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bearing cap machining

mostagear

Aluminum
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Location
alexandria, EGYPT
any body has ever machined a bearing cap .. it requires 5 side machining .. i have machining center 3axis, and cnc lathe.


i guess it's all about fixtures

any help would be appreciated
 
Apart from the bore it's simple enough, though for a one off it's one of those jobs with hours of setting up and minutes of machining.

I'd m/c to thickness, rough the bore, profile to outside, put in the holes and mount it on a block using the main fixing holes to bore to size.

The really tricky part is getting the half hole exactly where you want it.

FWIW bearing caps like that are usually line bored in their housings.
 
thanks Limy ,
i almost think about the same procedures,

what's making me worry .,, that the monthly order is about 3000 pieces.

so, every time reduction is very important.

i hate mass production
 
''what's making me worry .,, that the monthly order is about 3000 pieces.''

Sorry, those #'s are right out of my league;) ..... by my reckoning - on a 40 hr week that's one every 3.2mins

IMO you need input from one of the auto component guys on this forum
 
You could probably machine to finish every surface except the bearing bore. That would have to be finish bored when the block is line bored. I think you could do all the other surfaces with your CNC machines.
 
Do you have a cam software? If so, machine a progressive fixture. With those quantities, it would pay for it's self with just the time saved on toolchanges. You would also see one or more finished parts comming off the machine every cycle.
have fun
i_r_machinist
 
OK ICE bearing cap. Too bad we didn't know that sooner. 3000 a month? For how long, a production year?

Work the math to put the job in prospective. At 8/5 that's about 200 parts a day making it a multi-machine operation. You need a finished part coming off a machine every 3 minutes or so. I'm thinking a couple of indexing multi-station machine. A small plain vanilla machine shop has no business tackling a job of this scale. Are there oddballs, like thrust bearing caps?

This is way beyond a 3 axis maching center unless it's a real talented one with a pick and place robot, a large tool carousel for extra tooling, wear monitoring, broken tool detection, tool and part probe, and automated parts handling to and from the machine. The only way you'll compete with the big boys on a job like this is if you are "lights out" capable. A major production machine shop could machine these parts at 3000 a month for about $9 each and make money.

BTW, the half bore needs to have stock left in it for a finish line bore at assembly with the cylinder block.

Better consult an automation guru and be ready to make a major tooling and equipment investment, or take a pass.
 
thanks all,

i would like to add:

i will get the pieces as cast (ductile cast iron). the machining allowance are about 2mm (the orange areas).

the annual contract would be 30k pieces.
i don't have the option to finish the bore with the assembly. i just deliver that part to assembly plant.

i started contacting kitagawa to see if they have a fixture that would help.

'm thinking to reach the final thickness using cnc turnining for turning both sides.

i looked up for some milling fixtures . (sample attached). but my machining centers are vertical.

the good news is that i made 2 sampels ., and they were accepted.

the bad news is that each sample took 15 minutes.
 

Attachments

  • bearing-cap_large.zip
    68.6 KB · Views: 159
mostagear

It seems to me that you might need to discuss the points raised by at least a few of the posts here, or it will not have been worth your time asking the question, or their time trying to answer it.
 
mostagear

you misunderstand my point, I'm sorry I wasn't clearer.

I wasn't suggesting you were ignoring any posts; I've no way of knowing that.

I don't mean acknowledging or thanking the posters, either (which you did).

I mean: entering into a discussion on key points they raise.

I am suggesting that to get somewhere with solving a hard problem like this, I think you need to respond to more of the points - or at least the "killer" point, which is the cycle time of ~~3 mins

If we were playing tennis, not doing this seems to me like each player is lining up to serve and there's you, at the other end of the court, not returning the ball, just waiting for the next serve, or the next player.

And then occasionally when it comes round to your turn, you serve

What seems to work better is if we get "return of serve" more often, perhaps by you saying things like maybe

"well, I plan to work three eight hour shifts a day for six days" or

"if I have to, I'll get another couple of machines".....

so that then people have some idea of what further angles to consider, suggestions to make, or objections to raise.

.....or if you can't do these things, or other things, to achieve a throughput which looks impossible, at least tell us what you can't do and why, and we might think of some new angles.


So ... I'm sorry if my comment sounded like a criticism, and I can see how it comes out sounding like one.

It was actually intended as a suggestion on how to get the best out of the considerable accumulated experience and mental horsepower available here.
 
Troup,

i got your point , thanks for the advice,

u r right, i forgot to tell that , we are working 21H/day. 6days/week

sounds strange,!!.

but that's what making the jop much easier, concerning cycle time
 








 
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