Tool system in the fast lane

    In the United States, they are called "Funny Cars", but the technical content behind their success is not to be underestimated. These vehicles are unquestionably stars at the National High Speed ​​Automobile Association (NHRA) track, and Don Schumacher Racing's (DSR) vehicles are the stars of the stars.

     DSR was founded by former drag racer and businessman Don Schumacher, and since 1998 Schumacher's son Tony piloted a Top Fuel race car (Top Fuel and Funny Car is two levels of drag racing). Tony won the championship the following year. Since then, DSR has grown to seven full-time teams – 4 Funny Cars and 3 Top Fuel cars, plus an impressive support team.

TOP PERFORMANCE

     As a racing company, DSR is not just “hands-on behind the wheel,” but behind the entire vehicle. At its headquarters in Bronzeburg, Indianapolis, there is an 11,000-square-meter production facility that makes a variety of parts for vehicles. The highest-quality materials and top-of-the-line machine tools and tooling are used here, with the aim of allowing the seven racing teams to be at the top of the starting line. This is also where Sandvik Coromant comes into play. The tool supplier started working with DSR in late 2010 to help it expand its production capacity.

DSR Senior Vice President Mike Lewis said: "We have watched Sandvik Coromant develop a closer relationship with our programmers and mechanics, and we know they can give us what we need. key tooling and technical support to fully utilize our CNC machining equipment. Our people consider this collaboration a great success, and we look forward to further developing our partnership.”

Challenges

      The two-year collaboration addresses some of the most pressing manufacturing challenges facing racing teams. Richard Price, DSR’s CNC machine shop manager, said: “We wanted to achieve large-scale part manufacturing capabilities in our own facility. We originally had two Okuma machines, and shortly after partnering with Sandvik Coromant, we added nine more fabs. Dow’s CNC machine.” After introducing the new machine, DSR decided to further increase its machining capacity to maximize the return on investment. Alan Keep, Northeast Business Manager, Sandvik Coromant USA, said: “After speaking with DSR, we decided to focus first on process optimization of the two main components, the cylinder head and connecting rod. The process options for these parts And machining methods have a big impact on performance on the track; precision and good surface quality can give a competitive advantage."

"Deep" ;   Machining of these cylinder heads is not at all easy. Each part has 90 115mm deep holes with complex shapes and the most stringent surface quality standards. The production process is lengthy starting from the overall aluminum billet It’s complex. “Machining involves a lot of tools and operations, so when we start consulting and supplying tools, we have to understand multiple aspects of the process. "The initial analysis focused on the face milling operation. For rough and fine face milling, DSR originally used 150mm diameter tools, which required manual installation as they took up three positions in the tool magazine. DSR There were particular concerns about the long set-up times of existing face milling tools. Therefore, we recommended the 100mm CoroMill® 590 Century indexable insert tool, which has only one pocket and therefore no longer requires manual installation .

Max Throttle

      Surface quality is another consideration. DSR hopes to eliminate knife marks on the combustion chamber surface of the hybrid line cylinder head. With the roll-in and roll-out techniques recommended by Sandvik Coromant, machinists were able to increase cutting speeds and feed rates by 335%.

Keep explained, “In addition to reducing production time and extending tool life, In addition, this technology has helped us improve surface quality by 58%. This is a simple programming solution to make the tool plunge into the workpiece in a circular arc in a clockwise direction. This eliminates the formation of thick chips, thereby avoiding vibrations that affect the quality of the surface finish, without sacrificing feed speed. "Overall, the recommended face milling process changes allow DSR to completely avoid manual tool changes, which helps improve machine utilization.

No more overhangs

  ;     In addition to other improvement projects at DSR, complex geometries and bores in the cylinder head caused part quality and chip clearance issues. Sandvik Coromant carefully inspected DSR's profiling and drilling After the operation, it was recommended to replace the 25mm diameter solid carbide end mill with a 50mm CoroMill 790 indexable insert cutter, which resolved these issues. Keep says: “The original tool had a longer overhang, which Vibration problems were created, and DSR had to send the tool in for regrinding. We brought the Coromant Capto® C5 adapter, which is good for tool rigidity, and modified the NC program using a circular interpolation technique to reduce axial and radial depth of cut, while increasing cutting speed and feed rate. These improvements reduce spindle load and vibration. In addition, the life of the tool has been extended, and the replacement of the tool is much simpler, requiring only two inserts. The experts also improved the problematic drilling process. Prior to the optimization, conventional solid carbide twist drills were used. Keep said: “Because not all tools have internal coolant, DSR had to use the pecking technique, And this significantly increases the process time. After switching to the CoroDrill® Delta-C R840, we completely eliminated the problem of excessive pecking cycles, improved chip evacuation and hole quality, and reduced machining time by 75%. "

Successful partnership

      "Machining time is very important to us, we process about 100 connecting rods per week, which A lot of work for our independent production team. Increased productivity allows our team to spend more time on the design of precision automotive parts, which gives us a great advantage. In addition to reducing machining time, Sandvik Coromant's tooling system greatly improves machining accuracy, which is crucial for drag racing cars and Funny Cars with over 7,000 horsepower that run on nitromethane. "

In terms of service, DSR is very pleased with Sandvik Coromant, especially for their fast response and delivery times. "We have had great support, and the help is always there," says Price. It came very timely. On average, 99% of orders are delivered the next day, which is an amazing number. ”

On the podium

      The results of the collaboration are not only evident in the machine shop, but also on the race track. The two companies began A year into the partnership, Matt Hagan drove his DieHard Advanced Gold Funny Car through the finish line in Pomona, California, for DSR's ninth NHRA World Championship. In 2011, DSR won a total of 18 victories and three national records.

      Now, DSR is ready to start another year of fast and furious, and Sandvik Coromant will be on the production floor and ready to cheer the team on the track. Keep concludes: “We’re excited to have our customers involved in NHRA events, and we’ve had a hand in DSR’s leadership in NHRA events, which is why Even more gratifying. "