Real-Time Tool Wear Monitoring Eliminates Downtime and Cuts Tooling Costs by 50%
| Industry: | Firearms Manufacturing |
| Machine: | Horizontal Lathe |
| Material: | Hardened 4140 Steel |
| Tooling: | 1/2" 5 Flute End Mill |
Challenge
This customer, machining high-volume firearm safety levers, was experiencing costly collet replacement and downtime due to operators running tools to their breaking point. They were making decisions based on tool life guestimates and time in cut.
Solution
The customer implemented Caron Engineering’s adaptive tool monitoring system, TMAC.
TMAC calculates the power consumed over the duration of the cut to calculate tool wear. As tools wear, TMAC is calculating this in real-time, and the measured wear is easily viewed by the shading of the monitored cut. If a tool reaches the wear percentage (limit), TMAC finishes the cut and expires the tool. If a tool breaks, TMAC stops the machine and retracts the tooling before damage can occur.
By assessing tool wear prior to a tool breaking, this customer has dialed in their wear limit parameters so well that the tool is safely pushed to a point of real tool wear without going over the edge and breaking. This allows the customer to get the maximum life out of the tool. They have the work wear limit set at 95% to retire the tool. Beyond that, the likelihood of breaking is extremely high.
Results
- 50% reduction in tooling costs
- Eliminated damage and downtime from tool breakage
TMAC Data Viewer – cuts are
overlaid to show the new tool in cut
requiring less cutting power (gray
line) compared to the (yellow
shaded) worn tool previously expired
by TMAC