There are jobs for which standard commodity carbide tooling works well and is appropriate. Applications involving exotic materials, critical volume requirements and reducing excessive cycle times aren’t those jobs.
Exotic material like technical ceramics used in the semiconductor sector is very hard and brittle, requiring extremely high cutting forces when machining. Using standard carbide tooling to process semiconductor ceramic will result in two things– scrap and tool failure. Neither of which is acceptable.
We consulted extensively with a southwestern semiconductor chip manufacturer to design a custom EDGEX4® drill that successfully drilled multiple holes in the semiconductor media where other multiple drill suppliers were unable to generate a single hole successfully.
In addition to semiconductor cutting, the aerospace and defense sectors frequently work with exotic alloys and advanced composites that are difficult to machine. The defense sector is also exploring ceramic materials for unmanned drones, which will continue to require specialized machining. These are not standard materials, and standard tooling is simply not up to the task. Additionally, exotics and composites are expensive, and scrapping workpieces is a hard blow to a shop’s bottom line.
For high-volume OEMs that must meet heavy production schedules, short tool life, tool failure and scrapped parts can be very expensive in terms of time lost and tool inventory costs, driving cost per hole to unacceptable levels.
When standard carbide tooling failed an automotive transmission manufacturer’s production line by only cutting 25,000 holes prior to regrind, West Ohio Tool’s customized and innovative EDGEX4® increased tool life to 1,000,000 holes without a regrind and dramatically reduced the OEM’s cost per hole. Additionally, polycrystalline diamond (PCD) drilling allowed for faster speeds and feeds than carbide, further shortening cycle times and improving production. While ceramic materials are highly abrasive and the EDGEX4® may not achieve the same tool life as with other materials, it nonetheless makes machining and drilling ceramics possible.
In manufacturing, few pursuits are as coveted as cutting cycle time. The faster shops can process parts, cost per hole goes down and profitability goes up. Standard carbide tooling can only do so much and go so far. When cycle times become an issue, a custom tool is the solution.
Motocross, mountain bike, off-road and all-terrain vehicle suspension manufacturer Fox Factory needed to find an alternative to its standard tooling to decrease cycle times, improve tool life and reduce tool inventory. Fox Factory used custom designed PCD solutions for applications that included a variety of intricate part features and sizes as well as a long-tool custom PCD solution to reduce cycle time and chatter in a part slotting process. Fox Factory slashed cycle times with every custom tool used, in some cases by 84%, reduced tool changes by 25% and eliminated the number of tools needed for the application.
West Ohio Tool changes what manufacturers expect from their tools. Our custom tooling solutions have been shown to last 3 to 110 times longer than standard tooling and exceed performance parameters exponentially in certain applications. As a result, downtime for change outs is decreased, less operator input is needed, and tool inventory costs shrink while overall production efficiency and profitability increase.
We have experience in a wide range of industries from aerospace and automotive to defense and electronics, and we can guide you to the right tool that gets the job done right the first time. We’ve compiled a Tool Selection Guide that can reduce your cost per hole with the right tooling. Check it out here.
