Buxton-based Vetech Product Design & Development Ltd, which was founded in 1994, is a sub-contract manufacturer that also offers design and consultancy services; its customers include high-profile names in the military, electronic-sensor, motor-sport, plastic-moulding and garden-equipment sectors (
www.vetech.co.uk).
Today, more than 60% of the company’s business comprises aluminium mould tools for the garden and leisure industry; it is here that its tooling supplier — Tamworth-based Industrial Tooling Corporation Ltd (ITC) (
www.itc-ltd.co.uk) — has made a significant contribution.
Some 10 years ago, Vetech realised that its CNC machine tools could not achieve the high spindle speeds required for machining mould tool ribs with small-diameter cutters.
However, when visiting a trade show the company saw high-speed spindles (speed increasers) on the ITC stand.
These provided the extra speed that Vetech was seeking, and the company subsequently approached ITC with regard to its ranges of standard and special cutting tools.
Vetech’s senior design engineer, Andy Smith, said: “Although we had found a solution for running our tools at high speed via ITC, we were having issues with our previous cutting tool supplier; these included limited stock and tool range availability, excessive lead times on special tools and poor technical support.
“After ITC’s Paul Ensor visited us, we trialled some solid-carbide tools, which were hugely successful; now, 10 years on, the company supplies over 90% of our cutting tools.
“We still deal with Mr Ensor, but Paul Griffiths is our new ITC technical engineer.”
Many of the aluminium mould tools Vetech makes are for rapid-prototyping projects, making turn-round times critical; with ITC’s 60,000rev/min spindles, Vetech can use the company’s 1mm-diameter solid-carbide end mills to machine mould tool ribs that were previously processed via EDM.
Mr Smith said: “We process a lot of mould tools with complex cross-rib designs. On one of our early tools for a lawnmower motor end frame, we spent 3hr programming two different electrodes that then required some 5hr of machining. After that, the erosion time was about 8hr, followed by 3-4hr of hand finishing.
“With ITC tools and high-speed spindles, we replaced this almost 20hr process with a single CAM programming of the mould tool and machining it in 4-5hr — with an impeccable surface finish. This cut our complex mould tool production times by 75% almost overnight.”
New machines
Following this early success, Vetech has since bought Hurco machining centres — a VMX42M and a VMX30Ti — that offer spindle speeds of 12,000rev/min. As a result, EDM processes and the speed increasers have become virtually redundant.
Early in its relationship with ITC, Vetech was using both the 2112- and 2001-series end mills, which increased tool life by over 30% and reduced cycle times by an average of 35%.
Mr Smith said: “The 2001-series tools have been exceptional performers. We use the 16 and 20mm-diameter tools with a 2mm radius, and the smaller 6, 8 and 12mm tools with a 1mm radius.
“The tools are extremely rigid and offer high levels of material removal rate and surface finish; and because the tools are long, we can pull them further out of the holder for a variety of applications.”
Although Vetech primarily uses the 2112-series tools for machining aluminium, they feature a ‘steel geometry’.
Mr Smith said: “While the 2112-series cutters have performed extremely well over the years, we have now replaced them with the new 2172 ball-nose cutters.
"These have a 0.5deg angle above the ball, and this gives added rigidity.
"More pertinent to us is the clearance that this angle provides, as it naturally creates a draft angle — one that is essential on mould tools, eliminating friction and ensuring that they perform at an optimum level.
"With regard to rigidity, we can run a 2mm-diameter 2172-series cutter at machining depths of 35mm; previously, we were limited to 20mm, although we are now looking at pushing this depth to 42mm — more than double what was previously possible.”
Focus on motor-sport
Over the last couple of years, Vetech has been involved in the re-design and development of Suzuki’s 1,300cc Hayabusa motorcycle engine, enabling it to develop huge power and reliability while allowing it to be fitted to small cars such as the Mini and Fiat 500.
Mr Smith said: “We machine a variety of motor-sport components, including pipe fittings that require under-cut machining. For this application, ITC ‘tweaked’ its 2001-series cutters for us, grinding a radius on the flute to allow under-cut machining, reducing certain machining applications from 10min to just 1min.
“This dedicated 16mm-diameter tool with a 2mm radius allows us to use the side of the tool for machining under-cuts — and to undertake rough and finish machining with one tool.”
ITC has recently invested in new grinding centres for the production of ‘micro’ cutting tools, and Vetech has already benefitted from this ITC investment.
Mr Smith said: “While we use a complete range of ITC tools, the addition of micro end mills and the extension of existing lines are ideal for our mould-tool engraving.
"We are using the extended 2112-series tools — in diameters from 0.4 to 1mm with a flute length of 8mm — to engrave tools at high-speed.
“With ITC’s line of micro tools, we can undertake very-high-speed machining for long periods of unmanned machining.”