In-House Production With Three Tools for Gear Cutting

Related Vendors

Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA)

Wuxi InfiMotion Technology Co., Ltd.

SIMTOS (Seoul International Machine Tool Show)

By reorganizing its production, Heinrich Wagner Sinto Maschinenfabrik is increasing its vertical range of manufacture. Thanks to tool solutions from Ingersoll, gear cutting can now be carried out directly in the company's own factory for the first time—efficiently and precisely.

The company was founded in 1937 by Georg Müller and Heinrich Wagner under the name Müller & Wagner in Laasphe as a factory for foundry machines. In 1975, a sales company for vacuum forming systems, Wagner Sinto, was formed with the Japanese Sintokogio Group. This was the foundation stone for the excellent relationship between the two companies, which continues to this day. The merger with the Japanese group, the world's largest foundry machine manufacturer, took place in 1983. Since 2003, HWS has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Sintokogio—a partnership that has developed into a success story. Today, HWS is the market-leading manufacturer of molding systems, molding machines and system technologies for the production of high-density molds for foundries.

HWS foundry machines are planned and produced entirely in Germany. As space at the company headquarters became scarce, a second site for mechanical production was added in nearby Niederlaasphe, while design, development, administration and assembly remained in Bad Laasphe, Germany. In total, the company employs around 320 people in Germany.

Gallery

Gallery with 8 images

Customized Production Lines

In addition to individual machines, the manufacturer also offers complete production lines for foundries. Depending on whether the customer is producing bathroom fittings, brake disks or engine blocks, for example, the demands placed on the systems are very different. HWS therefore mainly produces special machines according to customer requirements. The design primarily takes into account the size of the mold box used in production and the customer's spatial conditions.

In addition to specific parts, production requires a large number of standard components, especially for drives. HWS manufactures components for hydraulic drives completely in-house. This enables the company to supply spare parts within 24 hours if required.

The situation used to be different for electric drives, which are becoming increasingly important. The gearing parts required for this were manufactured entirely externally.

Depending on how busy the contract manufacturer was at the time, delivery times were between 8 and 12 weeks.

Johannes Bitter, Team Leader Turning at HWS

To optimize production, HWS has been investing in automation for several years. The first step was a DMG Mori turning/milling center with a robot cell. Later, two DMG machines with pallet handling were added in the milling area. In total, HWS can use over 20 automated pallets of different sizes in the milling area. The manufacturer uses the machines to produce stock parts in larger batch sizes, which are required for various systems.

This created the conditions for restructuring work processes within the turning department. Work was systematically transferred to the automated DMG CLX 450TC, creating capacity for new tasks on other machines. This paved the way for the in-house production of gearing parts. The smallest of the parts required here were to make the start: Module 4 pinion shafts with an external diameter of 4.3 inches, manufactured in batches of between five and ten on a Mazak Integrex i-400.

The production of gears was completely new territory for HWS. It was no coincidence that HWS opted for Ingersoll Werkzeuge GmbH: In the course of the reorganization, all the tools previously used were put to the test. A good year ago, HWS tested different tool manufacturers against each other for various machining tasks and subsequently replaced many of them. "Ingersoll did really well in the comparisons," summarizes Christian Hammer, Head of the Machining Department.

Since then, HWS has been using many Ingersoll tools for milling and increasingly also inserts for turning. In addition to the tool quality, the company values the advice and service provided by the manufacturer from Haiger. "The cooperation has always been excellent and with Kevin Richstein we have a very competent contact person," praises Hammer. "If we have a request, we are helped quickly and easily within a very short time. If necessary, we also get a replacement very quickly."

As Niederlaasphe was also aware of Ingersoll's strengths in the field of gearing, the tool manufacturer was the obvious choice when it came to producing the first pinion shafts. "We were very sure that we had the right partner on board," says Hammer. Kevin Richstein, technical consultant at Ingersoll, selected two roughing tools and one finishing tool for the machining process.

The machining process begins with an end mill from Ingersoll's HiPosSFeedV series fitted with two V-shaped indexable inserts. With its width of 0.3 inches, it mills the grooves between the later teeth in the first operation. The large rake angle reduces the cutting load and ensures excellent chip removal.

The second Ingersoll milling cutter used is a three-edged solid carbide speed milling cutter Incoolant with a diameter of 0.2 inches, which roughs the contours of the toothing. A special chip surfer tool performs the final finishing. The cutting edges of the solid carbide screw-in head are precisely adapted to the desired tooth shape. Since a worn milling head can be replaced without having to remeasure the tool each time, the operator's work is made easier.

After finishing with the form cutter, the parts look as if they have been ground.

Johannes Bitter, Team Leader Turning at HWS

He was able to directly adopt the cutting values recommended by Ingersoll. Including the turning pre-machining, the machining time per pinion shaft is around 40 minutes.

The cost analysis also delivered a surprise: the gears produced in-house only cost the company around half as much as the previously supplied parts. In addition to costs, HWS also saves time.

With in-house production, we can extremely shorten delivery times, which benefits our customers.

Christian Hammer, Head of Mechanical Machining Department at HWS

Only the hardening is done externally. The time frame for this is manageable.

Further Components to Follow

Based on the positive experience, HWS plans to transfer further components to its own production. After the smaller pinion shafts module 4, modules 8 and 10 are to follow. The manufacturer installs these gears more frequently. The machining strategy remains the same, but the profiles of the different modules differ in terms of height, width and angle, so that separate tool sets are required for each.

Larger gears can be produced on another Mazak machine. Automated production on the CLX is also conceivable due to the longer running times. HWS is also planning to manufacture sprockets and gear racks, the counterparts of the gears, itself in the future.

The loss of the Russian market and the US tariffs are having a noticeable impact on the company. Nevertheless, the order situation is currently satisfactory. The company has also established another mainstay: With its machinery, it is also well positioned for contract manufacturing and can turn or mill components ranging from small cubes to 22 short tons welded or cast constructions for customers. HWS can now also offer contract gear cutting.

Dipl.-Phys. Manfred Flohr is a freelance author

Future-Proof Authentication with Universal RFID Readers

Universal RFID Readers: One Solution for All Credentials