Riverside tools significantly reduce machining time

Riverside Tool Company, located in Elkhart, Indiana, has a variety of CNC grinding machines, machining centers and Vollmer saw blade grinders. They work tirelessly to produce a wide range of quality tools.

Founded in 1989, Riverside Tooling produces carbide carbide tools and PCD tools for the forming of wood, plastics and composites, including surface materials and specialty woods. The company applies a brazing method to weld PCD inserts to the cutter head, including the provision of profiled inserts and saw blades. Riverside Tooling also offers a range of tools and tools for the production of inserts, profiled inserts and special tools. They sell these products to dealers and end users nationwide.

To manufacture PCD forming tools, the company used a Vollmer QWD750H machine and an EDM automatic wire-cutting machine for 5-axis simultaneous machining of tool edges. Shortly after Riverside chose this machine, the staff at the workshop recommended that the company purchase a smartTcheck tool from Zoller. The Zoller measuring machine is used instead of the Vollmer machine because the company can save a lot of valuable machining time for the forming of CNC tools without the need to spend valuable time on tool inspection and commissioning. The ultimate goal is to maximize the productivity of Vollmer machines.

According to Riverside, due to the reduced processing time on the Vollmer machine, the cost savings have achieved immediate results. After the installation of this new machine, the total production and processing time has dropped by more than 50%, because there is no need to create CAD drawings anymore. In addition, the contour information about the part can be entered directly into the Vollmer machine.

The smartTcheck tool inspection feature features the Saturn1 video system, which consists of a 90° incident light camera and a rotating optical carrier for radial and axial measurements. It detects tilt angle, helix pitch, back width and other mechanical parameters. The shape of the blade can be displayed by transmitted light to measure the profile parameters of the tool. The system also includes software for measuring tool characteristics to detect tool radius, cutting angle profile, clearance angle, chamfer width and concentricity. Thanks to the system's ability to perform close-range inspections, the camera can help the company determine the chip formation process or tool damage and accurately measure the amount of material cut to facilitate blade repair.

Riverside's owner, Mr. RonMigedt, said: "We can use this system to comprehensively test the tools we make - PCD tools and insert tools. This is very important because the surface finish of the material can be understood by the condition of the blade. These blades must be very smooth."

He continued: “In our industry, all tools are designed with hooks and some have scissors. So the shape you see from the blade and the wood you see after machining may be A few years ago, the only way to determine the condition after processing was to first machine the wood samples. Even today, many processing shops use sample cutting methods to determine the shape of the tool. But for us Using this method to detect tools is not very safe and accurate. In short, our employees are not carpentry after all, so they can't use that method to debug various tools."

On the other hand, the new inspection system allows the company to effectively simulate and cut each tool through the camera system to reproduce the actual situation seen by the user on the wood. Then, Riverside can compare the company's drawing files with the obtained DXF file to determine the machining accuracy of the tool.

Mr. Migedt said: “Before the tool is sent to the customer, we need to pre-adjust all the tools. If necessary, add or adjust the gasket. If we do this, then there will be very few problems in the processing of the end user. Every run of the tool is very satisfying."

The detector's interlocking function allows Riverside to measure thousands of measuring points on the tool in seconds and compare it to the actual size or nominal size using the DXF interface without programming. The data obtained can be printed on the test record or stored for reference and quality assurance.

The Zoller measuring machine also provides the highest level of quality assurance for the tools produced by Riverside, making it fully compliant with quality standards before shipment. Thanks to the company's ability to detect tool damage in advance, it is able to produce quality-qualified tools, which not only saves material, but also reduces overall production time by more than 50%.

Mr. Migedt explained: “We are in an active position, the tools we produce are completely within the allowable tolerances, even the spiral-mold heads and other surface finishing heads we produce. It is safe to say that Each insert on the processing head can be operated on a correct cutting plane because it is in a balanced state. Otherwise, the end user will find lines on the material, which is unacceptable to the customer."

He continued: “When the tool rotates on the precision spindle of the machine, we can detect the entire cutting surface. Just because we can check the various deviations, we can guarantee our tools when machining on qualified machine tools. There will be no processing lines."

Riverside also uses this measuring machine to detect and record the incoming condition of the tool. The company may take a photo and share good advice with the customer. If the tool needs to be adjusted again, the operator can accurately determine the amount of adjustment of the blade or replace it with brazing. After brazing, the tool is sent to the smartTcheck measuring machine to adjust the tool holder so that the operator can input all the measured data and parameters required by the Vollmer machine. The tool and the tool holder are clamped on the Vollmer machine, then the blade is machined and then returned to the Zoller measuring machine for further inspection. The company also uses the Zoller measuring machine to program a new tool's measurement data sheet so that the end user can enter this data into the CNC router or into other cutting machines.

Mr. Migedt concluded by stating: “The data we collect and store helps our customers understand what we do on the tool and what they need to do to properly debug the machine. It allows the customer to know which one they are using. Classes of technology to manufacture and test their tools. The same is true for the inserts of the tool and our business, because the complexity required by people is getting higher and higher."

Riverside also uses the smartTcheck tool inspection machine to inspect engineering tools, enabling the company to inspect some prototypes or previously used tools to collect the necessary tool profile data.