The customer manufactures weldments from A36 steel plates. Initially, the process involved flame cutting the roughed hole. The parts were then machined on a SuperMAX Machining Center utilizing flood coolant. Previously, the customer flame burned a rough hole and then experimented with the following selection of tooling.
Tools attempted:
- Twist drills
- Spade drills
- Indexable end mills
- Finish bore tools (to circle interpolate and finish bore)
Process requirements:
- Hole diameter = 4.02"
- Hole depth = 4" through hole
The results and the time it took to complete the operation were unacceptable. The best results they could achieve provided a 35 minute cycle time.
Allied recommended the combination of the Revolution Drill and the Opening Drill.
Tools used: Revolution Drill (item R42x22-150L) and Opening Drill (item OP3-1S-1.5)
- Revolution Drill
- Opening Drill
- Overall cycle time = 2 minutes
The combination of the Revolution Drill and Opening Drills decreased the cycle time by 94%, providing the ideal solution for this application.
- Reduced cost per hole from $58.45 to $3.34
- Decreased cycle time by 94%
- Total cost savings = 90.6%