09 April 2011

Is an Economical Solution One that Saves Money?

CBER32 Boring System in a CT40 Holder
The CBER boring system is an economical solution according to a customer I worked with the other day.

Here is his story:

A new Criterion customer called asking about the proper use of his CBER boring system. He had just received it and was preparing to bore his first .875 +.0002/-.0000" in diameter bore. I asked if he had purchased a collet nut with it or was going to use one he already had in his shop. He had purchased a collet nut but his operator had not used it. He had put an existing collet nut on the system. The existing collet nut had to be replaced with the purchased collet nut as the extractor lip interfered with the CBER system fitting in the ER collet holder properly.

We then talked about how much material was left to be bored out. He had left .010" per side put it was not enough because the nose radius of his insert was .015". I explained that he would not get the proper cutting action with the insert and if he could leave .020/.025" per side it would make it easier for him to produce the bore and the finish he required. He was going to change that for the next production run of parts he had to make.

We went on to discuss how to set the tool and make small diameter adjustments using the flat on the insert side of the boring head. We also discussed the appropriate RPM and feed rate he should be using for the material he was cutting.

The next day he called back to let us know the CBER system was exactly what he needed to do the job and was easy to use. He decided he is going to leave it set for the .875" diameter size and purchased additional systems for the other 4 or 5 size bores he makes. His reasoning was the cost of the CBER system being 1/4 of the other system he had looked at he could leave them set and reduce the cost of his set-up every time he set-up a production run. Truly, an economic solution for him.