MANF 3131

Project 2 Machining

Durham College
School of Technology

Milling and Machining Center Basics Case Study: Rapidmold Tool and Die Co.
Rapidmold Tool and Die Company has found a market niche for rapidly
producing simple, inexpensive molds for injection molding machines. The figure
shows the side view of a typical mold. It includes a pocket, sometimes with
multiple levels cut into the top face. A shallow standoff region, for ensuring a
well-sealed pocket, is machined around the pocket. Deep narrow grooves need
to be cut into both sides for the mold to insert into the mold base on the injection
molding machine. A slot is also cut along the length of the bottom of the mold so
that a temperature sensor and wire can be installed for process monitoring.

Pocket

Standoff
Insertion
groove

Sensor groove
Rapidmold quickly and efficiently produces these steel molds on milling
machines using a variety of tools. Their production volume can be relatively high
for machined parts, sometimes hundreds of molds per day. The molds are heavy
and can take hour to 1 hour to machine, though the pockets are generally not
much more complex than the other features being cut.
The operation that is set up for machining the 20-cm long sensor groove in one
pass uses a 2.5-cm diameter, 4-tooth end milling cutter with indexable coated
carbide inserts. The cutting speed is 210 m/min and the feed is .08 mm per
tooth.

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Machining_Processes/Milling_and_Machining_Center_Basics_Milling_Cutters_a
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1. How is 4-axis control (e.g., X, Y, Z, and B) different from 3-axis milling with
a rotary indexing table?

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2. Pocket milling on a flat surface creates a cavity that typically does not
intersect with the outer edges of the surface. A pocket could be thought of
as a multi-sided version of shoulder cutting since both a side wall and
bottom wall are often part of the pocket. Which tool is most appropriate
for pocket milling: face mill, end mill, periphery milling cutter, or
grooving/slotting cutter?

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3. What is a tombstone, and which type of milling machine configuration

typically makes use of one?

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4. The mold block must have six flat, parallel, and perpendicular surfaces
before pocketing or other features are cut. What type of milling cutter do
you think Rapidmold uses to create these surfaces?

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5. What cutter type is likely used for the insertion grooves?

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6. Explain why Rapidmold uses horizontal machining centers rather than the
more common vertical arrangement.

GO TO THE TEXT: Chapter 16

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7. Up (a/k/a conventional) milling and down (a/k/a climb) milling refer to two
forms of milling which differ only in the relative motion between the cutter
and part. Rapidmold wishes to extend the life of its cutters and achieve a
good surface finish by rigidly forcing the workpiece down against the table.
Which form of milling should they use? See Section 16.4.

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8. If Rapidmold were looking into improving productivity and reducing nonproductive setup time, could pallet shuttles potentially be helpful? Explain.
See Section 16.5.
SOLVE

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9. Use the approach in Section 16.4 to compute the machining time Tm for
end milling of the sensor groove. Use 12.5 mm for approach distance A.

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10. If new, harder indexable cutting tools allow Rapidmold to shift to highspeed machining (HSM), how will their productivity change? See Table
16.1 and assume they can maintain the same feed and depth of cut.