|
| |
[ about ]
[ products ]
[ service ]
[ news & info ]
- viewer benefits
- case studies
- monthly contests
[ contact ]
|
|
FLEXIBILITY IN A ONE MAN MACHINE SHOP
Courtesy of Modern Machine Shop
|
| |
|
This Case Study Added On: April 3, 2001
Some of the most difficult parts for Boeing Aircraft are made not in a factory, but in a one-man machine shop located down a country lane, 23 miles south of Tacoma, Washington. Started three years ago by Bill Gilquist, owner-operator-programmer, Gilquist Tool & machine produces complex parts for Boeing out of Inconel, titanium, 15-5 stainless steel and aircraft grade aluminum. As much as 30 percent of the production is done "lights out" while Mr. Gilquist sleeps next door.
Working in a shop about the size of a two-car garage with a single Cincinnati Machine Sabre 750 vertical CNC machining center(VMC). Mr. Gilquist has become a supplier of some 60 different parts for Boeing production aircraft. The company is sole source to Boeing for certain parts on the new 777 aircraft. He earned that confidence by pushing boundaries of the possible and destroying stereotypes about the kind of work that a one-man machine shop can do.
"I've been able to progran and run parts that other people can't touch, for some reason," he says diplomatically. But the truth is that many times, they are the kind of parts most shops won' touch. Virtually all have complex surfaces, requiring long three-axis programming. They're machined out of difficult materials like Inconel, titanium and 15-5 stainless steel, usually hogged out from bar or billet stock.
Mr. Gilquist turns the long run times on the difficult parts to his advantage. "I get around 20 hours of machine run-time a day, between 120 and 140 hours a week. I run lights out 30 to 40 of those hours-probably five nights a week." on some part runs, particulary in Inconel where machining time can run 14 to 18 hours, he gets 95 percent spindle utilization.
He performs roughing operations on parts during the day, while tending the Sabre VMC if need be. When running smaller parts, he will set up several jobs on the table at once. This allows long run times by the Sabre, particulary on harder materials, freeing him to do other jobs.
Mr. Gilquist recieves part data as an IGES file from Boeing, generated off its CATIA CAD/CAM engineering system. "I can translate that into what I need..." says Mr. Gilquist. But what he doesn't say, out of modesty, is that his expertise at three-axis machining, fully utilizing the Sabre's capabilities, is critical in that translation from art to part.
He then saves final surfacing for untended, overnight machining. "I'm only removing fifteen-thousandths of material around the whole part," he notes. "I put two or three parts on the table, program into the control the tools and tool wear values, shut the lights out, and go to bed. When the tool reaches its cycle limits, the Sabre replaces it with an alternate tool and finishes machining the part. I have confidence in the morning that the parts will be cut and waiting for me. It's nice to know that I can go to bed and not come out here to find scrap parts and broken tool."
In effect, Mr. Gilquist works at home. His 30 feet by 24 feet shop- about the size of a two car garage- is only about ten steps from his house. He lives in a rural area that is beginning to see the start of residential development. Although not usually the kind of place where you find a machining operation, he finds it hard to justify dollars per square foot cost in the typical industrial park. Besides, he says he gains an hour of productivity by eliminating travel time to and from work.
What does it take today to make it as one-man,machine shop? Mr. Gilquist offers this short list: No time off; the ability to do many things at once; and, the right machine.
Empire has many customers like Mr. Gilquist. Precision machinists interested in quality and on time service. With today's "lean and mean" manufacturing processes, reliability in a supplier is more critical than ever.
Case Studies Home
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
