Strategies for Faster Setups

[djstedman]

I have worked in a number of shops and seen some fairly efficient and some fairly in-efficient methods for tackling job changeover / setups, what I was hoping for in this topic was a discussion on some of the overall 'best practices' for efficient setups are from people who are actually out there dealing with this stuff on a daily basis.

 

So anyhow I guess I will start the ball rolling here.. with Standardized tool libraries..

 

Some obvious advantages of standardized tool libraries are reduced tooling cost, reduction in the number of tools needed to be changed over in order to change jobs, ability of the programmer to work from a library of tooling within Mastercam and come up with optimum speeds and feeds as well as the most efficient toolpaths using those tools.

 

Some of the challenges of standardized tool libraries are, having many different jobs with many different features, having a mix of R&D, Short Run and Production Jobs, Being stuck with small tool magazines (without the ability to re-number tools such as on a Makino having the tool in pot 10 actually being tool 250 even though the magazine only holds thirty).

 

In the shop I currently work in, I will freely admit  we are failing miserably at creating standardized tool libraries..

 

What we have now is a Access database with all of our tools that we stock in it which allows programmers to work from that as a standard library, however because of the diversity of work it is very difficult to maintain tooling in most machines in the form of a library given that we often change from one material to another job to job, I would like to create a tool library in Mastercam which represents these tools however that's difficult given that with only 24 pockets in many of our machines that have to be numbered 1-24 we are constantly re-numbering tools in Mastercam and with multiple programmers it seems almost impossible to come up with a 'set rotation' of tools for the machines.. ie this job tool1 might be a 1/2 4 flute mill .. and the next job it might be a 1/2 3 flute for aluminum..

 

Anyhow I was wondering how others have dealt with this since I am sure that this isn't a unique problem for the shop I work in.. also I'm interested in hearing about what other ideas you may have done to reduce changeover / setup times..

 

 

-- Derek

[betts]

Having a tool library is definitely critical. It has to also be a "good" library, meaning well defined including holders. Our approach has been to leave a range open for tools that come in and out with the job, as specials. The library itself is never supposed to change, unless due to an advancement in new cutting tool or similar thing.

 

I will say that as long as you are dealing with humans, they need to pay attention. One guy who "thought" he knew what he was doing can hose you by changing something, then if the next guy looks at the tool list and says "library tool, I don't need to check that one". Then wrong tool comes in and crashes. You can say it should never happen, but again when you are dealing with humans, it does.

[cincy k]

We sound like a similar environment to you. What we're working on is creating a master tool library of the most commonly used tools. These will be given a MT, master tool, number in the description inside Mastercam's tool database. Such as MT100 1/4 Spot Drill 120 Deg 1100EXT. This tool is then always left assembled. There can also be duplicates of it setup. When they're not in the machine they get stored on a rack and left until they're ready to be used again. When they get brought into the active file the tool and offset number are changed to correlate to which pocket they will be in the machine as we can't run tool numbers above 99 in our machines.

 

 I purchased some shelving 60 x 24 x 60 from Uline with 4 shelves and had Mic6 tooling plate waterjet cut. Each shelf holds 90 tools. The front of the shelf will be labeled MT100-102 etc.

 

I have an excel spreadsheet that has which holder, collet, cutting tool, projection etc that tells us how to set them up. This will eventually be put inside the Mastercam database and our Zoller presetter.

 

Each MT will be labeled with a polyester label from Dymo. Just bought their Dymo Rhino 4200 hand held label maker. I'm using 3/8 wide labels that can go on the 1.75 dia of CAT40 holders. We'll see how they hold up.

[Guyinthedesert]

one thing we do on regular repeat jobs is all the tools are dedicated. All you have to do is slap them in and hit go. That saves a ton of time on setups. The other thing is detailed set up sheets, but not too detailed.

 

Unfortunately, no matter how much time you shave off a setup, the setup guy will still have to spend 2 hours trying to find a 3/8 allen wrench. When he does manage to get a f/a  in between bathroom and cigarette breaks, it'll just sit on the incoming shelf in inspection for half a day, while our inspection staff is standing outside arguing about who's turn it is to drive over to Jersey Mikes.

 

Sometimes it seems like a lost cause.

[Bob W.]

Sometimes it seems like a lost cause.

Tell me about it... I used to joke that the most expensive tool in the entire shop was the digital calipers because how much time was always spent trying to find them. I went ahead and bought three more sets (we only have two people working in here) so we would NEVER have to go looking for them. One is in the tool cart at each machine, one is at the tool setup area, and one is at the shrink fit machine. If I ever open the drawer and the calipers aren't where they belong they had better be on that work bench. If they aren't the employees will hear about it.

 

We have duplicates of every tool (wrenches, calipers, etc...) used on a regular basis and they are all within arms reach of where they are typically needed. Looking for tools is a huge waste of time and very costly.

[djstedman]

one thing we do on regular repeat jobs is all the tools are dedicated. All you have to do is slap them in and hit go. That saves a ton of time on setups. The other thing is detailed set up sheets, but not too detailed.

 

Unfortunately, no matter how much time you shave off a setup, the setup guy will still have to spend 2 hours trying to find a 3/8 allen wrench. When he does manage to get a f/a  in between bathroom and cigarette breaks, it'll just sit on the incoming shelf in inspection for half a day, while our inspection staff is standing outside arguing about who's turn it is to drive over to Jersey Mikes.

 

Sometimes it seems like a lost cause.

 

I am kind of looking around to see if you work in the same place as me now.. lol

[CADCAM3D5AXIS]

^^^ why not check to see if jerseys Mikes delivers  then QC will have no excuse  to do the Da#n 1st article   !^

[CADCAM3D5AXIS]

Do you guys have air tools to help speed up the fasteners going in and coming back out  if you use them for tooling set ups ?  with a range of driver bits with exstensions and such ?

[djstedman]

We don't where I am now, however for most of our jobs we have done our best to make common fixturing, such as risers with common bolt hole patterns for fixtures so for a lot of our jobs we can just change three bolts and we have a new fixture for another job ready to go.

[civiceg]

Cut one leg off all stools. Find people who take pride in what they do. 

[Bob W.]

Here is how we do it.  With the Makino we have access to the tool magazine while the machine is running so we get the tools set and in the machine in advance of the change over and it doesn't stop the spindle.  All tools have their own unique number and there is ONE master tool library.  If we have 605 tools, the next tool added will be #606.  If multiple programs use the same tools it is not an issue because tool #84 will ALWAYS be a 3/8-16 tap for aluminum, etc...  The Haas made it challenging to do this system because it would not allow renumbering tools, or access to the magazing while the machine was running.  Those are a few reasons I am so happy to see it go, not to mention it had no balls :-)

 

All parts are programmed to a consistent work offset, or they are entered by the program using G10.  With this setup we are able to get to 80% of what the horizontals will do but it requires more operator attention.  This is typical of our second setups.  First setups are done mostly on the horizontal machines.  We are in the process of replacing the Lang system bolted to the machine table with zero point clamps as well because it shaves seconds on the changeover.  When we set up a project that will be repeat we always make multiple fixtures.  We NEVER change parts in the machine, we change fixtures, then change parts on our crappy fixture 'fixture' :-)  The only difference between a changeover and running parts is for a changeover the operator needs to select the new program in the control.

 

In the case of the aluminum parts in the video, the per part change out time is one second (20 parts in the fixture, 20 second fixture change out). 

 

[The Cathedral]

Safety first, Bob! You'll have a hard time changing jobs over when you're driving him to the hospital!

 

We use the Jergens Ball Lock system for switching out our fixtures. We're constantly having to pull vises off and put Haas tables on; pull them off and put custom fixtures on, etc. With that system we can pull something off and have the new fixture locked down in a matter of minutes.

 

That's about the only efficient thing we have going right now. Just a few weeks ago we put together a team to try to evaluate our set-up procedures and improve them. I'm going to be keeping a close eye on this thread.

[Thad]

That's one quick tool change, Bob.

[FROZEN]

We have 100 dedicated tools in each of the 4 A71. Every machine the same tool and holder. Working on put that in MC library for new jobs. I also will be keeping a eye on this thread.

[Bridgeportboy]

http://www.fcssystem.com/manual_breyl_system.php

[Guest]

Easy there Bob, that Haas earned you the money to upgrade your equipment.