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Turn Mill Technology helps cut CNC Machining costs by half - Miyano

Story added 20 April 2010.

A tulip cutter is a device shaped similar to the head of the spring flower that has been patented by a German company and created an enormous potential worldwide for clearing blocked drainpipes between 1¼ and 6 inches diameter. Now by using turn-mill technology Monument Tools, the UK’s largest plumbing hand tool manufacturer, has been able to secure a licence for its manufacture and distribution.

According to Jon Norton, Monument Tools’ Works Manager, by taking the initial concept of the tool that was originally produced in Eastern Europe, and redesigning the range of tool heads for production around the capability of its Miyano and Citizen turn-mill centres, Monument’s engineers were not only able to reduce manufacturing costs by half against the Eastern European supplier, but create a better performing product. In addition, through the capability and flexibility provided by the machine tools and input by tooling specialist Sandvik Coromant, excessive weight was engineered out from the device making it far easier to use, handle and transport.

The Tulip cutter is a multi-functional tool which ranges in size between 22 mm and 110 mm diameter and is used for hand held drain clearing. Due to its shape, involving a series of scallops, (petals) that provide cutting edges and a number of options of cutting inserts screwed into the nose of the tool, it is able to remove the likes of uric scales and hardened fatty deposits from the inside of pipes. By changing the design, Monument improved the ratio of its weight-to-size and rotational speed which mechanically pilots the cutter head to work in the centre of the pipe. In addition, due to the short, effective length of the Tulip head, it has high levels of manoeuvrability within the pipe and is able to cut at the front, the edges and rear of the tool as it is worked forward and backwards in the pipe.

Said Mr Norton: “The whole project has an enormous potential for our business but winning the contract and being able to take so much cost out of the design was only possible because of our installation of a Miyano BNE-51 SY5 turning centre and the two Citizen M32 CNC sliding head lathes.”

The Tulip head, which can accept a range of 12 different cutters screwed into the nose of the tool is shaped to act as a milling head in the pipe to be cleared. It is attached to a flexible cable via a rear connector which is fed into the blocked pipe to contact the obstruction. The cable is rotated which builds up tension and the torque developed enables the cutter head to mill away and break up the material causing the blockage.

Tulip bodies up to 32 mm diameter and all the individual cutting inserts screwed into the body are produced in one operation from bar on the Citizen machines. For tool bodies between 32 mm and 50 mm diameter these are machined on the Miyano in a single automatic cycle from bar. However, as a ramp-up production process, bodies from 50 mm to 110 mm diameter are machined from sawn billets on the Miyano in semi-automatic mode involving the operator to load and unload the main and sub-spindle.

As Mr Norton outlines, the reason for operator involvement is that Monument Tools is still in embryo stages of building up supply and making full use of existing machines. The Miyano BNE-51 SY5 was installed in 2008 and has a 15 kW main and 7.5 kW subspindle giving 50-5,000 revs/min serviced by a 12 station, all-driven tool upper turret with + 40 mm Y-axis cross feed and lower 12 station, all-driven turret. It has served Monument well by producing a whole range of plumbing devices and equipment from bar up to its 51 mm capacity. Since its installation 60 different components have been programmed for production and more than 50 different development prototypes and pre-production parts have been turn-milled.

The Miyano complements the two Citizen machines which in turn had replaced fixed head lathes, milling machines and manual drill spindles in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Said Mr Norton: “The technology and support from NC Engineering (now Citizen Machinery UK) and Miyano Machinery is so complementary that it was a logical decision to install the BNE.” He follows on to add: “This has really been proven by the two companies now working together (Citizen Machinery acquired 60 per cent of Miyano in 2008).”

As the Tulip project develops – already there are 27 variants of the head – Monument is planning to increase its turn-mill capacity with a larger capacity Miyano which Mr Norton says: “Means we can use automation to produce all the Tulip bodies in a single cycle.”

Monument Tools was originally established in 1931and has always been in the forefront seeking and developing innovative tooling solutions for the plumbing, heating, roofing, gas, pipe testing and drainage industries. Altogether some 1,000 different items are produced at the Hackbridge facility in Surrey under Managing Director John Collier who has always led from the front using his keen eye for opportunities.

The company is regarded as a world leader in the pipe cutting market with products developed over the last 50 years and involving five generations of the now £3.5 million turnover, 47 employee family firm. Leading export markets cover the difficult to penetrate Far East including Japan, the Middle East, USA, South Africa, Australia, Canada and Europe. Indeed, the Tulip cutter head product range will be sold across these territories with the exception of central Europe which will be covered by the distribution network of the German patent holder with parts supplied from Hackbridge.

Said Mr Collier: “We have to have 100 per cent control over manufacture if we are to service all these areas. We need ever-quicker stock turns and a thorough understanding of quality issues to maintain credibility of the Monument brand that separates us from competitors. Against low cost countries we have innovation and product quality on our side and we have to invest carefully in production equipment and processes in order to maintain that differential.”

He said: “The Miyano BNE-51SY5 and the two Citizen M32s reflects the image and brand of our business.” To which Mr Norton added: “Without these machines we could never have competitively developed the part for manufacture, produced the Tulip so effectively and achieved such a level of production consistency.”

He qualified this by insisting that the Miyano is so flexible to use with so many tooling positions available. It has the ability to allow the setter to juggle cutting tools between the two turrets which allowed them and the tooling engineer from Sandvik Coromant to create such an effective process.

On the largest Tulip head swarf would normally be an issue as the original billet weighs some 10 kg and when finished it is reduced to just 0.9 kg but the working area and swarf evacuation of the Miyano means this process is trouble free. Currently the cycle time is under 35 minutes but with tooling developments being carried out with Sandvik, Monument is confident it will be reduced significantly. This has already been achieved on a mid-range 60 mm tulip which starts out as a 1.6 kg billet and following machining creates some 1.4 kg of swarf. Following tooling development, the cycle time has just been reduced from 12 minutes to 7 minutes 25 seconds.

To produce the largest 110 mm diameter version a billet 100 mm long is loaded in a three-jaw chuck in spindle 1 and a central bore drilled through. In order to hog out material for the 12 main slots to create the petals of the Tulip in the outside profile, 24 holes are cross-drilled and the outer spherical profile rough and finish turned. A further 12 slots are then progressively milled in the periphery. The front is rough and finish bored to accept an M55 thread, which is then counterbored and screw cut.

Angular slots are then milled in the periphery of the components. While the machining cycle is being run in spindle 1, spindle 2 is overlapped with a rough and finish turn, and a hole drilled and tapped in the front face. Using a slot drill the 24 holes previously drilled in the periphery are then interpolated to create 12 radius formed slots between the petals.

Transposing the part from spindle 1 to spindle 2 is performed by the operator. He loads a lock-up mandrel to the bore of the partially turned component in the three-jaw chuck and the cycle started. Spindle 2 which is fitted with a collet, feeds across to locate and orientate the mandrel before feeding back to the machining position to enable the second part of the cycle to be completed. A further billet is then loaded to spindle 1. By utilising this method Monument can ensure the relative geometric positions of the slots are maintained and the operator involvement kept to an absolute minimum.

Mr Norton maintains that with the initial method proven and cost-effective they have a clear view how to move the project on with a larger capacity machine and take further advantage of a fully automated process.

Mr Norton said: “We use many canned cycles and sub programs to keep the various tasks as simple as possible. Due to the flexibility of the machine’s the turret configuration, we can overlap cycles using spindle 1, turret 2 with spindle 2 and turret 1 and combine simultaneous working with turret 1and 2 with spindle 1.”

He maintains the key to minimise cycle times and improve tool life is to balance the cutting cycles between the spindles and to achieve this Monument has worked very closely with David Higgins, sales engineer of Sandvik Coroment to balance metal removal rates and include the latest tooling developments such as the Coromill 316 Exchangeable Head Milling System.

To simplify changeover Mr Norton complements the Miyano because there are more than enough tool positions to hold common tooling on the machine to accommodate the different components within the Tulip family. He then adds: We also have the added advantage that multiple toolholders can be used to further increase the on-machine capacity if required.


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