Verify and trust: General Industry Coverage

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END USER: HydraForce Inc., (847) 793-2300, www.hydraforce.com. CHALLENGE: Maximize reliability and flexibility when machining hydraulic manifolds. SOLUTION: Software that simulates and verifies NC toolpaths. SOLUTION PROVIDER: CGTech, (949) 753-1050, www.cgtech.com

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HydraForce Inc. manufactures hydraulic cartridge valves, electrohydraulic controls and integrated-circuit manifolds. Its standard and custom manifolds for mobile equipment applications permit users to consolidate hydraulic systems, minimize external connections and reduce installation and maintenance time.

Courtesy of HydraForce

Brian Daavettila, who programs horizontal machining centers at Hydraforce, uses Vericut NC-verification software to verify the machining program for a hydraulic manifold block. Daavettila shares information generated by the software and his programming approach with setup personnel in a collaborative effort to maximize product quality and reduce setup times.

At the company’s 72,000-sq.-ft. machining facility in Lincolnshire, Ill., more than 700 different manifold blocks from about 1½ “×2½ “×3 ” to 5 “×5 “×17 ” are machined on seven Kitamura horizontal machining centers served by multiple-pallet workhandling systems.

Cara Sexton, plant manager, said the facility’s continuous-improvement efforts focus on maximizing the quality, reliability and flexibility of machining operations. The constantly changing variety of manifold configurations puts a premium on minimizing setup times and avoiding machine crashes as new programs are introduced.

In prior years, Sexton said, shop personnel “spent an enormous amount of time at the machine, driving the machine to get through the program for the setup of the part.” She added that it was possible a programming error could cause a crash that would take a machine out of action for days or weeks, and perhaps require repairing or replacing a $30,000 spindle.