The critical costs involved in any manufacturing endeavor always include time, materials and overhead. Most frequently we strive to control material and tooling costs as our best solution to control product cost. Time is usually the highest cost involved in manufacturing any product. We like to believe we have focused on this aspect by using state of the art machines and tools. A real example is the use of modern CNC lathes and mills to turn and mill intricate metal parts. Single pointing with carbide inserts and computer control appear to maximize the efficiency of today’s machines.
An old but still very effective technology is hollow milling. This can be done on any CNC machine. Normal turning operations that utilize single point turning with multiple passes can be achieved with an indexable hollow mill using several inserts in one pass. Often much longer turned lengths can be achieved without dreaded push off.
How much return can be achieved with an operation that reduces several seconds of cycle time is an easy calculation. Have you run turning cycles over 10 times diameter unsupported? WE HAVE. Furthermore, we have the modern indexable, cost effective tooling to achieve results that are driven directly to the bottom line. Threaded forgings probably represent a product with the highest return but virtually any machined product can benefit from hollow milling.
Let us review your product and suggest our approach at reducing your manufacturing cycle time. The results can be rewarding. The investment is minimal. We can share several cases where the application of hollow milling helped a customer land a manufacturing contract from their competition through inventive tooling applications.