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The ARNO FAST CHANGE System as a Revenue Generator

1/19/2022

By Keith Stroup

We have often touted the innovative ARNO FAST CHANGE system as a revenue generator instead of a cost saver. It's a matter of perspective I guess, but in our opinion, when you're spindle is running, more parts are being produced, thus you are generating more revenue every hour, every shift, and every day.

The ARNO FAST CHANGE enables revenue generation by utilizing a very accurate split shank tooling concept to reduce tool change times to mere seconds and eliminate touch-offs.

The other significant piece of this revenue generation is eliminating the process of re-adjusting the coolant spigots that invariably get knocked out of place during the tool removal / replacement process that is necessary on a "manifold & spigot" set-up.

We know that these features result in dramatically increased spindle up-times, but it was made very evident to us late last year.

We were sent documentation which was signed off by a customer who had purchased two of these systems and installed them on their Citizen L20 machines.

ARNO FAST CHANGE - Z AXIS EXTENSION ADAPTOR FOR EXTENDED NOSE COLLETS

Using an extended nose collet? No problem here, in addition to our offset head turning tool selections, we also have Z axis extensions that fit right into our GTF and BTF series AWL gang plates. And don't worry, the extensions pick up the through coolant from the gang plate and deliver it to the fixed stop to give you uninterrupted high pressure coolant to the cut zone.

The total annualized "revenue enhancement" after installing the AFC gang plates and adopting all ARNO through coolant tooling was $674,500! This is broken down into two buckets:

1. Tool change time = $195,000
The incumbent tooling and gang plate were quite outdated and required a tool change time of nearly 25 minutes twice per day for each of the 4 tools in the gang.

This resulted in 3 hours of spindle down time per shift! Once the AFC system was installed the tool change times immediately fell to 30 seconds for each tool, thus reducing spindle downtime to a mere 8 minutes per shift.

2. Tool life and increased parameters = $479,500
Adopting ARNO's through coolant tool holders with insert grades and geometries that were designed specifically for high production applications had a profound impact on productivity. Tables were submitted in the document that showed time reduction in turning, grooving, and parting operations with some process times being reduced by 75%.

Of course, the through coolant feature increased tool life which further reduced the need for spindle idle time. This total revenue bump was calculated using 325 hours of increased spindle uptime per month. That's nearly 4000 hours of productivity gained annually... which resulted in another big advantage: The customer was able to bring subcontracted jobs back in house.

At ARNO USA we love combining our years of manufacturing experience with game changing innovative technology to make huge impacts on our customers' productivity, accuracy, quality, and process stability. The ARNO FAST CHANGE program is pretty vast with new additions coming on line on a regular basis. There are nearly 50 gang plates presently available for the following machine manufacturers: Citizen, Star, Hanwha, DMG, Nexturn, and Tornos!

This YouTube video provides a quick breakdown of the $195,000 tool change savings:

Contact a member of our team to let us show you how to keep your spindle running longer!

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What is an h6 Tolerance?

1/11/2022

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Our last post about Lexington Cutter Offers h6 Shank Reamers prompted some questions regarding what exactly is an"h" tolerance, so this post should help you understand it a bit more.

Let's start with a big picture and work our way down to the answer. The International Tolerance Grade, also known as IT Grade, identifies what tolerances a specific process can produce for a given dimension defined in ISO 286.

It establishes the magnitude of the tolerance zone or allowed amount of part size variation for internal and external dimensions.

There are totally 18 grades of tolerance, the smaller the International Tolerance Grade number, the smaller the allowable tolerance zone, the higher the precision level.

The ISO Tolerance Systems For Limits And Fits. For more detail click on the image link.

"The ISO System of Limits and Fits is a coordinated system of hole and shaft tolerances for engineering and manufacturing used for cutting tools, material stock, gages, etc. If held to these tolerances, cutting tools, material stock, and gages are available throughout the world"1

ISO and ANSI both group fits into three categories: clearance, location or transition, and interference. Within each category are several codes to define the size limits of the hole or shaft - the combination of which determines the type of fit.2

Upper vs Lower Case
The tolerance symbol is established by combining the IT grade number and position letter for tolerance. The first thing to understand is the difference between a capitol "H" and a lower case "h". The upper case "H" is used to designate bore tolerance while the lower case "h" is used to designate shaft tolerances. Tolerances with lower case “h” are (minus) negative. Said another way, the capital letter "H" is for the hole, and lower case letter "h" is for the for shaft.

The Number
The number following the letter "h" denotes the International Tolerance (IT) grade. So, a tolerance with the number 6 will have a larger tolerance range than the number 5 but a smaller tolerance range than the number 7. This range is based on the size of the shank.

A hole that has a 0.030” diameter will have an h6 tolerance of (+0.0000,-0.0002), while a 1.00” hole with have an h6 tolerance band of (+0.0000,-0.0005).

h6 Shank Reamer Tool Selector

Click the link below for a Shftt Tolerance Calculator.

Shaft Tolerance Calculator

1. Metric Standards for Worldwide Manufacturing, 2007 Edition Knut O. Kverneland
2. Shaft tolerances are now covered in the new ANSI B32.100- 2005 standard

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Lexington Cutter Offers h6 Shank Reamers

1/5/2022

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Lexington Cutter, Inc., a Bradenton, Florida company, offers h6 tolerance shank reamers with flute long carbide tips brazed to one piece hardened alloy steel bodies.

With polished flutes and material specific geometry and carbide grade for the ultimate in performance and tool life. Contact one of our team for your closest authorized Lexington Cutter distributor.

h6 Reamer Selector

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The ARNO FAST CHANGE System as a Revenue Generator

What is an h6 Tolerance?

Lexington Cutter Offers h6 Shank Reamers

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