Accurate Machining and CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) Solve a Manufacturing Challenge

Challenges

The customer was having trouble consistently making a new portfolio of parts referred to as the out-of-round pulleys (OORP). These pulleys were engineered to simultaneously move arms in and out of a process chamber that were designed to be of different lengths and entering at different angles. The incumbent vendor was generally able to make a successful first article part, but had issues in maintaining a repeatable process. As a result, our customer would not know a OORP was “bad” until it was installed on the tool and running, which led to work stoppage on the production line and wasted time to access the nature of the failure.

Solutions

In order to consistently make these parts we leveraged 2 unique in-house capabilities: Mazak machining center Smooth Precision Machining technology and CMM scanning probe profiles of each OORP.

As a result, our machining centers were able to improve the surface finish and accuracy of the out-of-round profile. This, coupled with our in-process CMM scanning probe on every part, led to a reliable product. Our customer now solely relies on us for all legacy and future OORP designs. We now sit in on design reviews for these parts to offer our DFM advice during the prototyping phase.