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.