Balance: A Critical Part of Continuous Improvement

JD Machine Corporation (Ogden, UT) has been providing their clients with high value machined parts, sheet metal components, complex assemblies and high quality manufacturing services since 1979, driven by a corporate culture of continuous improvement that stresses a daily effort to strengthen every facet of the business for better results. They had grown unhappy with the size capacity and reach of the machinery they had on their shop floor and decided to make a wholesale change and invest in some high speed machine tools with 20,000 rpm spindles and a wide variety of toolholders. Their machine tool dealer specified an HSK taper and highly recommended that they look into a shrink fit system, which led them to go shopping at the IMTS trade show.

“Their reputation led us to their booth,” said Chris Peterson, the director of engineering at JD Machine, referring to Haimer USA, LLC (Villa Park, IL). “But it was the wide range of machines they offered that really caught our eye. The other companies we looked at had one or two models. With them we were able to select a model that gave us the performance we needed at a price that fit our budget.” The engineering team was also impressed by the fact that Haimer toolholders and shrink fit technology can easily shrink high speed steel, something that other systems can’t do. A bonus was the elimination of cleaning processes for collets and torque specs for collet chucks or mill chucks. “We are not big fans of ER collets,” noted Peterson. “If we could, we would shrink everything.”

After a high speed spindle failed that ran into the $25,000 to $50,000 price range, Peterson and his team did an extensive analysis on the situation and determined this was unacceptable. Their toolholders from Haimer were balanced, but the shop was using a variety of other units that were not, and the consensus was that balance was the probable cause of the failure. “I don’t think we fully realized the importance of balancing tools prior to losing that spindle and starting to scientifically study the reasons why it failed,” added Peterson. “This situation made us realize that balancing is not a luxury – it’s a necessity.”