding solution we save a lot of set-up time, Mr Miles explains. While companies already save a lot of time by only changing the jaws rather than entire chucks for specific applications, Sankeys custom set of jaws also eliminates the need to change-over the jaws for every single job. While it used to take us half an hour to change the jaws, re-set the tools etc, we are now saving that half hour. Instead of doing a complete jaw change, we are only changing the program, run our first-offs, check tolerances and off we go again. The jaws ensure a quick turnaround for us. We dont have to do long runs and dont have to hold more stock to cover up that extra time it used to take us for machining.

Clamping complex workpieces

While custom jaws can be designed and used to improve production times as in Sankeys case, most situations requiring a custom workholding solution involve a difficult workpiece and/or operating environment. Australias largest manufacturer, installer and supplier of beer dispensing equipment, Andale Repetition Engineering based in Airport West, VIC, is

one of Dimacs local customers faced with irregularly shaped castings for beer taps. Andales production manager Paul Rusic has been in the industry for over 30 years and has been buying products from Dimac from the beginning, working on old manual lathes. While he has the experience to machine special jaws himself, Mr Rusic admits that he usually does not have the time and appreciates Dimacs professional service to help him get into production quickly and with the required accuracy. The beer tap fitting, as everyone knows who has been to a local pub, is an irregularly shaped casting, which requires special attention to clamping. When Andale changed its casting supplier, they decided to re-design the whole job, Mr Rusic explains, and therefore needed four new sets of custom jaws. Because of the particular shape of the workpiece we cannot use a standard workholding solution, he explains. When machining the surfaces and threads, we need to keep the castings all nice and square in the chuck. The machine is loaded by a robot, which picks up the part, puts it into the machine and unloads it again.

Longevity and reliability

The company produces several batches per year. The workholding device must maintain its accuracy throughout the volume of workpieces required with as little maintenance as possible, Mr Barber says. This is when you start to talk about longevity and reliability of the custom workholding solution itself. Andales custom jaws are designed to last a long time while at the same

time ensuring the required accuracy of minimum 50 microns. Dimac has long-standing relationships with many local manufacturers and most, such as Andale and Sankey, keep coming back. I have been dealing with Dimac for ten years now since I started at CMG Engineering and I never had any issues, Mr Miles concludes. Martin keeps us informed and up to date with everything we need to know. Dimac provides good customer service. I wouldnt consider using anyone else.

Jaw Plate Considerations

Jaw plate considerations affecting part contact and set up repeatability.

A) The simplest and most commonly used jaw plates are case hardened. They are mounted with socket head cap screws. They fasten the plate to the jaw block with bolts on the inside of the clamping face. This style of jaw plate is best suited when higher than standard jaw plates are required. These plates are available in many variations including magnetic inserts which hold parallels from moving. B) Vises equipped with indexable carvable jaw blocks or which index opposite jaw plate mounting faces can present a new jaw face in less than 10 seconds per jaw. All that is needed to make the change is a standard. Screwdriver to lift the jaw blocks off the vise bed, rotate to a new side, reposition it and snap it down. The

stationary block has top mounted screws for repositioning which takes care of two jaw faces when the change is made. C) Serrated jaw plates in all of the above configurations are useful for holding raw stock material where marking of the work piece is allowed. Generally these are for extremely heavy material cuts. D) Shaped jaws, typically V-shaped with different Vdepths machined horizontally and vertically on the jaw faces, will allow holding one or two round parts of identical size either perpendicular to the vise bed or parallel to the vise base. Again, mounting can be standard front-face and counter bored for the bolt heads. Step jaws also belong in this category. They are popular because they replace parallels and they do not have the residue buildup problems that parallels present. Neither are parallels practical on tombstone or production CNC applications.

END OF THE REPORT