Cranking out savings: General Industry Coverage

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on Tulsa Machine Works Inc., 918-834-0911. Challenge: Reduce tooling costs when milling crankshafts. Solution: Tool repair and modification services. Solution Provider: Carbide Tool Services Inc., 800-243-9577, www.carbidetool.com.

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Machining a crankshaft’s complex features and obtuse angles from solid bar stock is a metalworking challenge. Tulsa (Okla.) Machine Works routinely handles that challenge, producing a variety of crankshafts for pumps used in the petroleum industry. The tempered 4340 steel crankshafts are as large as 74 ” long and 19 ” in diameter and have as many as five throws.

Courtesy of Carbide Tool Services

Carbide Tool Services re-engineered and repaired damaged toolholding cartridges for Tulsa Machine Works at a fraction of the replacement cost. In addition, the cartridges’ top clamps received a chromium-nitride coating to minimize wear caused by chip flow.

Tulsa Machine performs the milling on a specialized CNC milling machine from American GFM. In the crankshaft milling process, the workpiece is stationary and a milling cutter with teeth on its ID orbits around the part to cut the features. In Tulsa Machine’s mill, the cutter is assembled from 56 segments, each of which supports a cartridge that holds a custom-geometry, coated carbide insert. New cartridges cost about $300 each, so replacing them when they wear represents a significant expense.