Moldmaking multitasking

By Unisig

Fast turnaround times and increasingly complex components are standard requirements in the mold industry of today, but achieving the needed precision for high-quality molds can take days or weeks of production time. To meet these growing customer demands with the greatest possible efficiency, high-performance five-axis machining centers are a must for manufacturers. And because modern molds also feature a complex labyrinth of internal coolant channels and
preparation for sensors or other devices, deep-hole drilling is an essential capability to help manufacturers save time and money.

Rather than move molds between machines or to another shop entirely, many moldmakers have begun to integrate multitasking solutions that efficiently can handle both deep-hole drilling and complex machining. In fact, the question isn’t whether your mold shop needs this technology but how much drilling capability your shop warrants.

The USC-3M is designed specifically to maximize the performance of modern indexable gundrills. Image courtesy of Unisig

At moderate depth-to-diameter ratios, a high-performance machining center can perform basic gundrilling. But once the ratio goes beyond 40-1, a typical machine struggles even when equipped with a high-pressure coolant system. At best, the deep-hole drilling operation will take a long time. At worst, a tool will break, stopping production and adding expenses. This doesn’t just scrap parts but leads to process instability that inhibits unattended automated machining. To avoid the trouble, many moldmakers send out parts for deep-hole drilling, but this reduces margins and can take an unpredictable amount of time. And when your supplier has inconsistent lead times, so do you.

The obvious solution to these challenges is bringing deep-hole drilling in-house — and with multitasking, putting deep-hole drilling inside the same machines used to produce other features of molds. Indeed, for the most complex molds, simplifying the process with a single-setup approach can reduce the total production time to a fraction of what’s required when sending out parts or moving them between machines. This naturally requires a robust, rigid machine that pairs high-performance milling capabilities with efficient, reliable deep-hole drilling. Probing, presetting, glass scales, angular encoders, pallet changers and other features may be integrated for further process consolidation.

In short, by combining more capabilities in one moldmaking machine, moldmakers will have machines that can serve as effective multitasking platforms and reduce the floor space that mold production takes up. Single-setup machining combined with efficient tooling and advanced fixturing enable significant improvements to quality that in turn sharply reduce post-processing requirements. That means higher throughput and higher profits.

Given the advantages of integrating this kind of multitasking technology, moldmakers should ask themselves what the right level of deep-hole drilling capacity is for their shops. Most manufacturers can find the shop floor space for a compact machine with a universal spindle, for example. But for the most deep-hole drilling efficiency, a dedicated deep-hole drilling spindle is worth the expense for many shops. Striking the proper balance between price and performance is essential, which is why many mold shops choose to partner with original equipment manufacturers that offer a complete range of multitasking machines.