Diamond Innovations Methods Machine Tools Bring Advanced .

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cover storyDiamond Innovations & Methods Machine ToolsBring Advanced EDMAutomation to RealityAbout Diamond Innovations, Inc.In keeping with their name, Diamond Innovations,Inc. (Columbus, OH U.S.A.) continuously seeksthe latest, innovative manufacturing processesto serve their customers with diamond and cubicboron nitride products. Diamond Innovations, awholly owned subsidiary of Sandvik AB, is a worldleading manufacturer of superabrasive productsused for material removal, and was the inventorand world’s first mass producer of manufactureddiamond for the grinding of tungsten carbide in1955. Since that time, Diamond Innovationsproducts have grown to serve the electronic,aerospace, infrastructure construction, energyexploration, mining, and automotive industries.Among other products, Diamond Innovationsmanufactures over three thousand PCD (polycrystalline diamond) and PCBN (polycrystalline cubicboron nitride) cut part geometries that are incorporated in high productivity cutting tools for themetalworking industry. Approximately 90% of theparts are custom made to order in quantities ranging from 1 to over 50,000 pieces. The typical orderquantity is 200. Reliable, on time delivery of highquality inserts are key customer requirements.XConfronting the ChallengesEDM cutting technology is a key production method thathas served Diamond Innovations very well for manufacturing the PCD / PCBN parts. While CNC EDM machinetools have been used for decades, full process automation was not applied. Mr. Steve Chadwick, DiamondInnovations Operations Manager said, “The quality of theproduct was not at the optimal level we sought for ourdemanding customer base. We determined that twovariables in our EDM operations were producing inconsistent results – individual unique tooling and operatorerror due to manual part loading.”Customer dimensional tolerances vary, but can be asstringent as /- .02 mm. Consistency is an integral part ofproducing a high quality product at Diamond Innovations.Chadwick’s team determined they could improve productrepeatability, accuracy and productivity by incorporatingmore complete process automation.Diamond Innovations challenged several EDM providers, including their long-time partner, FANUC supplierMethods Machine Tools, Inc. (Sudbury, MA U.S.A.), toeliminate the inconsistencies and provide a fully automated solution that would increase flexibility and capacitywithout adding to labor costs. At the same time,EDM Today, Winter 2013 Issue

Diamond Innovations examinedtheir Wire EDM technology to ensurethey were using the best the industryhad to offer.require specific EDM parameters foroptimum quality. The PCD is typicallyattached to a thin tungsten carbideback to give it strength. Shapes vary,including rectangles,rounds, triangles andmore. Many of thepieces are exceedingly difficult to load,clamp and unload in aprecise position.Despite all the variables, Methods andDiamond Innovationswere comfortablewith the challengeand jointly developedunique and effectiveapproaches to thiscomplex operation – aClose-up view of disk holding fixture and parts basketmachine “cell” designconcept for automating the loading/To assess product quality,unloading parts and optimizing cutChadwick’s team sent a “test cutquality. Work began in 2009 andpackage” to several EDM suppliersDiamond Innovations targetedthat included several differentgrades and shapes of PCD material, implementation beginning in 2011.including rectangular, round andtriangular tips. When all of the cutparts and results were returned forAutomate, Fixture, Inspectand Shipinspection / tabulation, it wasdetermined that the FANUCRoboCut Wire EDM from MethodsThe jointly developed cell solutionMachine Tools was the most effiaddressed several variables. Thecient, resulting in the fastest cuttingfirst was designing an automatedspeed and highest quality parts.solution to load / unload parts byincorporating three FANUC RoboCutThe second challenge facingWire EDM machines being servicedDiamond Innovations and Methodsby one FANUC M20iA robot intowas not as straight-forward. Cusone cell. One side of the cell is antomer orders require short EDM“operator station” where drawersruns of dissimilar parts which areare located for introducing rawhistorically not thought to be conparts into the cell and a rack thatducive to full automation. Diamondholds baskets for catching andInnovations cuts customer partsremoving the cut PCD parts.from master blank disks rangingThe automatic loading systemfrom 0.8 mm to 5 mm in thicknesseliminated the need to have anand from 50 to 70mm in diameter.operator standing by to load andThese master blanks also addedunload the parts. Chadwick said,to the automation challenge. The“Now we can load blanks on Friday,blanks, constructed of syntheticleave for the weekend, and come inPCD diamond with different sizeson Monday to finished parts.”of diamond particles, which rangefrom 1 micron to 25 microns, eachEDM Today, Winter 2013 IssueAutomated Cell ProcessWhen one of the threeFANUC Wire EDMmachines finishes cutting itsends a signal to the CellController software thatit is now available for servicing.1The robot reaches inand unloads the finishedpart basket with all the piecesfrom the last disk and places thebasket back on the rack.2The robot picks up anempty basket corresponding to the next incoming partand loads the basket intothe machine.3Then the robot picksup a disk from the nextdesignated drawer position.It places that disc in a centeringstation that corrects for thedifferences in diameter andloads it into the part holdingfixture in the machine.4The disk is thenmeasured with thelaser to confirm flatness, andis corrected as necessary.56The cycle is then restarted.The second design challenge was aspecial pneumatic clamping fixture ineach machine to accept the varyingdisk sizes and locate the part beingloaded by a robot. Typically the master PCD blank is placed in a fixturewhich is mounted on a pallet systemthat locates the part precisely in themachine. “We needed to find a wayto grab the smallest edge of a diskin order to fully machine it. In EDMset-ups, these type of fixtures areX

position which takes a fraction of thetime and easily facilitates unattendedoperations.Cell Controller Screenuncommon,” said Mr. John Lucier,Automation Manager at MethodsMachine Tools. “On top of this, all ofthe components such as proximityswitches etc., needed to be madeof stainless because they are fullysubmerged in water.”The clamping solution did not require the expensive pallet and custom tooling solution that DiamondInnovations previously utilized.This provided savings to the overallproject. “We started with three cellswhich altogether contain 180 blanksof varying sizes. “It would be verycostly to purchase individual fixturesand pallets designed for each part,”said Mr. Richard Mercurio, AdvancedManufacturing Engineer at DiamondInnovations. Important productivity gains were achieved. Instead ofmanually clamping each disk on toa pallet, an operator only needs toplace the raw disk in a drawerAbout Methods Machine Tools, Inc.Methods Machine Tools, Inc., a leading supplier ofprecision machine tools, has provided innovative,productive solutions in manufacturing technology formore than 50 years. Today Methods’ solutions are atthe heart of some of the most advanced, automated metalworking manufacturing operations in NorthAmerica. Founded in 1958, Methods has over 300employees and has over 29,000 machines installedthroughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Methodsis a privately held company. Corporate headquartersare located in Sudbury, Massachusetts U.S.A. Keyexecutives include Mr. Bryon Deysher, President /CEO and Mr. Scott McIver, Chairman.Methods offers the most advanced technology in EDMMachines, vertical, horizontal, and five-axis machining,XThe clamped PCD disk must be heldboth flat and parallel to the EDMmachine axes. Before the automatedsolution, if a disk was not clampedwithin specification, the operatorwas required to manually unclamp,rotate, re-clamp and re-inspect thedisk. This process might requireseveral attempts before meeting therequired tolerance. With the automated solution, a robot-mountedlaser displacement sensor is usedto measure the flatness of the blankas it is held in the fixture. After theblank is loaded into the EDM machine, the robot positions the laserover the part and takes severalmeasurements to ensure the diskis located within tolerance. If thedisk is not within these parameters,the robot repeats the procedure atprecise, calculated adjustments untilan acceptable result is achieved.“Now with clamped tolerance beingautomatically determined, requiringno manual operator intervention, wegain substantial consistency andunattended operation – which isthe best of both worlds,” explainedChadwick.as well as multitasking CNC turning centers. Methodsalso carries a wide range of die and mold solutions,Wire EDM, 3-D hard milling and die sinkers and offersa full line of high-speed drilling and tapping machines.Methods have been the exclusive North Americansource of sales, service, and training support forFANUC Wire EDM Machines and Vertical MachiningCenters for more than 18 years. State-of-the-artrobotics and customized automation by Methodsgive manufacturers unmanned production, fast toolchanging and reduced cycle times, resulting in loweroperating costs and higher profits.Methods products in southern Ohio are sold andsupported by their full service distributor SuperiorEquipment Solutions based in Springboro, Ohio.EDM Today, Winter 2013 Issue

Methods incorporated its latestexclusive technology so the cuttingprogram addressed the differentthicknesses and grades of PCD.A cell-controlled computer hasspecially designed MMAC software(Methods Manufacturing Automation Control) which allows the celloperator to identify and prioritizeeach of the 60 incoming parts in thecells. When one of the EDM machines in a cell becomes available,the MMAC software will direct therobot to pick-up the next part on thejob list and send the proper cuttingparameters to the machine’s controller. The Methods MMAC softwarestores measurement data taken bythe laser sensor, identifies which cutpart is in which basket, presents aneasy-to-interpret visual on celloperations status, and will assist inthe automatic recovery of the cell inthe event of an unexpected stoppage.The cell controllercoordinates the activitiesof the cell’s three Wire EDM’s and the robot.Finally, Diamond Innovations set agoal to eliminate all cut part mix-ups.Once cut in the EDM, the severalgrades of PCD tips are very difficultto identify, and mix-ups, while notcommon, can escape to customers.The solution was custom designedparts-catching baskets to collect cutparts. The basket design preventsproduct chipping and prevents smallcut parts from being lost, displacedby EDM water circulation. Thesesolutions increase process yield.The FANUC Wire EDM machinesare designed to work exceptionallywell in an automated cell set-up.For example, the machines includean enhanced Fanuc Auto Wire Feed(AWF2) system that can thread whilesubmerged through the start holeof a workpiece up to a maximumthickness of 8.0” (200 mm). In theevent of a wire break, the FANUC Aiauto wire repair system can threadthrough the kerf while submergedto a depth ranging to 6.0” (150 mm)without returning to the start point.This feature is a must when cuttingthese types of materials.Methods worked closely withDiamond Innovations to phase inthe EDM cells. This permittedDiamond Innovations to realize theadvantages of the new technologywhile investing in stages, providinga more affordable solution ascapacity increased.Exceeding ExpectationsThe operator station contains drawers which hold the PCD disks anda rack that holds the parts basketsEDM Today, Winter 2013 Issue“The automated process cellsolution is something we hadnever tried in the past. We workedclosely together on the design fortwo years, Methods provided aflawless installation and we werein full production within six weeks”,said Chadwick. “It has exceededour expectations by every measure.We estimate a productivityincrease of 20%.”X

Diamond Innovations has realizedthree overall benefits from its investment – increased consistency,higher quality and gains in capacity.The scrap rate from cutting errorsis now negligible, due largely to theautomated fixturing and inspectionprocesses. This improvement is justifying the project investment. .In addition, Chadwick reports theircustomers are more satisfied. “Thecutting quality on the FANUC WireEDM’s is more consistent than onother machines we’ve looked at, andthe tooling on the automated celloptimizes each process to ensure weachieve the highest part quality atthe highest productivity,” continuedChadwick.XAfter installation of the automationsolution, Diamond Innovations nowoperates 40% more EDM machineswith the same production staff.Chadwick put it best when he said,“Robots can do some things thatpeople can’t do. Robots free uppeople so they can do what ismost important. We still have thesame number of staff after weautomated, but we increasedcapacity significantly.”Diamond Innovations added a fourthcell in 2012, and with Methods,continues to automate their EDMprocesses. They are currently evaluating an automated guided vehiclesystem to service the cells. This newprocess design has the potentialto decrease required floor spaceby 33% and allow the staging andprocessing of 50 blanks per WEDMinstead of 20.“I have six excellent people whoknow how to run the cells. Theyown the operation and I have noconcerns,” Chadwick said. “Withthese cells, we are on the cuttingedge of continuous improvementand the technology frees us up tolook for even more ways to optimizeand innovate.”Methods Machine Tools, magazine.comEDM Today, Winter 2013 Issue

Methods offers the most advanced technology in EDM Machines, vertical, horizontal, and fi ve-axis machining, as well as multitasking CNC turning centers. Methods also carries a wide range of die and mold solutions, Wire EDM, 3-D hard milling and die sinkers and offers

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