Nearly every product consumers interact with in their daily lives is machined, or came from tooling that was machined, to achieve its functional form. Due to the ubiquity of machined components, squeezing every bit of performance from each cutting operation can have a dramatic effect on the world’s machined-part supply base while also decreasing energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions.
ORNL partnered with MSC Industrial Supply to invent and deploy a modal tap testing system for the calibration of CNC machines. Every machine tool has a unique blend of processing parameters that maximizes production. Modal tap testing enables operators to calibrate machines in minutes, rather than hours, while wasting no material in the process. The test provides a clear map of every available combination of axial depth and spindle speed, empowering machinists to confidently pick the optimal parameters for the tool. This ability could lead manufacturers to consider productivity maximization, rather than just product geometry.
SUPPORT
This research was sponsored by the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Materials Research sponsored by the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office.