Client Industry: FT Precision/Automotive
Part Production: Engine Gasoline Rocker Arms
Material: Aluminum
Challenge:
FT Precision, a leading Ohio-based manufacturer of precision automotive parts, began experiencing excessive tool wear on the tooling for aluminum in the production of engine rocker arms. The mass-produced carbide drills it was using were dulled by high rollover or exit burrs, which made them ineffective for drilling 20-micron roundness tolerances. With its tooling meeting little more than 60% of its production goals, FT Precision needed alternatives to their fully carbide drills for precision and efficient production.
Solution:
West Ohio Tool supplied FT Precision a trial with three custom-engineered EdgeX4 PCD-tipped drills as an alternative to the company’s existing tooling for aluminum.
Results:
Since installing the two EdgeX4 tools in December 2022, FT Precision punched nearly 583,000 holes on two production lines without a tool failure, exceeding the company’s original 5,120 hole per line performance by an astounding 11,386%. Additionally, cost per hole has been slashed by 98% from 0.0545 cents per hole to 0.00125 cents per hole. Equally important to FT Precision’s production efficiency, the EdgeX4 has saved more than 81 hours in downtime attributed to tool changeouts with the standard production carbide tooling. The actual tool life was finally determined after the EdgeX4 performed over 15 months of continual use.
Real-world production line performance was sufficiently compelling that Modern Machine Shop magazine featured the EdgeX4 in its December 2023 issue. Read Modern Machine Shop’s feature story on how West Ohio Tool’s EdgeX4 exceeded goals and expectations while slashing while slashing costs here.
As a result of its superior performance over standard carbide tooling, FT Precision now wants to use EdgeX4 PCD drills in all its aluminum applications.
