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At first, Dan Miller thought the Saturday morning phone call was a late – and very bad – April Fool’s joke.

But, the April 2, 2005 call was not a prank. An employee was calling the owner of Extreme Industrial Knife, Inc., to say a fire was raging at the Salem, Ohio, machine shop. Reality sank in, and Dan Miller cried. He was certain his years of hard work had literally disappeared into the smoky air.

“I was totally devastated,” said Miller. “When I walked in and looked around, everything was covered in black. It looked like everything was on fire. I was out of business.”

The fire’s origin was at a critical piece of machinery in Miller’s shop, although the exact cause of the fire has not been determined. The CNC six-axis tool and cutter grinder machine had been running lights out the night of the fire, so no one was there to sound the initial alarm.

Miller knew the machine was so specialized that finding a ready replacement would be next to impossible. Soot and smoke had also impaired the shop’s other machinery. Maintaining the shop’s commitment of under-a-week turnaround for industrial knife sharpening would be impossible.

That day, Extreme Industrial Knife, located adjacent to the Quaker City Raceway, began its own race – for survival.

The situation Miller confronted is one that any business owner dreads. Prolonged downtime can result in cash flow disruptions. More important for the long-term, such disruptions can lead to the loss of business, as customers form relationships with new vendors.

For machine shops, the risk of fire is very real. Everyday production pits metal against metal in grinding, milling and other processes. As tools dull, friction builds up, creating a ready ignition source for lubricating and hydraulic oils. In mist form, oils are more easily ignited. The resulting fire acts like a blow torch and can’t be extinguished unless the fuel source or the oxygen that feeds the fire is eliminated.

Keith Domagala is engineering manager for Affiliated FM, a commercial property insurance company, whose parent company, FM Global, is known for its loss prevention research capabilities. FM Global statistics on insured companies indicate about 25 percent of all losses in machine shops are directly related to flammable liquid weaknesses. (Affiliated FM was not the insurance company used by Miller’s company.)

“Flammable liquids really drive fire losses in machine shop type occupancies,” said Domagala. “A lot of people think oils won’t burn, but when it’s atomized, you have all the fire you want. Whether it’s combustible or flammable liquid, once that liquid gets ignited, the hazard is really the same.”

The potential for fire damage is much greater with lights-out production because of delays in discovering a fire, according to Mike Angstadt, owner of DaBo-Tech, Inc., a Palmetto, Florida, distributor of special hazards fire suppression, control and detection products. Angstadt noted the phantom shift is the wave of the future, growing more popular as a means of countering lower labor costs abroad.

“That’s where they make their money,” said Angstadt. “It’s basically sheer profit. Even manned facilities are on a dramatically diminished scale. If only two or three guys are working, they can’t be in front of 70 or 80 machines. Once the fire starts and there’s no one standing right there, they’re never going to put out the fire with an extinguisher.”

Angstadt pointed out that it’s a balancing act between money saved in lights-out production and the increased risk of a fire going undetected until it creates significant damage.

“If the entire facility burns down, you’re looking at a quarter million to a couple million just to replace one machine,” said Angstadt. “Plus increased costs of replacement machines and increased cost of insurance.”

For Miller, 36, and his eight employees, the fire prompted a life-or-death struggle for the business. Manufacturing since 1987, Miller had relocated from South Carolina to his native state of Ohio in 2000 to open Extreme Industrial Knife. With sales of $750,000 in 2005, his company had developed ongoing relationships with customers across the United States in the plastic, paper, rubber and metal
working industries, providing prompt repair, sharpening and replacement of knives used in industrial machinery.

The morning of April 2, a total of 33 firefighters from six townships around Salem, midway between Canton and Youngstown, responded to the fire. The emergency call came at 8:10 a.m. Since the local volunteer firefighters were already gathered for a fund-raising breakfast, they were able to travel the 3.5 miles to the fire within seven minutes.

Firefighters quickly located the fire in an oil pit of the CNC machine and had the blaze under control in less than 10 minutes. Green Township volunteer fire chief, Todd Baird, said the fire had been burning for quite a while, although he was unable to pinpoint the exact time of origin. Four other businesses that lease space in the facility suffered smoke damage, along with the raceway business office, where Meow the cat, the track mascot, died.

When Miller arrived, he saw soot, dirt, oil and water everywhere he looked. The sight was terrifying. The odor of smoke was overwhelming.

Oily soot stuck to machinery like magnetized metal shavings. The sticky, corrosive mix filtered into machine crevices, blanketed ceiling tiles, crept into the light fixtures and dirtied snow outside the building. Water from fire hoses helped extinguish the fire but left puddles throughout the facility.

It could have been worse. An employee arrived at the shop for work in the morning and found it filled with smoke and fire. With quick action, the building was still structurally sound. But it was bad enough.

“It was like starting from scratch,” said Miller.

Miller and his employees, also known as the “Extreme Team,” banded together to try to recover the facility. They hired a fire damage restoration company. After the service ran up a bill of $50,000 the first day, Miller called a halt to the operation.

Then, Miller and his employees set out to do the dirty work themselves. Experienced machine operators in the area suggested techniques for restoring the machines. The Extreme Team hauled every single machine in the shop out into the yard. Using power washers, they meticulously cleaned stubborn soot from machine surfaces and components.

Because of the corrosive nature of the soot, actions often had to be repeated. They applied WD-40 on machine parts but had to reapply it just days later when the rust returned.

“We had to detoxify everything,” said Miller. “We had to clean up, re-wire, repaint and put back together everything – all that good labor stuff. We replaced insulation and put in new light fixtures. Geez, it took a while.”

After a solid week of work, the team started putting cleaned equipment back in the building. It took at least two and a half to three months before the company was settled in again.

Miller needed more than muscle power to deal with the heavily damaged key piece of equipment.

“When you have a fire and get a piece of equipment ruined, if you [bought] that equipment for $100,000 and you [depreciated] it over five years like we had, then you get next to nothing,” said Miller. “So you get rid of it and get a piece of equipment that’s even older cause you can’t find any other. Then, you purchase a piece of equipment at the end of the year.”

“You’re already down, and just because you had the thing depreciated and on the books, it looks like you’ve made more money than you did,” continued Miller. “You have to pay Uncle Sam his chunk. That was the worst thing.”

Miller had insurance, but didn’t receive any emergency money for at least three weeks. Nine months later, he was still awaiting a settlement with the insurance company as litigation proceeded on the fire cause.

The business was squeezed to the breaking point. Miller has no doubt he would have been out of business if not for an acquaintance, whose personal loan provided desperately needed cash flow during this time of hardship.

“We were very fortunate to get one machine up within a week, and we had very understanding customers,” said Miller. “We were also fortunate to get back most of our customers.”

Today, Miller said his operation is still not 100 percent, and the employees continue to cope with interruptions.

Before the fire, Miller didn’t have automatic sprinklers or any other fire suppression systems. He began investigating prevention products after the fire and settled upon a fire suppression system that encapsulates each machine.

Business owners like Miller are confronted with an array of fire suppression options. Nothing, however, can substitute for the first line of defense; automatic ceiling sprinklers, said Affiliated FM’s Domagala. In all, 90 percent of fire losses are controlled with 10 or less sprinkler heads opening.

Also important is training employees, whose actions can avoid and control loss. In addition, companies should consider flammable liquid safety interlocks and shutoffs to eliminate the fuel source. Affiliated FM’s Domagala also recommends special protection systems on high-value equipment. With orders of new equipment, Domagala urges business owners to seek less-hazardous fluid. Affiliated FM’s parent company, FM Global, is currently conducting research on water-mist type systems for protection.

One fairly new fire suppression system by Firetrace of Scottsdale, AZ, uses flexi-tubing and a pressurized delivery system of suppression agent, either water, foam, dry chemical or gas. Initially invented for vehicular and laboratory fires, the system was soon updated to protect other small, enclosed areas, such as machinery. Within a span of less than four years, the company has fire suppression systems in more than 10,000 machines worldwide, says Scott Starr, Firetrace marketing manager.

“With high-value equipment, you want quick detection and quick suppression using clean alternative gases like CO2 or Halon,” said Starr. “This approach quickly puts out the fire but does not contaminate the oil so you can get quickly back into production.”

Mitsubishi, ships all its EDM equipment to Firetrace for retrofitting with the suppression system. The minimally invasive system, which uses tubing to cover all potential ignition areas within the enclosed area, can be installed usually from $1,000 to $2,000 for smaller machines, said Starr.

Quick detection and minimal harm from the extinguishing agent are critical because machine shops seek to return to normal production as fast as possible after a fire, said Angstadt. He also said a big question in the industry is the use of cutoffs, since the potential for machine tie-ups and breaking of machinery parts exists during the shut down.

“Some dry powders are so fine, they get inside bearing surfaces and cause degradation; the machines don’t work as well, so you’re almost looking at replacement,” said Angstadt, who recommends cooling gases to his clients.

“I’ve worked with about half a dozen clients who’d lost machines to fire previously,” remarked Angstadt “After installation of the fire suppression system, there’s been a record of 100 percent extinguishment of the fire. And, there’s no downtime other than changing out bits, putting on a new fire tank and starting the machine back up, where it’s allowed by local fire regulations.”

For Miller, the April fire was his first. In his opinion, one is too many.

“Zero is a better number,” he said.

Today’s Machining World needs your help. We have been caught in the perfect storm of steady increases in printing and postage expenses and a disastrous recession in the machining business that has trampled our advertisers.

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Medical insurance is expensive, confusing – and widely regarded as the most important employee benefit.

It’s been said that the best advice about healthcare is “Don’t get sick.” Of course, we don’t have a choice in the matter, so having medical insurance ready to help pay the bills is the next best thing. The problem is that, for years and years, now, insurance costs have been rising. “Every year the question is not ‘Is it going to go up?’ but ‘How much?’” said Bill Cox, president, Cox Manufacturing Company, San Antonio, Texas.

With the price of insurance soaring, during the last few decades, managed care offerings have largely replaced traditional health insurance plans. These managed plans and other options available to help consumers pay their health care deductibles have helped a little to alleviate the pain of spiraling medical insurance costs. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules, state programs and laws (which, of course, differ from state to state) also shape the kind of health coverage available.

We’ve all heard about the many millions of people in the U.S. who don’t have medical insurance. You may be one of them. Like many owners and managers of businesses, you may want to offer medical insurance, but have found you can’t attract and keep the kind of workers you want without offering it.

In addition to the major medical insurance programs covered here, you may also want to offer group plans for other health-related coverage categories such as dental, vision, hearing, long- and short term disability, or long term care.

Common types of major medical coverage

Indemnity, also known as fee-for-service. This is the traditional type of insurance. You can go to any doctor and the insurance pays a portion of the bill, often 80 percent.

There is also the option for “managed care” plans, which put some constraints on which doctors you can see, or on how much the plan pays.

HMO (Health Maintenance Organization): You receive care from doctors and other providers within the HMO. Your primary care physician is your main contact, and he or she makes referrals to other providers within the organization, as required. PPO (Preferred-Provider Organization): You can obtain care from the preferred providers in-network (with whom the organization has negotiated discount pricing), or other providers outside the network. If you go out of network, your share of the cost will be more. POS (Point Of Service): This is a combination of an HMO and a PPO. You have a primary care physician who arranges care within the network, but you can also go outside, at a higher cost to you. Consumer Driven: A recent trend, “consumer driven health care,” is a move toward making individuals more financially responsible for their health care choices, with the expected result that they will be more prudent about how they incur medical expenses. Federal law, including the IRS code, has created some options to encourage this. FSA (Flexible Spending Account): This is a “use-it or lose it” account you can offer employees into which they put aside a portion of their pre-tax pay. The funds go toward reimbursing the employee for deductibles and co-pays (but not insurance premiums), as well as other IRS-approved medical expenses, such as eyeglasses and medications. The employer can also contribute. The downside for the employee is the money in the account must be used during or soon after the year it is deposited, or it is lost. The downside for the employer is that whatever amount the employee says he or she will deduct for the year, the employer is responsible for the full amount, as of January 1, even if the employee leaves the company before paying in the full amount.

HSA (Health Savings Account): This is a pre-tax account funded by employee or employer contributions. It must be combined with a high-deductible insurance coverage, and the amount deposited cannot exceed limits that change from year to year. In 2006, the deductible had to be at least $1,050 for a single person. Some advantages of the HSA are: lower insurance premiums; the employee doesn’t pay taxes on the money set aside; and you, the employer, don’t pay social security tax on the amount, either. As the employee incurs medical bills he or she can use money from the HSA to pay any expenses allowed under IRS regulations. This does not include paying insurance premiums. Funds left in the account at the end of the year remain there and can be used for future medical expenses. Also, the owner of the account can take it along when he or she changes jobs.

MSA (Medical Savings Account): This is an older program similar to an HSA, created to help self-employed persons and employees of small companies afford high deductible insurance. In many cases, a HSA might be preferable. An MSA can usually be rolled over into an HSA.

HRA (Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangement): This is something relatively new, and is always funded by the employer. The employer places funds in an account from which the employee is reimbursed for qualified medical expenses. The major difference between this and other options is that HRA funds can be used to pay insurance premiums. The employee doesn’t pay taxes on the funds, and the employer doesn’t have to pay payroll taxes. This opens up the possibility of employees obtaining their own insurance and paying for it with HRA funds.

Other cost-saving strategies can help keep your medical insurance costs as low as possible.

Negotiation can pay off

Though Bill Cox observed that medical coverage costs go up and up, his company recently had the pleasant experience of their health insurance carrier holding the line on cost – just this once. Their existing insurance carrier came in with another increase for the next year. In response, the Cox Manufacturing director of human resources took competitive bids and informed the existing carrier that the company was willing to change its 65 employees to a different insurer. With some hard negotiating, she convinced their current insurance company not to raise premiums that year, saving the company money and saving the employees the hassle of changing doctors.

Who pays what

Some companies fully fund employee health insurance. At Wiscon Products, Inc., in Racine, Wis., the company funds 100 percent, said Rolfe Christensen, president. “For years, before it became ridiculously expensive, we offered a top-of-the-line HMO plan. As the cost escalated, the quality de-escalated,” he said, adding that the benefits have deflated, while the plan cost has almost doubled.

“In our experience, the rates keep going up,” said Richard Binder, president of Abbott Interfast Corp. in Wheeling, Ill. His company of about 100 employees offers a choice of programs. “It costs a lot of money, this year almost $1000 for a family. We pay the majority of it.”

More and more companies are requiring employees to take on a significant share of the cost.

At Bilvern Products, Inc. in Mason, OH, office manager Deanna Panetta said the company pays 30 percent toward insurance for most of the 23 employees, and those employees pay 70 percent. People who opt for dental insurance pay the whole amount, she said. “We are going to look at another plan that is a little less expensive,” she said, “and give employees the option of keeping the same plan,” or going with the new one. The company would pay according to a percentage of the lower-cost plan. The premiums for the current coverage went up almost 19 percent from 2006 to 2007.

The self-insurance option

Some businesses find that, instead of buying health coverage from an insurance company, they come out ahead by paying the employees’ medical bills themselves. To the employees, the coverage looks the same – a HMO or PPO structure, for example; but the company pays the medical bills as they occur, and, as backup, also purchases an insurance policy to cover extraordinary expenses due to severe illness or injury.

It’s fairly common for very large companies to self-insure, but in some cases, much smaller businesses can make self-insurance work. MKM Machine Tool Company, based in Jeffersonville, Ind., has 190 employees there, and about 30 more in the company’s Sarasota, Fla., plant, according to director of human resources Marketta Elliott.

MKM carried conventional insurance, until the year when the rates almost doubled and company management investigated their options and decided to go with self-insurance. “We have been self-insured since 1994,” said Elliott. “We’re self-insured because we feel we can more closely control costs.” As it turns out, this way the company has a better health insurance plan for less money than it would pay for conventional coverage through an insurance company.

MKM designed its own plan, which is arranged through a national preferred-provider network. This allows the company to take advantage of the provider discounts negotiated by the network. Also, since the network is national, an employee who is ill or injured while on vacation in another state will likely be able to find a healthcare provider nearby.

A third-party administrator manages the plan, billing MKM periodically for the medical expenses incurred by employees and their families.

The premiums the employees pay are “based on your experience rate,” the actual amount paid out the previous year, said Elliot. “Your premiums can go down. There are years when they go up and years they go down.” The employees pay between 15 and 40 percent of the cost, depending upon whether they’re single, have another person on the insurance, or have family coverage.

“Of course, we have a reinsurance carrier, so you don’t break the bank if you have a catastrophic illness or injury. If you have catastrophic claims, that [reinsurance] rate goes up the next year.”

When the company began to be self-insured, “people were very worried about it because at the time we had a very rich plan. We wanted our benefits comparable [to the existing plan], so we modeled the [new] plan after it,” Elliott said, adding that employees have been very happy with the coverage.

“The health insurance is part of the union contract,” said Elliott, and “is always a concern in negotiations. But they go with it on every contract. We try … to get pricing from fully funded plans [ for comparison]. They [often] won’t quote a plan as good as we have.” Elliot said the last time MKM tried to get quotes from major insurance companies for the same coverage, two companies refused to quote and the third one gave a cost close to twice as much as MKM paid for self-insurance.

In addition to medical benefits, MKM offers an employee assistance program, fitness club reimbursement, and a service that includes weight loss, disease management and other support.

Taking care of your employees and your profits

When looking for a group health insurance program for your workers, look at your employee population and what they might need. Ask them which features are important to them. Then, shop around. A broker will be able to show you many options. Your professional association, chamber of commerce or regional business association may also have attractive options.

Before you sign, be sure you understand what is and what is not covered by the insurance, the out-of-pocket maximums, lifetime limits (experts say that a $1 million cap may not be enough these days), and other factors. Pre-existing conditions can introduce snafus into your program – in some states under certain conditions, if you change insurance companies, the new one won’t necessarily cover existing problems until the person has been on the new insurance for a period of time, perhaps as long as a year.

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is perhaps best known for those privacy forms everyone has to sign at the doctor’s office. However, it also includes important features relating to pre-existing conditions and other important aspects of your health insurance.

In addition to providing insurance, consider doing a few things to make it as easy as possible for your employees to take good care of themselves. Smoking cessation classes, employee sports teams, lunchtime yoga, access to a 24/7 call-a-nurse service, and many other simple programs can help keep your staff healthier.

The expense and complexity of providing medical coverage to your employees, is made more complicated by IRS rules, tax implications, the HIPAA, and state laws. Company executives, your human resources manager, your accountant and maybe your lawyer should work together to come up with the right choices.

ELECTRONICS, COMPUTERS, VIDEO AND LASERS IN THE QC DEPARTMENT OFFER MORE OPTIONS FOR MEASURING MACHINED PARTS

Measuring completed parts can sometimes pose as much of a challenge as machining them. The many high-tech measurement instruments available today offer superb precision and accuracy, but measuring those parts can still be tricky. “Everyone wants the ‘Holy Grail’ of measurement,” says Mike Knicker, owner of Q-PLUS Labs, Irvine, CA, a full-service measurement and inspection laboratory. “They want one machine that does it all. It doesn’t exist.” So the challenge becomes choosing the appropriate instrument or instruments from the many that are on the market. The good news is that not only do these electronic devices measure your parts, they can also collect and record the data for you.

Conventional CMM (coordinate measurement machine)

Checkmaster manual benchtop coordinate measurement machine from Helmel Engineering.

Though it was invented decades ago, the familiar bridge-style coordinate measurement machine still has its place in the QC department, and the technology continues to evolve. This machine uses a touch probe to contact the measurement locations. Then, the machine does all the necessary calculations to obtain length, radius and other dimensions

Helmel Engineering, Niagara Falls, NY, offers a range of CMMs. The Checkmaster model fits on a benchtop, offers accuracy in the range of 0.0003 – 0.0004, and sells for under $14,000. For measuring critical, small parts like those used in medical or aerospace applications, the company’s new MicroGage offers an affordable option for those who need a high-precision automatic CMM. With accuracy of better than 0.0002, MicroGage pricing starts under $35,000.

High-precision, automatic fixed-bridge coordinate measurement machine from Helmel Engineering.

Art Whistler, vice president of sales and marketing, says Helmel CMMs have an affinity for the machine shop, as they are based on mechanical bearing designs and are “a bit more rugged and durable, suited for the manufacturing environment.” Also, Helmel CMMs do not require compressed air, so they are simpler to install than brands of CMM that require a source of compressed air to supply their air bearings, which are commonly used.

Arm-style CMM

A CMM with long, articulated arms can reach and bend to make measurements that are impossible with bridge-style units. “We developed it for the folks who don’t usually use CMMs,” says Darin Sahler, global public relations manager, FARO Technologies Inc., Lake Mary, FL, a well-known maker of arm-style CMMs.

These relatively compact, lightweight units, such as the FaroGage, can easily travel out on the shop floor or even be mounted on a machine as a dedicated measurement device. The FaroGage, which yields accuracy to 0.0004, costs about $14,000.

One happy FaroGage user is Dave Hall, vice president of Hallcraft Machining, Melbourne, FL. “We use it for repetitive measurements,” he says, “also for our first-article inspection and for reverse engineering.” Hallcraft makes a lot of motorcycle parts, Hall explains, and he might not have the drawings for mating parts, so “we use the Faro to give us the number from a model,” or from the mating parts, he says. Without access to the parts’ drawings, he can use the FaroGage to measure for the bolt holes and other features upon which to base the design of a new mating part. The CMM also comes in handy for measuring radius, taper and surface contour.

“We do some of our work in final QC” with the FaroGage, Hall says. “We’ll check the part, and we’re able to send a [printed] document that states what we found. A QC person is more likely to believe [that] than a handwritten report.”

Hall recommends installing a FaroGage on a granite base and setting up an x-y backstop to establish the reference measurement plane where the part contacts the backstop. This is much quicker than trying to touch three points to set your zero, he says. This approach can be helpful with any of the CMM or video systems.

Video measurement system

Touching a part with a probe isn’t always feasible, however. Flexible, small, intricate or delicate parts need special handling and special measuring. “To inspect a small, tiny part [you] probably would get some kind of non-contact CMM,” suggests David DeVowe, executive director of quality, Inspection

KineMeasure, KM200XYZ manual, video-based measurement and inspection system with 8” x 4” x 7” XYZ travel. Available with video edge detection.

Division, QC Inspection Services, Inc., Burnsville, MN. A video system can measure most types of parts and is especially suited to some of the most challenging.

Mark Arenal, president of Kinemetric Engineering, LLC, Laguna Hills, CA, explains: “A video, or vision, measuring system uses a camera to deliver a magnified image to a video screen where the operator can target selected features with a crosshair reticle for a manual system, or for an automated system, a computer can process the measurements. Systems can range from very simple manually operated units to CNC-capable systems that can be programmed to measure automatically, using powerful image processing tools built into the measurement software. Automatic systems and semi-automatic systems help achieve rapid measurements with a high degree of repeatability while minimizing operator intervention.”

Kinemetric Engineering offers a range of non-contact measurement systems. A small, general-purpose video measurement system with 8” x 4” x-y travel, the KineMeasure KM200 costs around $16,000.

With automated video systems, DeVowe says, “you can program them and do repeat inspections. Once you have the program made, [the machine] finds the features itself, finds edges. [They] are especially good for profiles and overall dimensions in 2-D.” And it’s fairly easy to learn to use these video devices, he says.

Laser micrometer

For some parts, especially those with tight tolerances and fairly simple geometries, a laser micrometer might be the most suitable choice. In one

A benchtop laser scan micrometer, Mitutoyo LSM 9506

version, a laser beam shines on a spinning polygon-shaped mirror, which reflects the beam toward a lens that aligns the separated beam into parallel beams. On the opposite side of the measurement gap, a photoelectric cell receives the laser light. The photoelectric cell produces a voltage proportional to the amount of light that hits it. The item to be measured is carefully fixtured so it blocks some of the laser light from reaching the photoelectric cell. The laser micrometer calculates the dimension of the part in the measurement area, based on how much light it blocks from the receiver.

The Mitutoyo LSM-9506 bench-model laser scan micrometer measures parts from 0.02 to 2.36 in the dimension being measured, such as diameter. It is a self-contained unit, including laser and display, and costs around $6500. It achieve repeatability of +/– 30 microinches, and accuracy is also measured in microinches.

Profile measurement system

Some measurement machines are targeted directly at certain types of parts. For example, the TESA Scan and Profile systems from Brown & Sharpe, North Kingstown, RI, are designed specifically for round, cylindrical and turned parts, explains regional sales manager Ron Gardner.

In these machines, the part is held between centers or in a chuck, so it can turn. Parallel beams of light shine from one side of the measurement gap toward the other. When no part is in the way, all the light reaches a high-resolution CCD (light-sensing) array on the other side. When a part to be measured is in the way, it casts a distinct shadow on the CCD array, which registers, pixel by pixel, where it receives the light and where not. The system’s processor calculates dimensions based on the signals it receives from the array.

A profile unit can measure length, diameter, radius, grooves and many other features, as well as concentricity, straightness and runout while the part turns. Many of these profile machines also have the ability to measure different kinds and sizes of threads by tilting the part so the helix angle of the threads is parallel to the light beams and the system can get a good reading on the geometry of the threads.

The TESA Scan and Profile systems come in a range of sizes. The smallest, TESA Scan 25 measures parts up to 1″ (25 mm) in diameter and 8″ long. It sells for $33,700.

Using a profile measurement system, a TESA Scan 50+ big brother to the 25, has made a huge difference in inspection time at Mearthane Products Corporation in Cranston, RI. “It used to take us two hours to measure a 15-piece sample of parts. Now it takes 45 seconds for each piece.” says Ray Perry, quality engineering manager at the custom polyurethane molding house.

Many of Mearthane’s products, such as rollers for copiers, have shafts molded into the plastic. And many of the dimensions, both of the shafts and the finished parts, are critical. “Basically, we have shafts that have up to 20 different dimensions, including runout and concentricity, plus the location of the urethane [with respect to the shaft],” says Perry. “Before, we used laser

The Kinemetric CP8K video-based measurement and inspection system with 12” x 6” x 5.5” XYZ travel. The CP8K can be used to measure manually or run in a programmed mode for multiple and repetitive applications. Powered by Metronics QC5000 metrology software. Also available with touch probe and laser sensors as well as a rotary axis.

micrometers and height gages and an optical comparator. [With profile measurement,] once you program a part, you just run it.”

Hybrid techniques

Lots of people have both CMMs and vision systems and use them separately, says Knicker. Now, hybrid systems are available that integrate vision and touch probe technology.

Kinemetric Engineering manufactures video coordinate measurement devices that can also accept touch probes, so the two technologies work together. The company’s CP8K unit can also accept a laser scanning head, and, according to Arenal, some power users make all three modes work together, video, touch and laser. A basic CP8K (CNC-video) would start around $40,000; touch probe, laser head and other accessories are additional. For customers who already have a bridge-style CMM, Kinemetric offers the MultiProbe MP100, a zoom optical-video head that mounts on the CMM, for $8,000. You can also install a touch probe on the MP100, so this is an economical way to achieve contact/non-contact capability in one setup.

Laser scanning

The Kinemetric MultiProbe MP100 adds video measurement and inspection capability to an existing coordinate measurement machine, enabling both contact and non-contact measurements. The user-installable MP100 includes a motorized zoom lens, LED illumination and an adapter that accepts a Renishaw PH6 touch probe head. Images are displayed on a 10” LCD display.

Laser scanning was originally developed for medical and dental uses, DeVowe says, which need to have surfaces reproduced very precisely. A laser scan measures the location of thousands of points on the surface of an object. This produces a “point cloud,” a file containing a great number of points located very close together, which describe the surface shape of the object scanned. The point cloud file can be used as a model for creating a CAD drawing. As the CAD drawing is developed, the engineer can compare the scan with the drawing. It would be nice if a CAD program could automatically create a drawing from the point cloud scan data, but so far, DeVowe says, this isn’t possible, but likely will be at some point.

DeVowe’s lab has laser-scanned some unusual things. One company that was designing prostheses to replace missing fingers found that their artificial fingers always looked, well, artificial, DeVowe says. So the company made a careful, very detailed cast of someone’s real finger and sent it to Inspection Services to be laser scanned, and the resulting “point cloud” was used as a model.

These measurement technologies can save time and prevent errors, once you select the right tools for the job and take advantage of their capabilities. Some of the technologies are amazing, but no machine can do the job by itself, at least not until it’s set up and programmed by a human being. Knicker appreciates the promise of the latest technologies but noted that the best measurement happens in a well-equipped lab with skilled people.

Alan Beaulieu of the Institute for Trend Research spoke at the Precision Machined Products Association Management Update and gave his predictions about the next couple of years. Beaulieu is not just any dismal soothsayer. He specializes in looking at the manufacturing world and had correctly predicted the dramatic recession we are just poking out of today.

He is quite confident we are in a sustained recovery, which will gain momentum through next year. He sees 2012 as a seesaw year.

The most surprising aspect of his talk for me was his prediction of significant inflation by 2011. Beaulieu suggested an inflation rate of 6.5 percent next year, pushed by a surge in commodity prices.

Beaulieu sees commercial lending by banks gradually easing. In his view, banks want to lend but are being restrained by government examiners who are working at cross purposes to the avowed intent of the administration to expand credit for small business.

Beaulieu sees us at a classic inflection point of opportunity to buy residential real estate. In his view, we have six months to get a historic discount on real estate. His admonition was to buy a condo or a house either to use or rent out as soon as possible because both price and interest rates are going up soon.

He had some interesting political and economic views as well. He sees Russia as a crumbing mess with a dying population and extremely low birthrate (1.1 children per woman). He sees the Euro headed back to parity with the dollar. He recommends buying gold and sees copper prices reaching for the moon because of Chinese demand.

His top categories for growth are medical, food, energy (he likes wind), security and water. He is very bullish on India.

The best thing about Beaulieu’s talk—he didn’t hedge his bets.

Question: Are you considering buying residential real estate in the next six months?

Alan Beaulieu at PMPA Management Update

Finding and hiring good people has always been a challenge. With so many skilled machinists aging toward retirement and fewer youngsters interested in entering the machining trade, it will only get more difficult. “Manufacturers are waking up to the idea that there are no skilled craftsmen [walking in off ] the street. Many are now in their 50s and 60s,” points out Ken Barton, apprenticeship administrator for the Rockford (IL) Tooling & Machining Association (RTMA). There are plenty of people out there, but they don’t all have the makings of a machinist. How do you select new hires that have the “stuff” to make it in this business? Or, better, where can you find people who already have some training or experience?

The right stuff for cutting metal

Besides the usual job application, interview and reference checks, you need to know if a job candidate is capable of learning how to deal with machines and metalworking. There are many tests of various kinds–personality inventories, attitude surveys, tests for mechanical aptitude, manual dexterity, cognitive abilities and many more characteristics, qualities, skills and knowledge. These are available from test publishers and from consultants who offer to put together a testing program for any need.

Fortunately, among this bewildering array of tests are a few that aim specifically at predicting performance or assessing skills necessary in the machining business.

NTMA Employee Selection System

One way to make sure you have the staff you need is to “grow your own.” Many shops like to bring in entry-level employees who will have the capacity to learn and grow into increasingly responsible and skilled jobs. How do you know if the person has the mechanical aptitude, the reasoning ability and the good work ethic needed to be successful? Nobody can tell for sure, but the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA, www.ntma.org) has put together a battery of four pencil-and-paper tests that give an indication of a person’s ability to learn mechanically oriented tasks and to succeed in the manufacturing environment.

Intended for pre-employment screening, these tests provide a “predictive test of aptitude for learning machining and other technology,” says Dick Walker, director of education at the National Tooling & Machining Association, Ft. Washington, MD. “Part of the issue is on the intake end if you’ve got X number of slots. Who do you choose?” he says.

The NTMA selection tests rate mathematical ability, mechanical aptitude, verbal skills and also provide a psychological profile, says Walker. The set of tests, taken together, is designed to measure a person’s potential for success. Walker says that the NTMA has offered the tests for about 25 years, and companies have used them with thousands of job applicants.

A complete testing package, $55 from NTMA, includes the four test booklets, 25 answer sheets and an instruction manual for administering the tests.

You administer the tests to a prospective employee and then send the answer sheet to NTMA for scoring. Purchase of the test package and the scoring service are available to both NTMA member companies and nonmembers. Scoring is $25 for each applicant, with results mailed; for an additional fee they can be faxed.

The raw score on each test is converted to a scaled score of 1 – 9. So the score on the 4-test battery ranges from 4 to 36. “Add up the scores, and [anyone with a score of] 16 and above should be successful,” Walker says, though a very low score on the math test might indicate a potential problem. All four tests used together give a good picture of the applicant’s aptitude and attitude, he says.

Assessment testing from Tooling U.

For more advanced and experienced applicants, you may want to determine their skill and knowledge using assessment tests specifically aimed at the machining industry. Tooling University, Cleveland, OH, offers online classes for workers in the industry. It also had a series of assessment tests that companies use to determine the training needs of their staff. When asked whether an assessment test might be used in the hiring process, Chad Schron, Tooling U.’s vice president of technology operations, says that a company might use a test to determine if an experienced applicant is knowledgeable in a certain area.

A basic assessment test covers shop math, blueprint reading, and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (see sidebar). It is available online and costs $27.50 per administration. Tooling U. has a range of assessment tests and classes available and can also provide customized testing and classes if needed.

Invent your own

Experts in the psychology and technology of aptitude testing would cringe at the very idea, but if you can’t find the kind of testing that does what you need, you might need to invent your own.

For the Machine Operator Skills Training program (see below), none of the available mechanical aptitude tests seemed to do the job, according to Ted Bauer, machining project coordinator, Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Worcester, MA.

The pilot program, funded by a grant from the Department of Labor, recruits its students from a wide spectrum of people who want job training. The paper and pencil tests weren’t sufficient to demonstrate real-time mechanical reasoning and manipulation, and commercially available hands-on tests were overkill. So, says Bauer, “We invented our own mechanical aptitude test.”

It consists of a variety of nuts and bolts and a selection of hand tools. The test is to undo the fasteners from holes on one side of a board and refasten them on the other. There are more tools than needed, and some of the holes are too small for some of the bolts. It’s a timed test. Most people complete the task in under four minutes, Bauer says. Some take less than three. Someone who takes more than five minutes might have problems with the training program.

“Put something in their hands and observe them,” counsels Bauer.

In addition to taking the mechanical tests, prospective students take standard reading comprehension and math tests.

How do companies use testing and other techniques to find people who will fit in, do the job, learn, grow and become the machinists and metalworkers they need? Every shop, large, small or in-between, has its own way of evaluating job candidates and finding employees who can take on new responsibilities.

Agency screens job candidates

A large provider of fluid system products and services to many different industries, Swagelok Manufacturing Company, Solon, OH, uses commercially available tests to screen prospective applicants, according to Tim Dodd, director of China operations.

“Everyone [is tested], whether a skilled CNC operator or someone who has had no exposure to manufacturing… We use a temporary employment agency to do screening and bring people in on a temp-to-perm basis,” he says.

The agency tests aptitudes and abilities, including “mental alertness, general knowledge…  cognitive abilities, mechanical aptitude,” says Dodd. Applicants also complete a personality profile. With the results in hand, the company can match people with positions. “We have a matrix [on which] we plot out where we want people to be for different jobs. Are you better suited for machining, a quality type of role or assembly?”

Three months to try each other out

“Usually, if we bring someone in, we can tell pretty quickly if they know what they’re doing,” says Abbie Moran, general manager of Robert J. Moran, Inc., a small contract machine shop in Littleton, MA. During the interviews for machinists, “we show them a blueprint and ask them how they would approach it.”

Moran’s company makes use of a three-month tryout period. “We feel each other out, to see if you like us and we like you. We say, ‘It’s for you as well as for us.’” If the new employee works out for those three months, he or she comes fully on board, with benefits. Then, how far employees go is up to them.”Some people just want to be operators, and some strive for more,” says Moran. “They write their own ticket on how much effort they want to put in and the progress they make on the job.”

Testing for promotion

At C & J Industries in Meadville, PA, human resources director Sandy Hurban uses the NTMA tests for people who are already in place and may be promoted. “Also for apprenticeship, if we bring someone up,” she says. The company is primarily an injection molding house, and 20 of the 250 employees work in machining.

Sometimes, C&J uses only the mechanical aptitude test. People for the apprenticeship program take all 4 tests. “Apprentices usually come from the voc/tech schools, and we [also] put promising people from the floor into the apprenticeship program,” Hurban says. She administers the tests, sends the answer sheets to NTMA and receives grades back in a week, or sooner by fax, if she needs them quickly.

C&J has used the NTMA tests for a long time, but “testing is only one indicator,” Hurban cautions. “You want someone who has the will to work and who wants to learn. And that’s what is really hard to find right now.”

Confidence in their capability

Joyce Richey’s job title is staff accountant, but she is also the person who administers the NTMA tests to prospective employees at Schmiede Corporation in Tullahoma, TN. This 115 employee company does CNC machining, grinding and EDM, Richey says.

In general, the company requires the tests of less experienced applicants who have only two or three years of work experience or have come from a machine shop course at school. “It seems to help,” she says. The company started to use the NTMA testing about six years ago, and Richey has administered the tests to 144 applicants since then.

“The supervisors like it,” she says. “If you don’t know a person… that test gives them a little insight before they talk to them.”

Applicants must score 20 or above on the tests before they can go on to an interview, Richey says. At Schmiede, the cutoff score is 20, rather than 16, which the NTMA suggests. “Most folks score above 20,” she says. Schmiede also uses the tests to help select employees who might do well filling supervisor or lead positions that open up. “If they show an interest we give them a test,” she says.

Remember apprenticeships? They’re still one of the best ways to develop exactly the kind of expertise you want and need.

Grow your own skilled machinists

The Rockford, IL, chapter of the NTMA, arranges for a local community college to administer the NTMA Employee Selection tests to individuals interested in entering an apprentice program at a local company, according to Ken Barton, apprenticeship administrator for the RTMA. When the scores come back, the names of those who meet or surpass the national cutoff score (16) are sent to local companies that have apprenticeship programs.

Barton says that the RTMA apprenticeship program was started in 1957, and since then, thousands of apprentices have trained in it. Many of them now run businesses of their own. Apprentice tool and die makers receive 10,000 hours or 5 years of on-the-job training. Precision machinist and CNC operator apprentices train on the job for 8,000 hours or 4 years. Under the Rockford program, the apprentices are also required to take related classroom training.

A few years ago, the need for skilled machinists seemed to have dropped down to where there were only two apprentices who started one year. Last year, there were 25, and Barton expects 25 this year, as well.

Fast-track training for machine operators

Because of the need for skilled staff at machine shops all across the country, the Federal Department of Labor has initiated a pilot program to train machine operators. The pilot Machine Operator Skills Training (MOST) is being run in the six New England states.

According to machining project coordinator Ted Bauer, participants are recruited from “One-Stop Career Centers,” in areas where the trainings are scheduled. Many are unemployed and seeking training for a new career. After careful screening, which includes interviews and tests of reading comprehension, math and mechanical aptitude (see “Invent your own,” above), the participants intensively study machining principles and practice for two weeks, they then go to companies for two months on-the-job training. In the few months the program has been in existence, most of the participants have been hired by the companies where they received their on-the-job training.

In the next couple of decades, we’ll need droves of younger up-and-comers to replace the master machinists who are reaching retirement age. Where will these new machinists come from? Lots of different places. They’ll be home grown through apprenticeship, brought up through the ranks, taught in vocational/technical high schools or community colleges, trained in other publicly-funded programs. They’re out there somewhere. The trick is to find them and then give them the opportunity to become the best.

I was talking to a fan of Today’s Machining World who works at the world’s largest airplane builder. After discussing the Dreamliner’s ups and downs, he asked me if I thought machining could get too efficient. “What if x, y and z machining times got so fast you wouldn’t need any machinists,” he asked me. I laughed, but he went on.

“Lloyd, did you know that BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Audi decided that 155 miles per hour was as fast as non-professionals could safely drive on an autobahn, so they jointly decided to make that speed the maximum their cars would run?” he said.

His point about machining is that the builders make a mistake by constantly pushing machining speeds as improvements. He fears that we are losing the balance between machinist and machine.

The whole conversation sounded like a replay of the folk ballad of “John Henry, the steel driving man” who fought the track laying machines to a dead heat.

The engineer from Seattle sees being a welder as the only safe job in metalworking, because it cannot be outsourced to China and speed is limited by the melting temperature of metal.

Questions: Can machines be too efficient? Machinist or welder, who has more job security?

Johnny Cash – Ballad Of John Henry’s Hammer

Lisa Bailey-Beavers, national sales manager of GTI Spindle, inspects a Heald grinder dressing spindle.

Everything wears out eventually, and the spindles in machine tools are no exception. Though many shops could theoretically rebuild or repair their own spindles, many choose to send them out—back to the manufacturer, or to a company that specializes in rebuilding and repairing them.

One such company is GTI Spindle Technology, Inc., in Manchester, NH (see sidebar). GTI Spindle repairs and rebuilds a wide variety of spindles from over 300 manufacturers. They rebuild tiny spindles used in machines that wind light bulb filaments; large spindles used in enormous machining centers; spindles in machines that grind the titanium parts for artificial hip joints, cut and polish granite countertops, saw and rout wood for assemble-it-yourself furniture, hone razor blades and even curl the hair on dolls.

First look

At GTI Spindle, when a spindle arrives at the plant, it is logged into the tracking system. Information about each spindle is available online for customers to track their spindles through the process.

Next, the spindle is evaluated. If it isn’t broken in any obvious way, it is run on a test stand and a vibration profile is taken. A sensor (an accelerometer) is attached to the spindle housing. As the spindle rotates at different speeds, the sensor detects how much it is vibrating. A vibration analyzer takes in the signal from the sensor and prints out a graph showing how severely the spindle vibrates at different frequencies. The vibration signature can help diagnose problems, including out-of-balance conditions and bearings that are failing.

Vibration testing can also help determine there is no problem. Quite often, GTI Spindle receives perfectly good spindles that have been sent out for rebuilding. “One in twenty doesn’t need repair,” according to GTI Spindle president Thomas Hoenig. In these cases, sometimes a little detective work is needed to diagnose the trouble.

Hoenig recalled the case where every fourth part from a customer’s machine was bad. The spindle came in for repair, but there was nothing wrong with it. The customer, helped on-site by a GTI Spindle technician, eventually discovered that the problem was a hydraulic pump mounted to the bed of the machine without benefit of an isolation pad. When the pump turned on, the vibration disturbed the machining process. In another case, vibration from a compressor in the next room actually interfered with machining.

Looking inside

After vibration analysis, the spindle is carefully measured for runout and other parameters. Then, the technician disassembles it, looking for signs of wear, fracture or other modes of failure.

Richard Bourgeois, breakdown technician, performs runout measurements before disassembling a spindle.

“Eighty percent [of spindles] fail from contamination in the bearings,” Hoenig says. “Contaminants migrate from the coolant or from air/oil lubrication.”

As the disassembly process continues, the parts are cleaned, examined, measured and sometimes photographed. By the time disassembly is complete, the technician has a pretty good idea what is wrong with the spindle. Each spindle’s components and paperwork are stored in a plastic bin. At this point, the customer receives a diagnosis and a quote for the repair.

Putting it back together

When GTI Spindle gets the go-ahead from the customer, the repair process commences. Parts are repaired or replaced, as appropriate. Parts damaged in a

A display of spindle components made in GTI’s machine shop: (Front, from left) a shaft, a rear housing cap, two labyrinth rings and two spindle housings. (Rear, from left) a stator housing, a shaft, two rear shaft nuts and a front shaft nut.

crash might be resurfaced, welded back together or replaced with new parts machined in GTI Spindle’s machine shop, says Hoenig. Bearings are replaced. Tapers and other surfaces might be reground or could be resurfaced through a process called grind-plate-grind, in which they are ground, sent out for replating and then ground to resize.

A well-balanced spindle

Near-perfect balance is critical in high-speed rotating parts such as spindles, to keep them from vibrating and affecting the accuracy of the machine in which they are installed. At GTI Spindle, individual rotating components are first balanced, then after the spindle is reassembled, the entire spindle assembly is balanced.

The balancing operation is similar to dynamically balancing an automobile wheel with a tire mounted on it. The part is rotated on a balancing machine that indicates where the imbalance is. On a car wheel, weights are added to offset heavy spots.

On most spindles, material is removed opposite lighter spots that could be due to voids in a casting or other causes. An occasional spindle will allow for adding material, such as the large Makino spindle (see below), to which you might add weight by installing setscrews into threaded holes in the shaft, provided for this purpose. Large spindles that are too big to fit on a balancing machine can be balanced using a vibration sensor and a strobe lamp.

After the spindles are rebuilt, GTI Spindle operate them for at least eight hours to run in the bearings and make sure everything is working properly. Specially designed test stands hold the spindles, power or drive them, provide lubrication, compressed air for air bearings; whatever the spindle needs to run properly.

Special stand

Some spindles are especially demanding in what they need to run properly.

Applying the strobe to a Makino spindle.

Makino spindles, such as the one shown above, which is from a vertical machining center, contain passages through the shaft and bearings for oil that lubricates and also cools. This type of spindle cannot be run at speed “on the bench” without its oil supply.

GTI Spindle spent a year and a half and footed the considerable expense to develop a special Makino spindle run-in stand that includes pumps, coolers, vacuum oil recovery and other features. Now, at GTI Spindle, these units can be properly exercised and tested before being shipped back to their owners.

Sending them home

Finally, after the reassembled spindles have been run in, measured, tested and found good, they are painted, if appropriate, and packed in wooden crates for shipping, cushioned by conforming foam. Along with the spindle, GTI Spindle sends the customer the spindle’s records, failure analysis report, if any, and all parts that were replaced.

Spindle maintenance, repair and rebuilding can represent a large expense for even a moderately-sized plant. “Customers who spend $50,000 to $ 1 million a year can save 30, 40 or 50 percent, of new replacement cost” says Hoenig. Signifi cant savings can come from maximizing spindle life through proper maintenance and correcting the problems that cause failures. Preventive maintenance, including scheduled rebuilds, can also keep unexpected downtime to a minimum, keeping machine hours and revenue up.

Even though you can depend on spindles to fail eventually, there are ways to plan for failure and minimize its effect on your business.

A different spin

Besides sharing information and engineering aid, the company goes even further. “We’re training our competitors,” says Hoenig with a bit of a smile. Indeed, if a customer decides to do its own repairs, GTI Spindle would lose that business.

GTI technical director Raymond St. Onge checks runout on a spindle shaft.

But, if that customer wants training on how to repair spindles, GTI Spindle will happily provide training. Of course, once a customer finds out what is involved in rebuilding spindles, he or she may decide to continue letting GTI Spindle do the job.

On one Thursday in July, representatives of two major corporations were visiting the Manchester plant. The head of the spindle repair lab at a well known aerospace company was training on how to rebuild Makino spindles.

Two plant engineering staff from the state of the art Hyundai factory in Montgomery, AL, watched as GTI technicians rebuilt spindles from their plant. Hyundai engineer Nick Harsanyi said he and maintenance technician Ricky Speaks were “training, learning and evaluating [GTI’s] services.” Their department is responsible for over 150 spindles in the CNC cell that manufactures heads and engines for the Sonata and Santa Fe vehicles, Harsanyi said.

Besides GTI Spindle’s headquarters in New Hampshire, the company has facilities in Bloomington, IL, Romulus, MI, and a spindle and machine tool repair shop onsite at Caterpillar Fuel Systems in Pontiac, IL. For more information, visit the company’s web site, www.gtispindle.com.

In pursuit of this “How it Works” piece, entitled “How to buy a vertical machining center,” I found myself stuck at the very beginning of the process, and had to admit: I didn’t know how to do it. So, I decided to visit Arthur Machinery, a 20-year old machinery dealer specializing in precision CNC and manual  machine tools in Elk Grove Village, IL. I sat down with four salesmen: Mark MacVicar, Rudy Marotti, David Scheck and John Schneider, all seasoned veterans of the VMC world.

The first thing Mark MacVicar said he would tell a customer is to “look at 80% of what you’re looking to do, try and buy a machine that’s going to do that. Let’s make the part you’re looking at, but recognize what else can you cover.”

They all agreed that material was a principal driver of what to buy. If you’re running steel, you’re going to need horsepower, so these salesmen would hone in on a machine with torque, probably with limited RPMs. If you were running aluminum, they would recommend going with a higher spindle speed, with faster feed rates.

The customer may want to get everything available, but for the first machine for their job, they do not think someone should necessarily buy a bigger machine than they might need. They recommend what fits the 80% rule, run that, get comfortable with it, and then add equipment.

Rudy Marotti says, “We could start out real simple. The first time around maybe they’d buy a small mill, make a fixture, get up and going. Once that has been successful, they will come back and make a larger investment and buy something with a pallet changer. It’s not always time effective to have someone unload 30 pieces, then load another 30. Another consideration might be adding a rotary table to the machine.”

A mini mill can get you started.

For a first time buyer with a turning shop who has multi spindles and CNC Swiss but needs to do some second op work on some stainless steel parts, there’s a pretty uniform price structure to show you what bang you can get for your buck. For a base price of $30,000, you could start with a mini mill.

The next step up – at $35,000, you’ll have 16-inch X travel, ten tool changer and 6,000 RPMs. For $35,000 in a 5-year old used vertical machining center, you could get 40×20 size, larger capacity, larger table size, but a used machine.

A rotary table is a consideration in purchasing a VMC.

One can spend $40,000 without a pallet changer and have a limited amount of tools. One could spend $65,000 and get a pallet changer and twice as many tools. For $60,000, Arthur can offer three machines – a tool room mill, a mini mill or a Haas VF- 1. These three machines are basically slower, a little faster and fastest. It will come down to how many parts you are looking to put through the machine, and how fast you want to be.

A customer has the option of purchasing a used VMC.

Low to mid $50s, you will get 30 inches of X travel. You are going to have at least 20 tools. You’re probably going to have 75 RPM, 7500 RPMs.

In the used world, for $55,000 you could buy two machines, but more than likely you’re going to get two different styles of used machines with different characteristics. There will be some that will be very similar but they will be subtly different as far as travels and table accommodations, but fixturing might not match up, there may be different controllers, and they could even have different style tools. There is an advantage to buying two spindles; an operator can typically handle two machines simultaneously.

$75,000 would get you twice the spindle speed and it would probably get you a pallet changer. Depending on configuration, your travels would be larger than the $30,000 machine but might be comparable to the $50,000 machine. You’re not getting any bigger machine, but you’re getting the ability to increase your throughput if it matches the type of parts that you’re looking to do.

Basically, the more money you spend, the higher RPMs, and the more rapid travel speed. You can get a pallet changer, side mount tool changer, fourth axis rotary capability, possibly by the rotary table itself. Spending closer to $100,000 is going to increase your throughput. The more money you spend, the faster you are going to be able to run. That’s what it is going to come down to.

Beyond money, the dealer should provide you with all of your support: They should help you identify the correct machine for the application. Your dealer should look at it as a partnership; that they are educating you on where technology is going, what they have to offer, not only from the machine tool standpoint, but parts, installation, support, training and service as well.

Schneider says, “If you sell a guy his first CNC and he’s a screw machine shop and he buys a used machine, he is relying on that thing to make a part. If that used machine breaks down he is going to call somebody, and he is going to pay for that guy to come there, and he is going to wait. If you buy a new machine, you’re not worrying about it breaking down. If it does break down you have somebody to call that is going to send a guy out there right away. A used piece means you’re taking on all the responsibility. And that could be detrimental to a company. If you buy a new piece you’re investing in a dealer’s organization to keep you up and running.”

And then I asked the inevitable: How long will it last? Marotti responded, “What’s going to happen is technology is going to pass it up. You’re going to become slow.

Would they recommend that somebody start shopping on the web? Absolutely.

You can go to machinetool.com or www.techspex.com, where you can look, spread out all the specifications and compare. But they felt it would be difficult for a first time buyer to apply what they are viewing to their own application. And therein lies the beauty of the dealer.

It’s important to align yourself with somebody who has resources. There should always be phone support when you call. You want someone who’s going to be able to watch your back and make sure that they have the power to move the world if they have to in order to satisfy your requirements.

Scheck concludes, “If you give him everything right, he isn’t going to look anywhere else. He is going to come back to you because he trusts you, you took care of him, you got him financing. You got him the right machine. You got delivery. When he needed a question answered you were there. If you don’t do those things, there are 99 other people he talk to.” tmw