Monday, April 27, 2009
As spring approaches and our
economy continues to struggle, there is one company that remains busy today with
producing parts for NASA and the Space Shuttle and International Space Station
programs. That company is United Space Alliance, with operations in Florida,
Alabama, and Texas. I visited the Houston operation a few months ago, and had
the pleasure of meeting some of the people who make sure our astronauts are as
safe as possible during shuttle missions, especially when performing repairs and
"space walks" outside the space vehicle. The cover story for the May/June issue
of EDM Today magazine concentrates on what these folks do, and how important it
is to them to produce good parts, 100% of the time. Check out the May/June
issue to read about the operations there, and see some of the parts that they
make to secure items and astronauts from floating away into space.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Hi everyone. We wanted to let you know that one of Makino's EDM customers, Moon Tool and Die in Meadville, PA, was recently featured as the cover story for the Jan/Feb issue of EDM Today magazine.
Moon Tool has several Makino machines, including a SP43 wire EDM, a U32j wire EDM, an EDGE2S
Sinker EDM, and a S56 machining center. On the wire EDMs they use all three Makino
wire guides--split V guides for general work, split C guides for high taper
applications, and PICO Precision guides on the U32j for reliable threading of
small holes in a tight matrix. One job they do on the U32j, as described in the EDM Today
article, has 2500 start holes that are 0.015" diameter with center to center
distances of 0.0395". They were able to run this job unattended using 0.006"
diameter wire, without missing a thread. For more details, check out their
article at www.edmtodaymagazine.com. If you would like more information on these different wire guide
systems, you can check out my "Choosing a Wire Guide System" webinar at www.makino.com/library.
Monday, February 23, 2009
I have provided a lot of information on the use of EDM in aerospace
manufacturing through this blog, trade events, webinars on Makino.com, and a
recently published article in Makino's aerospace focused magazine, Radical
Departures. These have produced a fair amount of interest from several
aerospace primes and top tier suppliers, as well as MROs in the aerospace
sector. I've completed the testing program to gather data for general,
non-specific applications, and have sent out over 2 dozen copies of the complete
test results to the companies that have asked for them.
If you have an interest
in looking at EDM as a viable process in parts manufacturing for the aerospace
industry, from engine parts to landing gear components, contact me to discuss
how Makino can help. We are ready and willing to provide test cuts on specific
materials and geometries that your company can perform metallurgical tests on to
verify recast and HAZ thickness, existence of micro cracks, surface hardness,
tensile strength, etc. If you would like a copy of Radical Departures, let me
know and I will make sure you receive on. The test cuts and magazine are
free.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
There's always a good feeling you get after reading an e-mail like this...
"It is a pleasure to write this e-mail. I wanted
to express my gratitude for the support I've always received from all of my
contacts with the people from SST Group. Mr. Dan Dotson keeps in frequent
contact with me on any consumable items that I may need. He always finds time to
call me at least weekly to provide updates on SST product updates or to offer
encouragement as we navigate this difficult business cycle environment. Many
thanks.
I would also like to tell you about the valuable support I receive
from another of your highly qualified people. Kevin Most has probably been the
biggest reason I have been successful with the investments I've made with Makino
EDM's. Many, many numerous times I have clicked on his speed-dial on my cell
phone over the last 2 to 3 yrs and have never not been able get in immediate
contact with Kevin. I'm not talking about problems with my machines but rather
application issues such as helping me by discussing the best way to burn select
materials so I can quote a job, or complete a job or just enlighten me as to the
capabilities of the SP43. I have one small customer that asks me to burn a shape
in carbide that is actually a spline curve which often trips me up on the
programming side and Kevin always finds a solution for me. Did you know that he
helped me through one of these projects by exchanging e-mails while he was in
Singapore last year? Yep, he found time between meetings, tours and training to
get the info to me. Unbelievable. Ask him sometime how he worked me through a 4axis
application for an exhaust nozzle on a jet engine that turned into a blanket
order that lasted over a year and may repeat again this year.
Lately, I've
been moving jobs from other wire edm's over to the Makinos to take advantage of
using my 'HEAT' settings on quite thin but very rigid work pieces. I don't think
'Heat' is generally recommended for 1/4" or 3/8" thick work pieces however when
the parts are in a rigid set-up and very poor flushing 'Heat' works very
well.
I will not extend this email further with any more examples of how I've
been supported. So let me conclude with this. Picture me in my shop, standing in
front of the control on a SP43, cell phone up against my ear, saying "Kevin, how
do I get it (the SP43) to do this" That says it all.
When I purchased my
second Makino, I told Nick that I made my decision based on buying not just a
good machine but also buying the Makino Team. I'm sure I'll feel the same when
I'm ready for my third."
Sincerely,
Jack Lanphier Pres.
Lanko
Industries, Inc.
Mentor, Ohio
Thanks for the e-mail Jack. It's a pleasure for all of us at Makino to serve our customers.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
FW: Ti Booster technology
Makino has recently developed Titanium booster technology
for Makino sinkers at the request of a major aerospace
manufacturer. In order to use it, the EDM machine must have a generator booster
that provides an additional 60 amps to the existing standard generator. What's
new is the technology, or machining conditions, that provide the burn parameters
for the machining - On time, Off time, Servo, Amperage, etc. The new technology
is currently for high speed roughing only, and provides material removal rates
of about 2 grams per minute. This is about 70-80% faster than previous
technologies. Makino is currently developing finish settings for this new
technology that are expected to be able to achieve finishes down to less than 2
micronRa, or 75 microinchRa. This technology will be available for most Makino
sinker EDMs. We'll be broadcasting an online seminar on our Titanium booster technology this Thursday, January 22, 2009. If you'd like to attend and learn more about these advancements in titanium machining, you can register for free here. Thanks for reading everybody, hope to see you at this weeks seminar!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Happy New Year to all you EDMers out there. Now that
the holidays are over, and we get back into the swing of things, I want to thank
everyone who has visited EDMMatters over the last 27 months. I will be posting
several new items in the coming weeks, touching on Wire EDM, Sinker EDM, Fine
Hole EDM, and a new Topaz EDM wire from SST Consumables, developed exclusively
for Makino and SST by Birkenhoff. Pretty much anything EDM. Welcome back to
the grind, have a safe and hopefully prosperous New Year, and visit EDMMatters
regularly to get new and updated information on Makino EDM products, services,
process ideas, and customer experience. Please feel free to post questions,
comments, or new thoughts on the blog as you visit.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Makino EDM introduced some new technology at IMTS. For Wire EDM, we
presented the new DUO43 and DUO64 WEDMs. These machines will replace
the SP series, and have several improvements of note. The DUO series
machines are about 20% smaller in footprint than the SPs were, but
retain the same X, Y, Z, U, V axis travels. The bed of the machines have
been redesigned to incorporate the clean and dirty tanks into the same
platform as the machine tool. New technologies will give the machine
about a 20% increase in performance in many applications, and we have
specifically designed .012" wire technologies to address both speed and
performance with larger diameter wires. This is the only WEDM made that
offers a choice of wire guide systems, either our proven Split
Precision V Guides or the new PICO Precision Guides for small
hole/close pitch threading and precision land/taper work for fine
blanking and precision stamping dies.
On the sinker side, our
newest advancements are a titanium specific generator, and Super Spark
Graphite. The titanium generator allows high speed burning of titanium
parts, specifically at the request of a major aerospace manufacturer,
while maintaining surface integrity of the parts being machined. Super
Spark Graphite is a new technology that drastically reduces burn time
in deep cavities, while reducing electrode wear. In some cases, Super
Spark Graphite allows EDMing of details that were impossible to do with
older, standard technologies. One example of this that was on display
at IMTS is a blind hole machined with a 5mm (0.197") square electrode
to a depth of 200mm (7.874"). The fact that this can even be done at all is
amazing, but it took only 20 hours (with no external flushing) and had
around 20% wear on the roughing electrode (1st of 3 electrodes total).
For
more information on these and other technological advancements in EDM
from Makino, go to www.makino.com, or
contact me at jeff.kiszonas@makino.com.