Plastic welding

Plastic welding is the process of creating a molecular bond between two compatible thermoplastics. Welding offers superior strength, and often drastically reduced cycle times, to mechanical joining (snap fits, screws) and chemical bonding (adhesives). There are three main steps to any weld: pressing, heating, and cooling. The application of pressure, which is often used throughout both the heating and cooling stages, is used to keep the parts in the proper orientation and to improve melt flow across the interface. The purpose of the heating stage is to allow intermolecular diffusion from one part to the other across the surface (melt mixing). 

Cooling is necessary to solidify the newly formed bond; the execution of this stage can have a significant effect on weld strength.There are several possible methods of plastic welding: Ultrasonics, Vibration, Spin, Hot Plate, Laser / Infrared, Radio Frequency, and Implant are the most common. These plastic welding processes are primarily differentiated by their heating methods. The application of pressure and allowances for cooling are mechanical considerations may vary from machine to machine within the general process category.

Pressure:
The use of pressure during the weld serves multiple purposes:

• Flattens surface asperities to increase part contact at joint.
• Maintains orientation of part .
• Compresses melt layer to encourage intermolecular diffusion between the two parts
• Prevents formation of voids from part shrinkage during cooling.
• Historically, pressure has been applied for plastic welding through the use of pneumatic presses. 

Recently, however, servo motors have been employed for at least a few of the common processes. Pneumatic welders are economical and well-suited to most simple applications. The precision of servo motion, however, offers greater control and precision which is desirable for more difficult applications or when the equipment is used for a wide variety of applications.

Machining - Removal Process

Machining is a term used to describe a variety of material removal processes in which a cutting tool removes unwanted material from a workpiece to produce the desired shape. The workpiece is typically cut from a larger piece of stock, which is available in a variety of standard shapes, such as flat sheets, solid bars, hollow tubes, and shaped beams. Machining can also be performed on an existing part, such as a casting or forging.

Parts that are machined from a pre-shaped workpiece are typically cubic or cylindrical in their overall shape, but their individual features may be quite complex. Machining can be used to create a variety of features including holes, slots, pockets, flat surfaces, and even complex surface contours. Also, while machined parts are typically metal, almost all materials can be machined, including metals, plastics, composites, and wood. For these reasons, machining is often considered the most common and versatile of all manufacturing processes.

As a material removal process, machining is inherently not the most economical choice for a primary manufacturing process. Material, which has been paid for, is cut away and discarded to achieve the final part. Also, despite the low setup and tooling costs, long machining times may be required and therefore be cost prohibitive for large quantities. As a result, machining is most often used for limited quantities as in the fabrication of prototypes or custom tooling for other manufacturing processes. Machining is also very commonly used as a secondary process, where minimal material is removed and the cycle time is short. Due to the high tolerance and surface finishes that machining offers, it is often used to add or refine precision features to an existing part or smooth a surface to a fine finish.

Top 10 Used Of Jigs and Fixtures

1. Jigs and fixtures are used to reduce the cost of production as there use elimination being out work and setting up of tools.
2. To increase the production.
3. To assure the high accuracy of the parts.
4. To provide for interchangeability.
5. To enables heavy and complex shaped parts to be machined by holding rigidly to a machine.
6. To control quality control expenses.
7. More skilled labor.
8. Saving labor.
9. There use partially automates the machine tool.
10. Improve the safety at work, thereby lowering the rate of accidents.

Tooling failures

Tooling failures that can occur are abrasive and adhesive wear, chipping, deformation, galling, catastrophic failure and stress fracture.Tool Failure is another good reason to cryogenically treat.

Abrasive wear results from friction between the tool and the work material. Adhesive wear occurs when the action the of the tool being used exceeds the material’s ductile strength or the material is simple too hard to process.

Adhesive wear causes the formation of micro cracks (stress fractures). These micro cracks eventually interconnect, or network, and form fragments that pull out. This “pullout” looks like excessive abrasive wear on cutting edges when actually they are stress facture failures. When fragments form, both abrasive and adhesive wear occurs because the fragments become wedged between the tool and the work piece, causing friction this can then lead to poor finish or at worst catastrophic tool failure.

Catastrophic tooling failures can cause thousands of dollars in machine damage and production loss. This type of tool failure can cause warping and stress fractures to tool heads and decks as well rotating and load bearing assemblies.

Cryogenically treating industrial tools reduces abrasive wear and tool failures.

Tool Materials Treatment - Cryogenic Processing

Cryogenic processing had its US origins in the 1940s, be it all a primitive process compared to today's procedures.

Steel cutting tools were immersed in liquid nitrogen for a brief period of time, removed from the liquid, allowed to warm up, and placed into service on production lines. As a result of the thermal shock associated with the rapid rate of cooling, tools tools would occasionally crack or chip. Some tools also became brittle because of the newly formed, untempered martensite. Of the tools that survived this crude quenching, many exhibited dramatically enhanced service life.

In addition to developing the correct medium, a method to reduce thermal shock had to be developed. Elimination of thermal shock is critical. This is achieved by strict controls in the lowering and raising of  temperature in the treatment cycle that is critical to the commercial application and effectiveness of cryogenic processing.

Cryogenics is a relatively new process, but one that using correct proceedures can bring substantial economic benefits. Cryogen Industries makes a clear statement that process doesn't work on everything nor is it a miracle cure-all. If a product is found by us not to be worth treating due to poor manufacture or the item will yield little to no return for the customer, we won't treat it.

Cryogenic processing makes changes to the structure of materials being treated, dependent on the composition of the material it performs three things:

1. Turns retained austenite into martensite

2. Refines the carbide structure

3. Stress relieves

Cutting Tool Materials

The cutting tool materials must possess a number of important properties to avoid excessive wear, fracture failure and high temperatures in cutting, The following characteristics are essencial for cutting materials to withstand the heavy conditions of the cutting process and to produce high quality and economical parts:

• Hardness :At elevated temperatures (so-called hot hardness) so that hardness and strength of the tool edge are maintained in high cutting temperatures. 
• Toughness: Ability of the material to absorb energy without failing. Cutting if often accompanied by impact forces especially if cutting is interrupted, and cutting tool may fail very soon if it is not strong enough.
• Wear resistance: Although there is a strong correlation between hot hardness and wear resistance, later depends on more than just hot hardness. Other important characteristics include surface finish on the tool, chemical inertness of the tool material with respect to the work material, and thermal conductivity of the tool material, which affects the maximum value of the cutting temperature at tool-chip interface.

Common cutting tool material used:

• Carbon steel: Carbon steels having carbon percentage as high as 1.5% are used as tool materials however they are not able to with stand very high temperature and hence are operational at low cutting speed.
• High speed steel (HSS): These are special alloy steel which are obtained by alloying tungsten, Chromium, Vanadium, Cobalt and molybdenum with steel. HSS has high hot hardness, wear resistance and 3 to 4 times higher cutting speed as compare to carbon steel. Most commonly used HSS have following compositions.

1. 18-4-1 HSS i.e. 18% tungsten, 4% chromium, 1% vanadium with a carbon content of 0.6 - 0.7%. If vanadium is 2% it becomes 18-4-2 HSS.
2. Cobalt high speed steel: This is also referred to as super high speed steel. Cobalt is added 2 – 15%. The most common composition is tungsten 20%, 4% chromium, 2% vanadium and 12% cobalt.
3. Molybdenum high speed steel: It contains 6% tungsten, 6% molybdenum, 4% chromium and 2% vanadium.

• Cemented carbide:  These are basically carbon cemented together by a binder. It is a powder metallurgy product and the binder mostly used is cobalt. The basic ingredient is tungsten carbide-82%, titanium carbide-10% and cobalt-8%. These materials possess high hardness and wear resistance and it has cutting speed 6 times higher than high speed steel (HSS).
• Ceramics: It mainly consists of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and silicon nitride (Si3N4). Ceramic cutting tools are hard with high hot hardness and do not react with the workpiece. They can be used at elevated temperature and cutting speed 4 times that of cemented carbide. These have low heat conductivity.

Barriers For Tooling Materials

The ability to improve tooling and increase materials utilization is hindered by technology barriers that exist in several aspects of the forging process. These include lubrication, material property understanding, validated process modeling, measurement and testing, die making, die materials, and process control. Distinctions among these areas are fairly clear, although some barriers associated with measurement and testing, process control, and process modeling may be closely related.

Among the most critical barriers is the lack of effective lubrication methods between the die and the forged material. More precisely, there is a lack of technologies?innovative die materials, coatings, equipment, and processes?that would eliminate the need for lubricants altogether. Material-surface coatings are needed that provide very low heat transfer and can handle variability in the coefficient of friction. There is also inefficient use of lubricants because they are not applied locally to the portion of the tooling or under specific conditions that require lubrication.

Limitations in the area of validated process modeling span a wide range of needs. For example, there is a lack of universal geometrical models, understanding of tribological phenomena, materials models to predict micro-structure, cost models to determine minimum cost processes, and other data and methods that could improve modeling of the forging process. The greatest need, however, is in the integration and optimization of these models. In particular, there is a lack of integrated computer systems for forging that take into account all of the relevant process variables. Better integration is needed between the customer's CAD/CAM system, the forge shop's CAD/CAM system, tool design, and other design and process steps to effectively simulate the forging process and adjust part and die design based on this. The cost and the complication of developing and using 3-D simulation tools has resulted in a lack of efficient 3-D computational tools that could greatly improve process modeling. Furthermore, simulations are currently limited in their ability to depict actual conditions. For example, a single friction factor is currently used in simulations of hot forging even though actual friction is known to vary with temperature and materials.

Without integrated, validated process models, it is difficult to determine the optimal die design or material for the product requirement. A sophisticated model could reverse engineer the die and tooling based on the customer part specification and provide an optimal design that uses materials and tools more efficiently.

Tool maker Requisites

Graduates from this program are eligible to write the exemption test for Level 1/Common Core and Level 2 in one of the following trades: Tool and Die Maker, Mould Maker, and General Machinist, as specified by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. After graduation, you can transfer directly into the second year of Mechanical Engineering Technician – Tool Design program or the third year of Mechanical Engineering Technology – Industrial Design program.

As a graduate, you will be prepared to reliably demonstrate the ability to:

• Complete all work in compliance with current legislation, standards, regulations and guidelines.
• Contribute to the application of quality control and quality assurance procedures to meet organizational standards and requirements.
• Comply with current health and safety legislation, as well as organizational practices and procedures.
• Support sustainability best practices in workplaces.
• Use current and emerging technologies to support the implementation of mechanical and manufacturing projects.
• Troubleshoot and solve standard mechanical problems by applying mathematics and fundamentals of mechanics.
• Contribute to the interpretation and preparation of mechanical drawings and other related technical documents.
• Perform routine technical measurements accurately using appropriate instruments and equipment.
• Assist in manufacturing, assembling, maintaining and repairing mechanical components according to required specifications.
• Select, use and maintain machinery, tools and equipment for the installation, manufacturing and repair of basic mechanical components.

Machining

Estimates consist of labor hours for construction based on machining content, assembly, and fabrication.

• Assembly tooling
• Weld fixtures
• Checking fixtures
• Material handling equipment
• Storage equipment
• Transportation equipment
• Master Tool Planning List

This document enlists all the tooling requirements after the accessibility studies and cost estimation, that suffice the needs of the customer.

• Assembly tools
• Equipment
• Process equipment
• Develop and track cost
• Power tools
• Weld guns
• Facilities

Tool and Equipment Design

Tool design and accessibility studies include :

• 3D files for development
• 2D drawing for documentation under-body
• Selection of power tools and sockets
• Master Data Modeling
• Math is organized into 3D digital model and shows all parts, welds and datums for a complete zone. Applied weld attributes provide approved joining criteria (resistance, laser, projection, arc, clinch, etc.) and Datum location and control directions are displayed for GDT and downstream tool design use.
• Tool Cost Estimation.

Assembly Process Sheets:

 
The assembly process sheets are designed to provide :

• Detailed operator instructions
• Graphic illustrations
• Tooling and equipment
• Weld guns
• Power tools
• Torque

Tool Design Services

Our tool design services include design of plastic molds, die casting press tools, jigs and fixtures, inspection fixtures and gauges, jigs and stamping dies.

Plastic Molds:

Expertise in design of injection molds, compression molds, transfer molds, blow molds and thermoforming molds. Services include analysis of parts, design of electrodes and documentation.

CAM :

 Capability to generate multi axis tool path for complex profiles using most different CAM software.

Press Tools :

Capability to design press tools from basic blanking and piercing operation to complex progressive dies including operations such as forming, notching and trimming. The dies created are cost efficient.

Jigs & Fixtures :

Complex jigs and fixture designs for customer specific requirements. Work holding fixtures for any kind of operations such as machining, welding, inspection fixtures are some of our specialties.

Pressure Die Casting:

  Design of cost effective and efficient high and low PDC dies for critical components.

Cutting Tools:

 Design of single point & multipoint special cutting tools such as drills, reamer, boring bars, broach, whole mills, milling cutters & gear shaving cutters etc.

What is Tool Design

It is a specialized area of manufacturing engineering which comprises the analysis, planning, design, construction and application of tools, methods and procedures necessary to increase manufacturing productivity.

• Work holding tools – Jigs and Fixtures
• Cutting tools
• Sheet metal dies
• Forging dies
• Extrusion dies
• Welding and inspection fixtures
• Injection molds
• Manufacturing processing 

Requirements in industrial practice:

• The importance of tooling in manufacturing
• Design aspects related to some tooling such as jigs and fixtures, press tools, cutting tools, inspection gages and welding jigs.

Heavy Line Die Design

The solid models are ready for CNC and Wire Eroding purposes. It cover all aspects of Large Line Dies and all related Transfer Tooling and Idle Stations.

• Stamping Process Layouts.
• Process simulation and validation.
• Pattern making Instruction Sheets.
• Robot Transfer Tooling.
• Idle Stations.
• Valuable experience has been gained servicing the large Automotive OEM's regarding the design High Volume, Heavy Line Dies.

Pipe Manipulator Tooling:
We can design press tooling for the sizing, reducing, flaring & dimpling for various High Volume Stainless Steel tube applications.The tooling designs are proven and are competent of meeting and exceeding the stringent tolerances specified by the Catalytic Converter Manufacturers. We can also design all tube bending/pipe manipulator tooling to suit the Addison/Pedrazolli type bending machines to The customers requirements!

Future Of Tools and Design

All the tools for the product design will be applied in the next decade. Change will be their share. Currently, computer tools for conceptual design and rapid prototyping is the most influential tools used in product design.Simulation products, technologies, manufacturing and assembly processes will be increasingly important and will be partially substituted by prototypes and experiments.The next most important technologies are design of experiments and competitive benchmarking. They are tools that work in both the physical and the virtual environment. Design of experiment tools are often used to validate simulation and augment the simulation results in areas of the design that cannot be simulated. These tools will gain in importance as experiments become easier to conduct in simulation, and competitive benchmarking results are more rapidly analysed, disseminated, and integrated into the overall product plan.Research has confirmed the potential of virtual design tools that reduce the production costs of natural samples and prototypes. Currently, however, can not completely replace experiments. 

Challenges for the future quality of the product design:

• System integration product - process - information - knowledge
• The transfer of innovation from aerospace and military industries to automotive
• Products for low cost, flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing, products for sustainable
• production: reducing consumption of materials, energy and waste in product life cycle
• Electronic data interchange in the design, analysis, manufacturing, testing and operation
• Allowing an increase in quality, competitiveness and customer orientation, standardization of virtual reality
• Information security and protection of intellectual property
• New tools and techniques for analysis, the migration of knowledge, generate innovation, design, testing, simulation and virtual reality.

Innovations in the next decade will shape these trends:
The development of product design tools will be affected smart consumers. Consumers in the future will be better informed about the quality of products and their use. Transparent information and benchmarking to better decisions about purchasing products. The trend is interested in intelligent products. If the incentives for innovation today managed by increasing the functionality, quality and effectiveness of products, in the near future products will compete well in intelligence.

Tool & Die Maker Responsibilities

Primary Responsibilities:

The Tool and Die maker will be responsible for the building or repair of all types of punch press tooling including compound and progressive die. Assemble and try out complex tools and dies on manufacturing equipment. Determines specifications for inspection of work. Perform CNC machining and hand operations to the highest accuracy.

Critical Job Requirements:

The individual must be able to independently build single and progressive dies by following prints and instructions. High School diploma, GED or equivalent experience. Associate Degree or apprenticeship in Tool and Die or equivalent experience. Minimum of 6 years experience making & repairing progressive dies mandatory. Able to operate machine tools such as lathes, milling machines, CNC machines, etc. High degree of precision and control in work where damage could be high.

Assessment Tools

Assessment tools are materials that enable you to collect evidence using your chosen assessment method.Assessment tools are the instruments and procedures used to gather and interpret evidence of competence:

• The instrument is the activity or specific questions used to assess competence by the assessment method selected. An assessment instrument may be supported by a profile of acceptable performance and the decision-making rules or guidelines to be used by assessors
• Procedures are the information or instructions given to the candidate and the assessor about how the assessment is to be conducted and recorded The principles of assessment. When developing assessment tools, you need to ensure that the principles of assessment are met. This is not only good practice but also a requirement of the AQTF. The assessment principles require that assessment is valid, reliable, flexible and fair.
• Validity refers to the extent to which the interpretation and use of an assessment outcome can be supported by evidence. An assessment is valid if the assessment methods and materials reflect the elements, performance criteria and critical aspects of evidence in the evidence guide of the unit(s) of competency, and if the assessment outcome is fully supported by the evidence gathered.
• Reliability refers to the degree of consistency and accuracy of the assessment outcomes. That is, the extent to which the assessment will provide similar outcomes for candidates with equal competence at different times or places, regardless of the assessor conducting the assessment.
• Flexibility refers to the opportunity for a candidate to negotiate certain aspects of their assessment (for example, timing) with their assessor. All candidates should be fully informed (for example, through an Assessment Plan) of the purpose of assessment, the assessment criteria, methods and tools used, and the context and timing of the assessment.