Contact us today:
(847) 934-4500
tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
Contact us today:
(847) 934-4500
tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
No. 829 is an electrically-heated 250°F(~121.11°C) belt conveyor oven from Grieve, currently used for curing epoxy on metal and nylon filter assemblies. 40 K are installed in Incoloy sheathed tubular heating elements. Workspace dimensions are 30” wide x 10’ deep x 15” high.
The oven has 4” insulated walls and an aluminized steel interior and exterior. A 4200 CFM, 3-HP recirculating blower provides vertical upward and downward airflow to the unit. The oven has three zones: a 2’ long open belt loading zone, 10’ long insulated heat zone with recirculated airflow and a 2’ long open unloading zone. The product is moved through the oven on a 24” wide, 1” x 1” Type 304 stainless steel flatwire conveyor belt with a 1/4 HP motor drive, with variable speed from 0.3 to 6 feet per minute.
Controls onboard No. 829 include a digital indicating temperature controller, manual reset excess temperature controller with separate contactors, SCR power controller, fused disconnect switch and a recirculating blower airflow safety switch.
For more information, please contact: THE GRIEVE CORPORATION, 500 Hart Road, Round Lake, Illinois 60073-2835 USA. Phone: (847) 546-8225. Fax: (847) 546-9210. Web: www.grievecorp.com. Email: sales@grievecorp.com. Attention: Frank Calabrese.
Continue reading13-year-old student visits Forest City Gear to explore career options; meets many women already succeeding in “a man’s world”
Accompanied by her grandfather, Brian Cluff, vice president of Star-SU, a major gearmaking machinery and tooling supplier, Alexi Cluff toured Forest City Gear to see the manufacturing world and discuss the options there for young women. Alexi, though only 13, is currently enrolled in an advanced engineering class at Northern Illinois University, designed to encourage more young women to explore engineering and science as a career.
Roscoe, IL-Forest City Gear frequently opens its doors to visitors, usually from customer and prospect companies, as well as international trade associations, the media, vendors and occasionally competitors. Company owners Fred and Wendy Young have always believed this policy was beneficial to the visitors, who see some of the industry’s finest gearwork, produced and validated for quality on absolute state-of-the-technology, world-class equipment.
On March 30, 2011, however, another visitor came to tour Forest City Gear with a slightly different agenda. 13-year-old Alexi Cluff, accompanied by her grandfather Brian Cluff, vice president of Star-SU, a leading supplier of gearmaking machinery and tools, visited Forest City Gear to learn about manufacturing and especially to explore the options for women in manufacturing, an environment traditionally thought to be “a man’s world.”
Alexi is not your typical 13-year-old. She is currently enrolled in a program sponsored by a grant from the Motorola Foundation and conducted at the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology at Northern Illinois University. The program is a workshop in partnership with NIU-Enhanced Engineering Pathways, the Society of Women Engineers and the Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois. The stated objective of the program is to challenge and sharpen the skills of accelerated learning for 12- and 13-year-old girls selected by their local middle school science and math teachers. Currently, 48 girls work in small groups, assisted and taught by NIU women engineering professors and women engineers from various industries. These instructors mentor the girls on various engineering projects, from the building of simple electrical circuits to create sound, motion and light, to bridge building, chemical engineering and lean manufacturing simulation. The groups meet on Saturday mornings on the NIU Napervillie (IL) campus and also attend a summer camp, held each June.
Forest City Gear President Wendy Young conducts the tour through the plant, showing Alexi Cluff the many types of machines used to produce and validate quality on the company’s high-precision gearwork.
Often, the groups or individual students have tours arranged for them at local area manufacturing locations such as electronics and communications giant Motorola, where they can absorb “real world” experiences and especially meet women of all ages who have succeeded in the various disciplines required in a manufacturing environment. Since Alexi’s grandfather had a long working relationship with Forest City Gear, he reached out to Fred and Wendy Young to arrange a tour. The Young’s obliged, giving the young lady a complete tour of their factory and quality lab, plus arranging a roundtable discussion with a number of the women at the company, who perform all categories of activity for Forest City Gear. A world leader in precision gear manufacturing, Forest City Gear has an international reputation for “excellence without exception,” which happens to be the motto of the company.
Women from all departments of the company, including application engineering, human resources, gear grinding, gear deburring, gear hobbing, order processing, estimating, expediting, procurement, materials inspection, quality validation, machine set-up and company management were at the table. Alexi’s eyes and ears were wide open, as she listened attentively to every word.
Seated at the table for Forest City Gear, in addition to Wendy Young, president, were Kika Young, Geneva Parr, Mary McClellan, Krista King, Sharyl Stewart, Lori Lovett and Ingrid West. These women are involved in literally every aspect of the company. As Mary McClellan mentioned, “We touch the products at every step of the process, especially me (in gear deburring), because of my little fingers!” These women were unanimous in their advice to Alexi Cluff. “Always be willing to learn more, never be afraid to speak up with your ideas, bring all your skills to the job, every day, and don’t hesitate for ask for directions…something men never do!” They all had a good laugh.
Alexi said, “I’ve always been interested in making things and finding out how they work,” a sentiment her grandfather echoed. “I started making gears when I was 14 and it’s fascinated me, ever since.” If there’s anything to that old adage about the genes skipping a generation, perhaps the gear industry will have another Cluff in its future!
Forest City Gear CEO Fred Young explains some of the company’s gear successes to Alexi Cluff at the company’s display showcase.
At the end of the roundtable, Forest City Gear CEO Fred Young had some comments. He detailed the difference in the European education model, where there’s considerably more encouragement given to young women to explore any and every working option. In America, he noted, “Our greatest strength came from manufacturing, the basic ability to make things better and faster than anybody else. The value-added service of making something from raw materials is what builds a nation’s wealth and makes us more self-reliant. Letting go of manufacturing would be a big mistake. By learning and using the technology we develop, as well as what we can gather from other countries, we’ll make America a stronger nation and more successful, in the long run.”
Following the visit, her grandfather remarked to Forest City Gear President Wendy Young, “Alexi was excited and, on the way home, quite animated. The sharing time with your ladies impressed her immensely. She has been journaling her observations. She told us in the car on the way back home that the very first class she had at the NIU workshop for girls was a hands-on exercise in lean simulation and that what she saw at Forest City Gear, from the way the routing sheets, bar codes and processing were set up, that you obviously have implemented lean manufacturing practices! As she downloads, processes and articulates what she saw and observed, she has already started to ask me questions about gear geometry. Such sweet candy to this old grandpa!”
At this roundtable discussion, Alexi Cluff listened as women from every department of Forest City Gear spoke of their roles at the company and the many opportunities for women in the traditional “man’s world” of manufacturing. Many of these women are the lead or key individual in their respective departments at the company.
In reviewing the NIU program and the comments above, perhaps it’s possible Alexi Cluff actually IS your typical 13-year-old girl. They just need to be shown their options.
Forest City Gear was founded in 1955 by Stetler and Evelyn Young, parents of the current CEO, Fred Young, who runs the company with his wife, President Wendy Young. Forest City Gear is considered among the premier gearmakers in the worl
d, with successes ranging from the Mars Rover to the BMW/Oracle, winner of the America’s Cup.
Brian Cluff and his longtime colleague and partner, David Goodfellow, manage and operate Star SU LLC, located in Hoffman Estates, IL. The company sells various leading brands of gearmaking machinery, other machine tools and a proprietary line of cutting tools.
Here is a link to the news release about the program on the NIU-EEP website (www.niu.edu/eep): http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2008/nov/scouts.shtml
For more information on this story, please contact: FOREST CITY GEAR CO., INC. 11715 Main Street Roscoe, IL 61073-0080 Phone: 815-623-2168 Fax: 815-623-6620 Web: www.forestcitygear.com Email: wyoung@forestcitygear.com Attention: Wendy Young, President
PR agency contact for Forest City Gear: Tim Daro Bernard & Company 847-934-4500 tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
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International firm uses robotic ultrasonics and conventional machine tools to supply product, usually with 24-hour turnaround; achieving near 24-7 unattended operation with over 15 percent reduction in scrap material on very expensive substrates.
OpenHealth, one of the world’s leading providers of business and technical solutions to the dental healthcare industries, was formed by the owners of five major international dental lab groups — Aurum, Cordent, DTS, Race and ZMC — who combined to harness the strategic synergies of their respective lab and milling center services. The milling and technology business, under the brand name of Core3D Centres and operating six facilities, brings the OpenHealth group’s expertise and comprehensive service package to labs, dentists and educational institutions in 15 countries on three continents.
We interviewed Tim McKimson, Core3D’s Worldwide Director of Engineering, at OpenHealth’s Las Vegas-based Core3D facility, located near the prestigious Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI), where restorative and cosmetic dental techniques are taught to practicing dentists and lab technicians, Here, Core3D provides a full range of CAD/CAM/CNC machining and finishing services to LVI and dental labs across the United States. Led by technical operators Mark Ferguson, Danny Palomares and Drew Hrubes, the Core3D team prepares CAD files developed from data typically gathered with an iTero oral scanning wand or from CAD files from scans of conventional dental impressions from the patient’s mouth, which are then digitally captured in a dental scanner from companies such as 3shape. CADENT and other software are typically used to image the impression and begin the process of creating the crown, bridge, abutment, coping, implant or even full denture restoration, as required by the individual lab. 3D CADENT files are G-coded at a remote location of the parent company for transfer to the CNC machine tools at the various Core3D facilities worldwide. 
The next step is translation of the digital impression to a RenShape® mold, using conventional machine tools. In most cases, the required structures are designed simultaneously, then the mold with coping is introduced to the DMG Sauer ultrasonic dental machine for preparation of the final structures. This is where the most advanced substrates are processed, ranging from conventional, yet difficult to machine metals such as titanium and cobalt chrome, to the newest advanced materials, including glass ceramics, lithium disilicate and zirconia. These substrates are quite expensive, therefore extreme care is taken in their handling and processing to reduce scrap and conserve operating costs.
As McKimson explained, the decision to cut with ultrasonic technology was relatively easy, given the inherent wear conditions and high cost of conventional tooling. In the ultrasonic process, a combination of electrolysis and fluid lubrication act in concert to create an ionic attraction of particles, removing material in a highly predictable and accurate manner, without the mechanical stress implicit in conventional machining techniques. As a result, the surface of even the hardest materials can be machined with the necessary tactile smoothness required for dental implants.
The DMG Sauer ultrasonic machines located at this Las Vegas facility, fully operated by Siemens Sinumerik 840D sl CNC technology, are loaded with blanks of material into a 66-position feeder station, then delivered into the cutting theater by a Motoman robotic arm with Schunk pressure grippers. The Sinumerik 840D sl recognizes the code on each workpiece pallet and each job is identified by the patient’s name to minimize the risk of error in work product delivery. As McKimson further notes, in detailing the accuracy of the ultrasonic machining technique, each tool used is obtained from the 25-position tool changer and its position is monitored by an integral Renishaw probe. The technicians often load three sets of the tools needed for the 66-piece runs, ensuring virtually 24/7 unattended operation of the machines. Through the capability of the Siemens CNC, a remote alarm can be sent when tool breakage or other off-normal condition occurs during production.
The extremely hard materials being machined are produced with accuracies in the 2-4 micron range, owing to the combination of ultrasonic technology and the high precision of the Sinumerik CNC, according to McKimson, who notes the reliability of this accuracy has been a significant advantage in reducing scrap at Core3D.
In another area of the facility, conventional mills are used to make polyurethane models and Wieland Zeno 4820 and 4030 mini-milling machines are also utilized for the production of various crowns, wax/resin forms and models, veneers, inlays and implant abutments. 
As evidence of the decidedly international nature of this emerging dental giant, all the zirconia and lithium disilicate materials are provided in the IPS e.max System from Ivoclar Vivadent, a company based in Liechtenstein. The company has branches in the United States and Canada, which supply the Core3D Centres in those countries. The templates and cutting tools are closely controlled and validated by the manufacturer to ensure that the preparation of these materials in dental applications is properly executed.
In commenting on the use of the DMG Sauer ultrasonic machines, McKimson notes that it was the machine builder who recommended the Siemens control. “They knew we were dental technicians and engineers, not machinists, by nature. The Siemens control has been extremely easy-to-use and our training time from the builder was minimal. Troubleshooting is mostly done by our operators, with only occasional assistance from Siemens.” Danny Palomares, one of the technical operators, agrees. “My training is in the dental lab world, not on machine tools. It was a great relief to have such a sophisticated control operate with relatively simple language commands and cycle adjustments.”
Palomares is also responsible for the translation of the lab’s incoming data files, so he is involved from start-to-finish with most of the projects done at this Core3D facility. In a single day, for example, he might use Delcam DentCAD, then hyperDENT CAM software, all translating the cutting paths from the dentist’s impression to the Siemens CNC on the DMG ultrasonic machines in this facility. As McKimson adds, “The sub-routines on the Sinumerik CNC make our job much easier to accomplish and faster to complete. Plus, when you add the upside of at least 15 percent reduction in the scrap that we’ve realized with the ultrasonics, it’s a real win-win situation for us.”
While there are substantial differences between the European and American dental labs in terms of the materials and assembly techniques used, and despite the fact that literally all projects are highly customized based on the individual needs of the patients and the preferences of the labs and those of the dentists performing the procedures, in the end, the typical project is being turned in 24 hours or less.
For Core 3d Centres, utilizing the best-in-class equipment is critical. In complement the quality machines here, a key part of the overall efficiency protocol in the Core3D network of companies, McKimson points out, is the “know-how” provided through their CAM-DO committee. This global technical committee conducts regular online meetings to discuss what’s working and what’s not in their various worldwide operations and then optimizes and standardizes the processes. He recalls one unanimous vote of approval was voiced on the performance of the DMG Sauer ultrasonic machines with Siemens controls. Core3D currently has nine such machines in their network, all used to process the most advanced materials.
® RenShape is a registered trademark of Huntsman Corporation.
For more information on this story, please contact:
Core3D Centres
Tim McKimson
Engineering Technology Director
5955-2 Wigwam Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89139
Toll-Free: 1-888-750-9204
Phone: 702-750-9204
http://www.core3dcenters.com/
tmckimson@core3dcenters.com
OR
Siemens Industry, Inc.
John Meyer
Manager, Marketing Communications
390 Kent Avenue
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
(800) 879-8079 ext. Marketing Communications
www.usa.siemens.com/cnc
SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SiemensCNC or Twitter: www.twitter.com/siemens_cnc_us.
—
Siemens Industry Sector is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products, solutions and services for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency and flexibility. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Industry Automation, Drive Technologies and Customer Services Divisions as well as the Metals Technologies Business Unit. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/industry.
The Siemens Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of products, systems, applications, solutions and services for the entire drive train, with electrical and mechanical components. Drive Technologies serves all vertical markets in the production and process industries as well as the infrastructure/energy segment. With its products and solutions, the division enables its customers to achieve productivity, energy efficiency and reliability. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/drivetechnologies.
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Hunter XL2024 matchplate molding system, just purchased by Travis Pattern & Foundry to boost their production. This is the fourth Hunter machine now in operation at Travis.
Spokane foundry, largest privately-owned aluminum caster west of the Mississippi, adds to its already impressive capacity with new matchplate molding system
Schaumburg, Illinois (USA)-Travis Pattern & Foundry Inc., a major producer of aluminum castings for the irrigation, power transmission substation and general-purpose fittings markets, as well as the originators of Li’l Mac sinker molds for the fishing industry, announces its purchase of a fourth Hunter matchplate molding system, the XL2024. According to Gene Johnson, project manager at Travis, “This new line will expand our already substantial casting capabilities for aluminum, as well as brass and cast iron work. We’re seeing an upturn in our business and purchased the machine in anticipation of increasing demand.” The machine is scheduled to be operational by the end of March, 2011. 
The XL2024 is a fully automated matchplate molding system, using gravity-fill technology pioneered by Hunter. It produces sand molds up to 20” x 24” with shallow 6-1/2” cope and 5-1/2” drag (165mm/140mm) at 180 cycles per hour, using 400 lbs. (181kg) of sand. Variable squeeze surface pressure to 142 psi (10kg/cm2) can be achieved in production.
Travis Pattern, founded in 1922 and now a fourth-generation company, is the largest privately-owned aluminum caster (over 7,000,000 lbs./3,181,818kg annually) west of the Mississippi and boasts a network of affiliated companies through which their castings are marketed. The company also produces a variety of brass and cast iron products. Travis products are sold throughout North America.
Gene Johnson further described his company’s use of their Hunter molding systems. “We typically run jobs in the hundreds up to 1000 pieces. The fast pattern changeover and the flexibility of the Hunter system really speeds our production.” He estimated approximately 90% of the jobs run on the new Hunter machine will be aluminum, with the balance being brass.
For further information on this announcement, interested parties may contact: TRAVIS PATTERN & FOUNDRY INC. 1413 E. Hawthorne Road Spokane, WA 99218-3100 Phone: 509-466-3545 Fax: 509-467-6465 Web: www.travispattern.com Email: tpfgj@travispattern.com
Attention: Gene Johnson, Project Manager
Or
HUNTER AUTOMATED MACHINERY CORPORATION 2222 Hammond Drive Schaumburg, Illinois 60196-1094 USA Phone: +1 847 397 5136 Email: kpurdy@hunterauto.com Web: www.hunterauto.com Attention: Kevin Purdy, Vice President
Editor Note: Please direct all publication-generated inquiries to Kevin Purdy at Hunter. Thanks!
Agency contact for Hunter: Tim Daro Bernard & Company Palatine, Illinois (Chicago) USA +1 847 934 4500 tdaro@bernardandcompany.com www.bernardandcompany.com
Travis Pattern produces a variety of aluminum, bronze and cast iron products at its 220,000 sq. ft. complex in the Spokane, Washington area. Sand casting, permanent mold and no bake operations are conducted here, as well as machining, heat treating and galvanizing.
Continue readingMajor Indian caster anticipates dramatic improvement in surface quality and production rates from new Italian grinding/fettling center 
Schaumburg, Illinois (USA)-Magna Electro Castings Limited (Tamilnadu, India), a major producer of small to medium ductile and gray iron castings, has announced its purchase of a new grinding/fettling center from Maus SpA (Padua, Italy), according to company sources. The machine is a Maus SAM 600G, a compact yet powerful automatic grinding center, with four-tool capacity and product load/unload time less than four seconds.
Mr. N. Krishna Samaraj, managing director for Magna, stated it was the company’s expectation that this machining system, scheduled for start-up after July, 2011, will result in significant improvements in the surface quality and production rates at the company. Magna is a vertically integrated foundry, as it performs various machining, surface treatment and heat treating operations, in addition to its full foundry capabilities for various products sold to the valve, refrigeration, rail, hydraulics, automotive, wind turbine and other industries worldwide. 
Magna runs a fully automated sand prep and mold line, as well, using equipment from its longtime supplier, Hunter Automated Machinery, who represents Maus in various world market areas. Magna currently runs a Hunter HMP20E Automatic Molding Machine (1994) and an HLH 20 Type II mold handling system (2007).
Magna is ISO 9001:2000 and ISO/TS 16949 certified for its Quality Management System.
The sale of this Maus grinding/fettling machine was finalized between Mr. N. Krishna Samaraj for Magna and Mr. Ashwin Katke of Carraro, the parent company of Maus, with offices in India.
For further information on this announcement, interested parties may contact:
MAGNA ELECTRO CASTINGS LIMITED 43, Balasundaram Road Coimbatore – 641 -018 Tamilnadu, India Phone: +91 4322 2240109 Email: magnacast@vsnl.com Web: www.magnacast.com Attention: Mr. N. Krishna Samaraj, Managing Director
Or
MAUS SpA Via Caltana, 28 35011 Campodarsego Padova, Italy Phone: +39 0499299311 Sandra Selwan, Marketing Manager Sandra_Selwan@maus.it www.maus.it
Or
HUNTER AUTOMATED MACHINERY CORPORATION 2222 Hammond Drive Schaumburg, Illinois 60196-1094 USA Phone: +1 847 397 5136 Email: kpurdy@hunterauto.com Web: www.hunterauto.com Attention: Kevin Purdy, Vice President
Editor Note: Please direct all publication-generated inquiries to Kevin Purdy at Hunter. Thanks!
Agency contact for Hunter: Tim Daro Bernard & Company Palatine, Illinois (Chicago) USA +1 847 934 4500 tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
Siemens Industry, Inc. announced the introduction of Speed Connect, a new quick release mechanism that protects against vibration shakeout on its Motion-Connect® line of power and signal cables. Motion-Connect® cables are offered as standard on all Siemens motion control systems.
The Speed Connect release makes installation and changeover, even in very restricted space applications, fast and easy. No tools are required; just a one-quarter turn locks or unlocks the bayonet-style connectors.
All Siemens Motion-Connect® cables are system-tested to guarantee optimum performance in any motion control system, whether in a Sinumerik® CNC machine tool or Simotion® general motion control application. These cables are also compatible with Sinamics® drive systems and all families of Siemens induction, direct drive and servomotors. Motion-Connect® cables are fully shielded to prevent EMC noise emissions and protect the motion control system from ambient environmental noise. Motion-Connect® cables are certified to CE, VDE, UL and UL/CSA standards.
A wide range of cabling with the new Speed Connect quick release mechanism is immediately available. For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/motioncontrol.
Watch an operational video HERE.
For additional product information and inquiries, call (800) 879-8079 ext. Marketing Communications or send an e-mail to: SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com.
—
Siemens Industry Sector is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products, solutions and services for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency and flexibility. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Industry Automation, Drive Technologies and Customer Services Divisions as well as the Metals Technologies Business Unit. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/industry.
The Siemens Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of products, systems, applications, solutions and services for the entire drive train, with electrical and mechanical components. Drive Technologies serves all vertical markets in the production and process industries as well as the infrastructure/energy segment. With its products and solutions, the division enables its customers to achieve productivity, energy efficiency and reliability. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/drivetechnologies.
Continue readingNo. 948 is an indirect gas-heated 650°F(~343.3°C) walk-in oven from Grieve, currently used for evaporating water from plastic. 500,000 BTU/HR are installed in a modulating natural gas burner 
that fires into an alloy radiant tube. Workspace dimensions are 60” wide x 72” deep x 72” high.
The oven has a top-mounted heat chamber, Type 304, 2B finish stainless steel interior and an aluminized steel exterior, with 5” thick insulated walls. The insulated floor is lined with truck wheel guide tracks. A 6000 CFM, 5-HP recirculating blower provides horizontal airflow to the workload. The oven is equipped with a 1500 CFM stainless steel powered forced exhauster with motorized dampers on the intake and exhaust for accelerated cooling. For protection, safety equipment is included as required by IRI, FM and National Fire Protection Association Standard 86 for gas-heated equipment.
Controls onboard No. 948 include a digital programming temperature controller, manual reset excess temperature controller with separate contactors, 10” diameter circular chart recorder and a recirculating blower safety switch.
For more information, please contact: THE GRIEVE CORPORATION, 500 Hart Road, Round Lake, Illinois 60073-2835 USA. Phone: (847) 546-8225. Fax: (847) 546-9210. Web: www.grievecorp.com. Email: sales@grievecorp.com. Attention: Frank Calabrese.
Continue readingTwin-spindle, twin-turret turning center with twin CNC control has 16-pallet capacity and boasts 27-second cycle time in continuous mode
Takisawa TT-200G, a twin-spindle, twin-turret turning center, purchased by Forest City Gear, has made dramatic improvement in this gearmaker’s blanking production.
Roscoe, IL-Forest City Gear has purchased a Takisawa TT-200G, a fully-automated turning center with twin-spindle, twin-turret and twin-CNC operation, for its in-house blanking department. By the acquisition of this machine, according to a company spokesman, the production in the blanking department has radically improved, as the machine combines full automation with twin-sided, simultaneous machining.
With a 16-pallet capacity, this Takisawa 8” chuck type machine boasts a feed rate of 8m/min and features a standard spindle and turret plus a second C-axis spindle and turret with milling function. In addition, a bar loader, workpiece stacker, turnover unit, chip conveyor, air blower, tabulating counter and other equipment are onboard for fully automatic mode operation of the machine.
As a strictly custom gearmaker, Forest City Gear made the decision recently to develop an in-house blanking department, thereby improving its turnaround time on most jobs, according to company president, Wendy Young. “We were reliant on a number of outside suppliers and, while our volume overall is quite substantial, we were often slow to receive some small, project-specific blanks for production. Many of our jobs are short-run, highly specialized precision gears and that means we place a premium on being very efficient in our time-to-first-part protocols. The Takisawa is already making a big impact on our blanking operation here.”
Tommy Kalt, who runs the blanking department at Forest City Gear, concurs. “We’re achieving a 27-second cycle of continuous turning and the fully automatic mode means a big boost in production for our department. Because we do so many jobs that require relatively few blanks, our speed was hampered, due to excessive downtimes for set-up. That situation is diminished to a great degree with the Takisawa machine.”
This sale was made for Takisawa by Brad Fischbach of Yamazen.
Forest City Gear is a world-class supplier of high-precision gears for demanding applications in the aircraft, aerospace, defense, instrument, medical, racing (boat and auto), high-end sporting goods and other markets. The company sells its products worldwide, including to China.
Forest City Gear was founded in 1955 by Stetler and Evelyn Young, parents of the current CEO, Fred Young, and is considered among the premier gearmakers in the world.
For more information, please contact:
FOREST CITY GEAR CO., INC.
11715 Main Street
Roscoe, IL 61073-0080
Phone: 815-623-2168
Fax: 815-623-6620
Web: www.forestcitygear.com
Email: wyoung@forestcitygear.com
Attention: Wendy Young, President
Forest City Gear Capabilities Brochure - Click Image To Download
Forest City Gear proudly announces the availability of its new capabilities brochure. This new literature details the many markets for which the company produces highly-specialized, custom gears to suit the most demanding applications for accuracy, stability and wear. A world-class gearmaker, Forest City Gear has a reputation in the international market for “excellent without exception,” the mantra of company CEO, Fred Young.
Forest City Gear produces precision gears for a variety of markets, most notably aircraft, aerospace, defense, instruments, medical, racing (boat and auto), high-end sporting goods and more. The company’s products are found on the Space Shuttle, every car in the starting field at the Indy 500, the world’s longest distance casting reel, highly sophisticated measuring instruments and Siemens magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, as well as Howitzer’s, surface-to-air missiles and other military ordnance. The company proudly boasts it will have every wheel and actuator gear on Curiosity, the next generation Mars Rover vehicle. That achievement was based on its outstanding performance on Spirit and Opportunity, the current vehicles occupying the Red Planet.
Long recognized internationally as a leading gear manufacturer, the company continues its philosophy of reinvestment and ongoing purchase of the latest, most advanced gearmaking technology in the world. As Fred Young explains, “We don’t wait for the order to buy the machine, we acquire the best technology available to push our capabilities into new arenas, every day. That policy, coupled with arguably the most sophisticated gear quality lab in the world, has kept us in the forefront of the industry for decades. We’re very proud of that fact. As evidence of same, Forest City Gear counts dozens of other gear companies among our customers, as they bring work to us which they cannot perform themselves.”
The full brochure is available online at www.forestcitygear.com, which also details the company in a virtual tour of the facility, plus videos and a full personnel directory of key contacts.
For more information or a copy of this new capabilities brochure, please contact:
FOREST CITY GEAR CO., INC. 11715 Main Street Roscoe, IL 61073-0080 Phone: 815-623-2168 Fax: 815-623-6620 Web: www.forestcitygear.com Email: wyoung@forestcitygear.com Attention: Wendy Young, President
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Forest City Gear is featured on the cover of Green Manufacturer - Click To Read