Tech Talk
What is the "Importance of Staying Current in New Technology"?
Happy New Year! Since it is a new year and it seems almost everyone is still busy and optimistic- I hope- it's probably a good time to look at "New" things; and since this page is devoted to tooling then, well the topic is - New Tooling. Now there is always lots of new things in tooling. Manufacturers' are always coming up with a new spin on an old concept; we're no different than anyone else. Change is what keeps most markets interested, but, when you are making a functional tool, the changes have to mean 'better'. Having said that, this is not a 'What's New in Tools' page, but more a challenge to take a look at what some of us in the business may take for granted, and have assumed our customers are as informed as they can be, about developments. We are not like the computer industry - where you will never be fully up to speed on what's going on, on the inside. We plod a lot slower than that, but where we often fall behind is in getting the message across clearly and accurately that there probably is and more profitable way for most wood manufacturers to get their product out the door.
Most often, the decision to look at how a product is being machined, is made at the same time new machinery is being considered, and changes in a factories' tooling methods are done when the machine is purchased. Then, the interest in new procedures for cutting and profiling is high. It's the old equipment and the old tools that are ignored. Being creatures of habit we tend to put old ideas and technology on old equipment. A simple and fitting example is the shaping of interlocking parts on a spindle shaper, using brazed cutters. Brazed carbide cutters need to be sharpened, and by the very nature of sharpening, material is removed, and tooling dimensions and profiles change. When they change, the fit of the interlocking parts deteriorates and so does the appearance of the assembled piece. The solution is obvious. Insert Tooling has been around for a long time, and like most things is a lot cheaper than when first introduced. But surprisingly, there are a lot of small shops, and small production areas of large shops, that think it is only for the big high production factories, and never take a serious look at it. Even on an old spindle shaper, the quality of the finished product will be better, more consistent, and probably cost less to produce using replaceable knife cutters.A wise old guy once told me that 20 years experience too often means one years experience 20 times over. This was never more evident than a recent case where a brand new CNC router was installed in a plant that already had an older model of a different make. The new machine was equipped with a router bit that could run at a very high feed rate. The tool salesman convinced them to put the same type of bit on the older unit and speed it up. The next call, a few weeks later, came from the foreman complaining the tools were no good because they didn't work on the old router. Further investigation revealed that the operator had slowed the feed down because "that's the way we have always run it and it won't go any faster". This was true using the old style router bits, but not with the new tools. This slow feed rate caused increased friction heat and dulled the bits long before they should. Cranking up the feed again solved the problem.In processing composite board materials in any volume, hogging is essential. There are different types of hoggers, depending on application. What is surprising is the number of users that think a hogger is just a hogger, a necessary expense that does nothing for the product or the production level. This couldn't be further from the truth. There has been significant improvements to hogging technology that could improve a wood processing plant, and anyone who is using them should talk to there tool representative about the most efficient methods available. A recent example; again a new machine, ( a Double End Tenoner ) was installed beside an older one, both with hoggers.The difference was, the old D.E.T. had a waste bin beside it for the strips that were falling off. It's not that the hoggers were too small; they were simply the wrong ones for the material they were now sizing. Until it was pointed out that using the same type of hoggers that were on the new machine would eliminate this, no one even thought about it. Some times we are just too used to a situation to question it.Examples like these crop up regularly. It can be in any area of the machining process; routing, edge banding, sawing, profiling, drilling, etc. Often a new type of tool is developed and everyone gets hyped up and runs around trying to sell it in every application they can think of, with success in some, but not all, places. As time passes the tool designers make changes to suit different materials. This can be anything from hook angle to type of carbide, but what started out as one new tool being introduced has become 5 or 6 tools for different situations. The problem is, it's not 'new' anymore and the places where it originally wasn't too succesful never really take another serious look at the modified versions.The important thing is to keep up to date by having reliable, knowledgeable tooling companies aware of your procedures, with a willingness and interest in keeping you informed.By the way, it's obvious I am a flag waver for the tooling industry, but machines are only as good as the tools you buy for them, and by having your tool sales rep take a long look at your whole operation may just save you time and money, and improve your product. by: Doug Reid, President, B.C. Saw
