Playing it smart

END USER: Smartech Corp., (914) 668-6801, www.smartechcnc.com.
CHALLENGE: Cutting cycle time for a 3,000-piece run.
SOLUTION: Two wire EDMs.
SOLUTION PROVIDER: MC Machinery Systems Inc., (630) 616-5920, www.mitsubishi-world.com.

Smartech Corp., Mount Vernon, N.Y., expanded its capabilities by adding two new wire EDMs: a Mitsubishi MD+ Pro III Advance and an MD+ Pro II Advance. The machines are from MC Machinery Systems Inc., Wood Dale, Ill.

“These machines were instrumental in allowing me to meet the demands of one 3,000-piece job, cutting the run time for each part by more than 40 percent vs. milling the part,” said Michel Chahade, Smartech’s owner. He noted the part has a complex taper shape with thin walls, and milling it required Smartech to create four fixtures for it and perform several setups and operations. “The more operations, the more room for error.”

The $1 million, 3-year-plus contract from the military was for a component of the M240 machine gun bipod. The part is approximately 3 "×2 "×1.5 " (76.2mm × 50.8mm × 38.1mm).

The Mitsubishi MD+ Pro III Advance features an automatic threading system that can anneal a 14 "-long wire.

In addition to military parts, Smartech specializes in medical, motor sport, power generation, aerospace and automotive parts. The seven-person job shop has eight machine tools. It can handle workpieces up to 40 "×20 " (140.6cm × 50.8cm) and 4-axis rotary work up to 12 " (30.5cm) in diameter.

Now that the initial job is finished, Smartech is running a similar job on the wire EDMs. Having the wire EDMs frees up time on the milling machines for other jobs.

The MD+ Pro III Advance features the new M700 series control with 15 " touch screen. The noncontact cylindrical drive system on the X- and Y-axis drives uses linear shaft motors with a servosystem that utilizes fiber optic communication. The linear shaft motors use high-power permanent magnets in a tube with the electronic coils in the forcer, which surrounds the tube using 360° of magnetic flux. The magnet tube and forcer replace the typical ballscrew and nut to provide backlash-free drive, according Greg Langenhorst, technical marketing manager at MC Machinery Systems.

The MD+ Pro III also features improvements in machine construction, internal machine communication and power supply technology. “The V350-V power supply, combined with the fiber optic communication system, senses each individual spark and shapes it to optimize the material removal, increasing cutting speed while causing less damage to the wire,” Langenhorst said. “This reduced wire wear has allowed a reduction in wire speed across the board, with wire consumption savings up to as much as 60 percent over our older FA Model EDMs.”

Chahade noted he finds the automatic threading function extremely accurate. “Compared to the other wire EDMs I have worked with, the MD+ Pro III has a much more reliable threading system. It doesn’t get stuck when threading between long distances [on thick parts].”

The new auto-threading system has moved the annealing contact points so it can now anneal a 14 "-long wire, which removes 90 percent of the curl from the wire spool, according to Langenhorst. “That, combined with the operator-selectable auto-threading modes, increases the reliability of threading very tall workpieces and rethreading through the gap if a wire break should occur.”

Smartech’s other wire EDM, the MD+ Pro II, is the smallest and most economical Mitsubishi wire EDM. Its stacked-filter design reduces floor space requirements.

With these new Mitsubishi wire EDMs, Smartech can take on more demanding projects. Chahade noted another benefit of the EDMs is they can run overnight unattended.