Texas shop goes for a spin

END USER: Roden’s All-Star Machine & Manufacturing Inc., (817) 927-2825, www.rodensallstar.com.
CHALLENGE: Increase machining consistency and reduce setup and changeover times to increase throughput.
SOLUTION: A multiple-pocket, selectable tool body.
SOLUTION PROVIDER: Modern Industries Inc., (814) 455-8061, www.mpwer.com.

Texans are famous for wanting to supersize just about everything, and Roden’s All-Star Machine & Manufacturing Inc. was no exception. The shop made a major commitment to substantially reducing setup and changeover times while increasing throughput.

In 2000, Thomas Roden founded the job shop, which serves the banking, food production, resource extraction, aerospace, automotive and telecommunications industries, among others. The list of workpiece materials includes beryllium copper, Monel, Inconel, titanium, Hiduron, Toughnet, tungsten, tool steel and engineering-grade plastics.

All-Star, which operates out of a 40,000-sq.-ft. facility in Fort Worth, Texas, specializes in handling challenging jobs, such as turning complex parts. The company has grown to 65 people, who operate a variety of machines, including 17 lathes, three multitask machines, 16 machining centers and five EDMs. All-Star’s reputation for meeting demanding requirements has grown with it. Nonetheless, whether it’s a special or regular job, the shop realized it needed to reduce setup and changeover times while enhancing machining consistency to boost throughput and remain competitive while continuing to grow.

Courtesy of Modern Industries

The SpinSelect accepts five indexable inserts.

All-Star was primarily applying shank tools and modular grooving tools, but was leaving money on the table. “Performance was inconsistent and typical changeover and setup times varied from 2 to 6 hours, depending on complexity and tolerances,” Roden said. “Obviously, machines sitting idle for that long are major profit-killers, losing money with every tick of the clock. We couldn’t grow our business by losing out on big chunks of time with machines waiting for the next setups.”

Then the shop heard by word-of-mouth about a new toolholder, or tool body, that held five indexable inserts. Intrigued by the supposed productivity-enhancing claims, All-Star installed one of the SpinSelect multiple-pocket selectable toolholders. Designed with five “stations,” the selectability feature enables quick indexing with a quarter turn of a socket head cap screw. The toolholders are suitable for any lathe that has a turret or tool post.

The SpinSelect product line, which is produced by Modern Industries of Erie, Pa., consists of WNMG, CNMG, VNMG, DNMG, laydown threading tools and Topnotch threading and grooving tools. Also available is a combination head. Modern Industries reports that it has plans to offer more varieties and sizes.

Based on early successes with the tool, such as a 50 to 85 percent decrease in changeover and setup times for most of the lathe parts, All-Star purchased three more tools and expanded their use, Roden noted. The operations include turning (roughing, finishing and profiling), grooving (O-rings, thread relief, thread blocking and profiling) and threading (60° “V,” Acme, stub Acme and API).

“Since we started to use SpinSelect, the ROI benefits and other tangible advantages we’ve realized, including operating improvements versus the standard single toolholders, have been significant,” said Tony Roden, who runs the lathe department and engineering group. “As we cut a full range of materials, from 12L14 to Inconel, our operators have been able to try out the toolholders on the full gamut of metals and have consistently found improved operating performance. These tools increase the versatility of our work cells by providing 20 or more tool geometries at our fingertips, without needing to requalify the tools for new setups.”

Courtesy of Modern Industries

An example of how the SpinSelect tool body from Modern Industries can be oriented to the workpiece.

He added that additional benefits include the ability to take deeper cuts and feed faster with less vibration and chatter. “Increases in operational complexity, such as single chucking, have subsequently decreased the number of operations required to complete a part.”

Tommy Roden explained: “Operators especially like the ability to switch-out roughing inserts virtually on the fly. For example, roughing inserts invariably wear the fastest, so one great thing about SpinSelect is that insert changes take just seconds—not minutes. Plus, offline insert change and reloading can create a virtually continuous runtime.”

He added that by cutting 1 to 3 hours of setup time per project, on average, and eliminating mistakes from extra part handling, All-Star Machine & Manufacturing realized a payback in 6 to 8 weeks per work cell.

Glossary terms in this article

• toolholder
  Secures a cutting tool during a machining operation. Basic types include block, cartridge, chuck, collet, fixed, modular, quick-change and rotating.