runout,” Marty admitted. “We were looking for tooling that was similar to shrink fit holders, with the shape and accessibility you could get, but we weren’t ready to step up to a full $30,000 shrink fitting package that limited us to one or two diameters.” Considering the work the lab does, easy changeover was also of critical importance. Marty explained he has to set up 10-15 tools,
The prototyping machine shop where Trek Bicycle tests and creates its latest innovations.
changing tool lengths each time, for each part Trek works on. The heating and cooling cycles involved with shrink fit tools would simply be too time consuming. After browsing tooling catalogs in search of holders that could be quick and easy to handle and with dimensions that would allow access to tricky pockets, Marty invited Mark Sazy from BIG DAISHOWA, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, to demonstrate the company’s MEGA MICRO chuck. The chuck’s narrow body, with nut diameters as slim as 0.394" (10 mm), is supported by a shallower taper angle that boosts the holder’s rigidity and limits the extreme angles needed to reach down into deeper pockets. “MEGA MICRO chucks were designed for the exact scenario Cory was dealing with in the prototype lab,” said Sazy, who specializes in value-added sales at
machined to make Trek’s most innovative ideas come to life. “Every time we run a part, it’s something new that we just fresh programmed,” said Cory Marty, senior engineering technician at Trek’s Prototype Development Lab. “Our turnaround time, from when an engineer puts in a project to the time they have something in their hands, is about 10 to 14 days. We don’t get the luxury of setting up an old job or running multiples of anything. A lot of the work we do is with tight, deep pockets—common stickouts are about 6-8×D. Every part is a first-off. Everything is 3D-surfaced, organic shapes.” When Trek recently invested in a five-axis machine tool, Marty had a big decision to make about which tools would get the most out of the new machine. Due to its deep-pocket cutting jobs, Trek needed reach more than rigidity or high-power cutting. Using CAM software, Trek could program a three-axis tool path that recognizes when the tool will collide with the model. It automatically starts tilting the tool axis out of the way to adjust for tool holder clearance. But, with standard ER 32 or 16 tool holders in a deep and tight pocket, the machine had to tilt significantly to clear the body of the holder, which resulted in unnecessary axis movements or potential machine collisions. “Every time we added an extra extension or cobbled something together, we knew we would be adding
The MEGA MICRO chuck’s extremely slim body and nut design provides superior balance and concentricity and is ideal for reaching into confined areas.
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