February 2007 Edition

SWISS TURNING

There’s No Neutrality About Swiss Turning

Existing equipment created bottlenecks, not finished products, for a job shop with a staff of eight. The solution was better Swiss turning equipment.

Just because Cole Machine ran Swiss turning equipment 21 hours a day meant it was happy with its situation. It needed to increase efficiency rather than turning-hours to stay competitive.

In 1991, Harry Cole, president of a North Carolina job shop, decided to start a new company dedicated to Swiss turning. He believed that such a specialized company could corner a substantial portion of the precision-machined products market in his area. He succeeded with Cole Machine, Inc., Snow Camp, NC.

The addition of a Tsugami Swiss-turn unit takes Cole Machine’s capabilities to a higher level.

With a staff of eight, the company is lean and agile, has Swiss-turn work running 21 hours a day, and handles up to 200 jobs per month. Customers include fleet fueling company EMCO Wheaton, Wrangler Jeans, and local shops without Swiss-turning capability.

Although successful, Harry and his son Jason, were frustrated by applications that required heavy milling or large-diameter drilling. The Swiss machines in-house did not remove metal fast enough to make company cycle-times competitive.

Seeking Help

Tough jobs required subsequent milling after being blanked on a Swiss machine. Additional setups increased cycle time with repeated part cleaning, created output bottlenecks, and added throughput time. These factors kept Cole from competing at the level Harry and Jason desired.

Cole Machine worked with distributor Morris Precision Components – MPC – of Charlotte, NC, for a solution. MPC sells bar-fed machinery from Tsugami, Miyano, Okuma, and Tornos.

MPC recommended Cole Machine purchase a Tsugami BU38SY turret/gang Swiss-turn machine. The unit has solid-base casting and a double spindle structure, making it one of the most rigid machines in its class.

The machine’s turret/gang slide results in fast chip-to-chip times and maximizes tool reach.

“The BU38SY is an extremely rigid machine whose mass provides excellent dampening characteristics” Elmore said.

Because Cole Machine needed heavy metal removal, the company benefited from the machine’s collet clamping, which allows for stronger holding of bar stock and faster cutting rates.

Metal Hog

“The Tsugami hogs metal and performs milling operations much better than anything that we have in-house,” Jason Cole said, referring to the machine’s rigidity and gear-driven milling. “It got the tough jobs done and immediately proved its worth.”

One of those tough jobs was machining a fueling shaft, for EMCO Wheaton, cut from 17-4PH stainless. Before the Tsugami machine’s arrival, the shaft required a three-minute blanking operation on a Swiss machine, then about five minutes of milling on a vertical machining center.

These operations were needed because it was difficult to support the 0.75" O.D. shaft on a traditional Swiss machine. With the BU38SY subspindle supporting the shaft, dual machining was eliminated.

Instead of eight minutes to process, Cole Machine now machines such pieces in less than 4-1/2 minutes, cutting process time in half.

In another application that required nine minutes on a Swiss machine and 90 seconds on a milling machine, the BU38SY finished the part in less than two minutes.

“The Tsugami improved our ability to compete on any job requiring heavy turning or milling,” Jason Cole said. “It provides about 75 percent improvement in milling and 50 percent decrease in turning. It gives us the power of a traditional turning center with the capabilities of a sliding headstock Swiss-turn.”

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