Like the CHIRON Group, MAPAL has been active in the USA for decades – with two production sites in Port Huron, Michigan, and Fountain Inn, South Carolina. At both locations, MAPAL manufactures solid carbide and PCD tools according to uniform global company standards and processes them professionally. The portfolio includes drills with one or more diameters, form cutters, reamers and tools for composite machining.
In Port Huron, the focus is on the manufacture and repair of high-precision tools. Fountain Inn also offers extensive sales and service capabilities and a state-of-the-art test center for aerospace applications.
Strong partnership for maximum precision
The cooperation between MAPAL and the CHIRON Group is close and well-established. As an original equipment manufacturer, MAPAL supplies precise tools and processes for numerous projects in the automotive, aerospace and medical technology sectors. »In order to offer our customers the best solutions, we need reliable partners – and MAPAL has repeatedly demonstrated this requirement,« says Jesus Flores, Lead Project Engineer in Charlotte.
»With the special tools from MAPAL, we are shortening the processes considerably. This has a direct impact on efficiency and precision - both key requirements of the customer.«
Jesus Flores
Lead Project Engineer CHIRON America
Working together to find the perfect solution for highly complex components
In the current turnkey project with a DZ 25 P five axis for a well-known truck manufacturer, all tools and the process design also come from MAPAL. The company is machining the front transmission housing of a truck diesel engine – a complex component made of die-cast aluminum A380 with numerous holes and challenging contours.
To ensure a smooth start to production, MAPAL provided on-site support during the start-up phase and accelerated the provision of optimized tools. The project went according to plan from day one.
The DZ 25 P five axis is consistently designed for the highly productive machining of complex, large-volume structural components in series for the automotive and aerospace industries.
The planned annual production volume is 120,000 gearbox housings; over six to eight years, this will amount to around one million units. Maximum efficiency is required for such volumes. And for the 600 x 600 x 450 large components, an appropriately sized machining center: The DZ 25 P five axis double-spindle machine with pallet changer for parallel loading and unloading while machining.
The tremendous rigidity of the DZ 25 P five axis ensures outstanding dynamics and precision at very high axis accelerations and fast rapid speeds. Two workpieces can be processed at the same time in the working area with a spindle distance of 800 mm: The first clamping operation involves pre-machining to eliminate stresses and machining operations with medium tolerances. The second creates the final precision with the machining of fitting holes and surfaces to the reference point.
Customized tools – for the highest demands in series production
A key element of the project's success: The 78 MAPAL tools. Two thirds of these are individually developed special solutions. With special geometries and dimensions, they are precisely matched to the respective processing steps and the complex component design. 33 of the tools are PCD tools, the remaining 45 are equipped with carbide cutting edges.
Where appropriate, MAPAL combines several machining operations in one tool. This saves cycle time, reduces tool changes and increases process reliability. »With these special tools, we are shortening the processes considerably. This has a direct impact on efficiency and precision - both key requirements of the customer,« explains Jesus Flores.
»The close and trusting teamwork was one of the success factors of the project. This was the only way we could implement the extensive tool package within this tight time frame.«
Evan Osantoski
Sales and Applications Engineer MAPAL Inc.
The precision and quality requirements were exceptional, as measured against the already high standards of the automotive industry: A positioning accuracy with a tolerance of 25 µm and diameter tolerances of 8 to 10 µm. »This component has some of the highest quality specifications I have ever seen. A real challenge for a workpiece of this size,« says Flores. A challenge that was convincingly met thanks to the coordinated tool strategy and performance of the DZ 25 P five axis. The project team in Charlotte is particularly impressed by the service life and quality of the PCD tools – ideal for long series runs with consistently high precision.
©MAPAL
PCD – Polycrystalline diamond
Polycrystalline diamond is an extremely hard, synthetic diamond cutting material, similar to monocrystalline natural diamond. Thanks to this hardness, tools with PCD cutting edges are very wear-resistant and allow the highest cutting speeds when machining materials such as aluminum and various carbides. With their long service life, PCD tools with the appropriate cutting edge geometry are suitable for various applications in the automotive, aerospace medical technology, optics and electronics industries.
Faster productivity thanks to proactive support
It's not only the tool quality that is impressive – the support from MAPAL also makes the difference for the CHIRON Group. Their proactive support has been appreciated since the beginning of the collaboration. The tool and process design as well as the application support are, by unanimous opinion, »outstanding«. MAPAL thinks ahead and delivers far more than just tools with customized solutions.
MAPAL, too, is full of praise: »I am very proud of this collaboration,« says Evan Osantoski, Sales and Application Engineer in Port Huron. »It was only thanks to the close and trusting teamwork that we were able to implement the extensive tool package within this tight time frame.« It took just eight months from the start of the project to release. Further joint projects are already being planned – the successful partnership for turnkey projects is entering the next round.
