metalmadness
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2015
Hey All,
Our shop is always trying to maximize our value when we buy things. Right now I am trying to spend a healthy chunk of change to get our tooling stock back up to snuff. We also have a fixed amount to spend so there is always a compromise somewhere.
How do you go about selecting tooling? I have a pretty good idea what type of stuff we're going to need, for example we do a lot of very deep features that tend to have small corner radii, so I have found Helical Solutions and Harvey have great offerings for getting down into those spaces. But there are always curve balls that come up where I need to buy a tool last minute. I prefer not to do that of course. But you can't predict you will need a letter P air craft drill that is 12" long ahead of time...
Another annoyance is lack of redundancy, for example I use a 1" Kennametal insert mill alot for roughing but we only have one, so I end up switching it in and out. Obviously I need another so I don't have to deal with that.
Many of you run production jobs, some of you R&D, some of you prototype. We fall into the prototype/R&D job shop so we never know what is going to come thru. How do you select tooling and what factors do you consider when purchasing?
This doesn't only apply to carbide or tooling decisions. If you have any tips or hand tools, or organization methods that you recommend I would love to hear it! I am always trying to optimize. So each machine has metric and standard T-handle hex drives so you never have to search for those. Things like that, I would be really grateful how you guys do it! Are there any game-changers or deal breakers you have learned over the years?
Our shop is always trying to maximize our value when we buy things. Right now I am trying to spend a healthy chunk of change to get our tooling stock back up to snuff. We also have a fixed amount to spend so there is always a compromise somewhere.
How do you go about selecting tooling? I have a pretty good idea what type of stuff we're going to need, for example we do a lot of very deep features that tend to have small corner radii, so I have found Helical Solutions and Harvey have great offerings for getting down into those spaces. But there are always curve balls that come up where I need to buy a tool last minute. I prefer not to do that of course. But you can't predict you will need a letter P air craft drill that is 12" long ahead of time...
Another annoyance is lack of redundancy, for example I use a 1" Kennametal insert mill alot for roughing but we only have one, so I end up switching it in and out. Obviously I need another so I don't have to deal with that.
Many of you run production jobs, some of you R&D, some of you prototype. We fall into the prototype/R&D job shop so we never know what is going to come thru. How do you select tooling and what factors do you consider when purchasing?
This doesn't only apply to carbide or tooling decisions. If you have any tips or hand tools, or organization methods that you recommend I would love to hear it! I am always trying to optimize. So each machine has metric and standard T-handle hex drives so you never have to search for those. Things like that, I would be really grateful how you guys do it! Are there any game-changers or deal breakers you have learned over the years?
