Those name plates are almost identical to the parts im machining in my garage. The CNC shop I work at just bought one of those PPS vacuum plate kits I’m gonna ask my boss to let me set it up tomorrow so I can learn how to do it on my own mill.
Awesome video! It would be really nice to see how you guys set all this up in cam. From setting up the pallets to all have the same origin to optimizing your tool paths for multiple parts being machined at once.
I've always thought that the name plates were probably just purchased from GM Nameplate or something. Very cool that your machining them from billet in-house.
Hi Jay, have been using your pallet system for a few years now! got my last company using them and now have convinced the shop I'm at now to start with one (hopefully in a year or two all 40 of our machines will have pallets!). One thought I had when setting up the one we just got, the Haas VF2 has 16" Y travel, which put it right at the limit of your largest pallet (I'm guessing one of the reasons you chose that size). Given this its critical to get the base as close to center as possible, since you have this nicely machined name plate right on center if you added a small little spot drill indent in the center of the plate it would be much easier to get the base visually centered on machine travel with just a drill in the spindle.
We recommend the same approach but using the round pin as your target. On a 16" travel machine, jog your table to Y-12.75 and this will give you a target to align the pin. Pro Tip: If you want to get super accurate, use an empty 1/2" tool holder and CAREFULLY jog down to lightly contact the pin and use the taper to center the base.
I once managed 1140 parts per button press Let me tell you, seeing that machine just humming away for weeks on end made my heart bounce with joy Putting in new material (3 parts per side on a hexagon that'd fit in my hand) was the only thing i dreaded
Cool. If all of the setup parameters are kept in the machine that means you can do one batch of 21 by itself with no setup time. Great lean tool. Very inventive product line.
Probably anodized & then lasered. Standard lower powered CO2 lasers will take the anodizing off aluminum. We have people do it pretty often on a CO2 lasers at our Makerspace.
@@PiersonWorkholding It would be great if you shared with us, how you do that engraving, if not, at least tell us with which machine you do it 20W, 30W, 50W, 100W. Thanks Pierson.
And secondly, if you have suction setup, 21 nozzles on a fixture could pick up your parts in one go, much like the pcb industry place and pick components
Brilliant. If you could makes something like that handheld, you could get the same or even better time than with changing pallets, without machining second pallet.
Maybe too complicated, but have you considered just integrating an air connection right through the PPS base up into the pallet? Then you could have the two control units hooked up to the PPS, and no need to hook up the extra hose to the vac chuck.
It would still require 2 lines, one for pressure, one for vacuum. A more simple approach could have been to simply split the incoming air to both the valve and vacuum power unit.
@@PiersonWorkholding sure, I just meant more as a pass-through. So you can swap vacuum chucks just as fast as normal pallets. But I can also see that not being very important because vacuum is usually so quick to swap parts anyway and you don't really need to do offline loading/unloading
wow great idea but i see alot of wasted space in that machine, put a second unit in and do twice as much in 1 cycle! pallet 1 for op1 and pallet 2 for op2 and then a 3rd and 4th pallet waiting to go. then every cycle you have complete parts coming out of the machine.
How do you deal with variable material blanks? Many parts we use are saw edge bar and ordering 1" wide bar means you get 1.000 to 1.125 width. Can't use pitbulls that way, but a vise works because you just tighten an extra turn. Got any suggestions that don't require pre-qualifying the blanks?
@@kanoa9321 In my case, I'm talking about buying 1/2" x 1" saw edge A-2 tool steel. When it arrives, it can be 1.06 to 1.19 wide. It also tapers from one end to the other. Thanks for the ideas tho.
Wait, so what you're telling me is that you can suck vacuum with your vacuum power unite (the box that has written SmartVac 2 in the video) by blowing air into it So you don't need a vacuumpump that litterly sucks air anymore??
It basically works like carburetor in gasoline engine. There is also a venturi, but here, flow of air does not suck fuel, but air from underneath the part.
Surely this would be more cost effective die cast. If I knew how much spindle time you were wasting on this part i'd ask you to skip it and take the cost off the product.
Those name plates are almost identical to the parts im machining in my garage. The CNC shop I work at just bought one of those PPS vacuum plate kits I’m gonna ask my boss to let me set it up tomorrow so I can learn how to do it on my own mill.
Give us a call if you want to discuss the details.
Awesome video! It would be really nice to see how you guys set all this up in cam. From setting up the pallets to all have the same origin to optimizing your tool paths for multiple parts being machined at once.
This guy speaks so clearly and precisely!
Hey J great video, just ordered my first Haas and your products are on the next PO. Great stuff, keep em coming.
I've always thought that the name plates were probably just purchased from GM Nameplate or something. Very cool that your machining them from billet in-house.
Coincidentally, GM Nameplate is a good customer of ours.
Hi Jay, have been using your pallet system for a few years now! got my last company using them and now have convinced the shop I'm at now to start with one (hopefully in a year or two all 40 of our machines will have pallets!). One thought I had when setting up the one we just got, the Haas VF2 has 16" Y travel, which put it right at the limit of your largest pallet (I'm guessing one of the reasons you chose that size). Given this its critical to get the base as close to center as possible, since you have this nicely machined name plate right on center if you added a small little spot drill indent in the center of the plate it would be much easier to get the base visually centered on machine travel with just a drill in the spindle.
We recommend the same approach but using the round pin as your target. On a 16" travel machine, jog your table to Y-12.75 and this will give you a target to align the pin. Pro Tip: If you want to get super accurate, use an empty 1/2" tool holder and CAREFULLY jog down to lightly contact the pin and use the taper to center the base.
good thing its friday, almost thought i had to go to work tomorrow
very good video pierson
✅ Tired of making 1 part at a time? 👉 bit.ly/3Oahk26
The quantity of parts you can machine in a single cycle is directly related to your happiness. Trust me.....I have experience to prove this.
I once managed 1140 parts per button press
Let me tell you, seeing that machine just humming away for weeks on end made my heart bounce with joy
Putting in new material (3 parts per side on a hexagon that'd fit in my hand) was the only thing i dreaded
Cool. If all of the setup parameters are kept in the machine that means you can do one batch of 21 by itself with no setup time. Great lean tool. Very inventive product line.
Exactly! A common origin between all pallets is part of that equation.
Great video!
How do you get the logo on the part? Is it laser engraved or machined on the mill? Awesome video btw! Amazing production boost!
I make dog tags, and engrave with the mill machine, it takes a long time. Pierson could you tell us what method you use?
the most probable is that they first carry out the anodizing, and then with a fiber laser machine they carry out the engraving.
Probably anodized & then lasered. Standard lower powered CO2 lasers will take the anodizing off aluminum. We have people do it pretty often on a CO2 lasers at our Makerspace.
We use a fiber laser - It is the fastest and most durable way to mark the parts.
@@PiersonWorkholding It would be great if you shared with us, how you do that engraving, if not, at least tell us with which machine you do it 20W, 30W, 50W, 100W. Thanks Pierson.
And secondly, if you have suction setup, 21 nozzles on a fixture could pick up your parts in one go, much like the pcb industry place and pick components
Brilliant. If you could makes something like that handheld, you could get the same or even better time than with changing pallets, without machining second pallet.
hmm a second vac plate for the unloading cycle might be more efficient also while its outside the mill
Maybe too complicated, but have you considered just integrating an air connection right through the PPS base up into the pallet? Then you could have the two control units hooked up to the PPS, and no need to hook up the extra hose to the vac chuck.
It would still require 2 lines, one for pressure, one for vacuum. A more simple approach could have been to simply split the incoming air to both the valve and vacuum power unit.
@@PiersonWorkholding sure, I just meant more as a pass-through. So you can swap vacuum chucks just as fast as normal pallets. But I can also see that not being very important because vacuum is usually so quick to swap parts anyway and you don't really need to do offline loading/unloading
wow great idea but i see alot of wasted space in that machine, put a second unit in and do twice as much in 1 cycle!
pallet 1 for op1 and pallet 2 for op2 and then a 3rd and 4th pallet waiting to go. then every cycle you have complete parts coming out of the machine.
Sure, if you have two systems, absolutely!
How do you deal with variable material blanks? Many parts we use are saw edge bar and ordering 1" wide bar means you get 1.000 to 1.125 width. Can't use pitbulls that way, but a vise works because you just tighten an extra turn.
Got any suggestions that don't require pre-qualifying the blanks?
Can you put the pit bulls on the extruded edges not saw edges, much more consistent.
@@kanoa9321 In my case, I'm talking about buying 1/2" x 1" saw edge A-2 tool steel. When it arrives, it can be 1.06 to 1.19 wide. It also tapers from one end to the other.
Thanks for the ideas tho.
@@jonbaker3728 you could buy stock in standard sizes say 1.125 rather than 1.09?
@@LoneWolfPrecisionLLC Material isn't available.
Wait, so what you're telling me is that you can suck vacuum with your vacuum power unite (the box that has written SmartVac 2 in the video) by blowing air into it
So you don't need a vacuumpump that litterly sucks air anymore??
It's called a Vacuum Ejector
That's correct. The Vacuum Power Unit uses compressed air as its power source to generate a deep vacuum.
It basically works like carburetor in gasoline engine. There is also a venturi, but here, flow of air does not suck fuel, but air from underneath the part.
😎
But you don't show the finishing engraving....
They are laser engraved.
Surely this would be more cost effective die cast. If I knew how much spindle time you were wasting on this part i'd ask you to skip it and take the cost off the product.
Die cast finishes are terrible. Time is never wasted on quality.
As another maker of fine machined parts would say….. Boom!
That may have been the first time I've seen someone mention using the like button for saving to a playlist.