Guest Post- James Pryor II, ASH,Inc. Safety Consultants One of the most frequently cited OSHA violations in precision machining is 29CFR1910.305Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use.
The citations do not center around the factory assembled equipment-they predominatly cover how we install itin our shops the installation.
It is the installation where most problems arise. Probably not the best install: look at electrical box and wiring...
Here are 6 points of installation concern:
Temporary Wiring
Temporary electrical power
Temporary electrical installations
Cable Trays
Cabinets, boxes, and fittings
Flexible cords and cables
The equipment installation is where most problems arise. Metal raceways, cable trays, cable armor, cable sheath, enclosures, frames, fittings, and other metal noncurrent-carrying parts that are to serve as grounding conductors are a few of the areas covered in this standard.
In most shops there are three magic bullets that can make a job go better:
Tool Coatings
Tool Geometry
Tool Substrate (material) Are you guilty of magical thinking?
Magic bullet number 1- Coatings
Tool coatings are important technologies that help us get longer tool life, thus longer operating uptime and therefore more billable production (dollars) per day in our shops. But, just as cold medicine is not the cure for heart attacks, tool coatings are not always the solution for an underperforming job. On a job with interrupted cuts, the tool material- its strength and grain structure are often far more important than coating on the tool. But if the last problem that the shop had was cured with a new “super coating” you can bet that that new coating will be first to be suggested on this newest problem at hand. Magic Bullet Number 2- Geometry
Geometry is a critical component of every machining operation. Geometry is the determinant of power required, as well as strength of the tool edge and the setup. Geometry has an important role on surface finish, and in confined spaces (deep holes, parting off, grooving, etc.) the ability to control the chip with geometry alone is an important means of assuring success. While rake angles tend to be fairly typical for certain work-piece materials, there are situations where a change in geometry can solve the problem of chip clogging, rough finish, or poor tool life. Once a shop has “learned” that changing geometry can make a problem go away in a material, they tend to over generalize that lesson. While it is likely that the geometry change was effective because of the particulars of the operation, not just because of the work-piece material, changing angles jumps to the head of the line the next time a shop runs into difficulties, especially if it is the same material. Geometry and chip control is a crucial aspect of machining success, particularly in deep holes, grooves, bores and cutoffs, but it is not the only one. Magic Bullet Number 3- Substrate and Material issues
What the tool (or work-piece) is made of is another area that can mean success or failure to a difficult job. The advent of micrograin carbides was an event celebrated by machine shop owners everywhere, and developments in this area continue to improve our bottom lines. The same too, for work piece materials. Once a shop finds out that supplier “A’s” material machines fine on a job, they immediately prefer it, often times without identifying which aspects of the provision of the material are aiding their production. Some suppliers have multiple process paths to make some items, and service centers often shop the world for price or delivery, bringing the full range of global variability to bear on your job. Consistency in supply is important, but it goes well beyond the name on the tag, to parameters of the processing and sourcing of the material itself. It’s not a single magic bullet. For each workpiece material, feature to be produced, machine tool, there is an optimum combination of tool substrate, geometry, and coating to produce the part to print with a minimum of downtime and management hassle. Looking for a magical single solution is generally the wrong approach.
To help you ensure safe and healthful working conditions in your establishment. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified and sent letters (OSHA LETTER) to approximately 14,600 workplaces with the highest occupational injury and illness rates and is urging the employers to take action to remove hazards causing the high rates.
The employers are those whose establishments are covered by Federal OSHA and reported the highest “Days Away from work, Restricted work or job Transfer injury and illness” (DART) rate to OSHA in a survey of 2009 injury and illness data. For every 100 full-time workers, the 14,600 employers had 2.5 or more injuries or illnesses which resulted in days away from work, restricted work or job transfer. The national average is 1.8.
The letter encourages employers to consider hiring an outside safety and health consultant, talking with their insurance carrier, or contacting the workers’ compensation agency in their state for advice. An excellent way for employers with 250 or fewer workers to address safety and health is to ask for assistance from OSHA’s on-site consultation program. The consultation program is administered by state agencies and operated separately from OSHA’s inspection program. The service is free, and there are no fines even if problems are found. The letter tells the employer where the OSHA consultation program in that state may be contacted. The data collected were designed to provide establishment specific injury and illness information.
Sound Familiar? That’s because they did the same thing last year. OSHA Link (on this page is a link to a .zip file with who was sent the letter this year.)
Got a press release from Federal EPA a few days ago. It seems they were proud of their “consulting.” Imagine that, I thought. Imagine if the EPA consulted with Manufacturers and the regulated community. Imagine consulting and working together. Strikeouts and substitutions mine. “EPA Releases Final Policy for Consultation and Coordination with Indian TribesManufacturers “WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final policy on consultation and coordination with Indian tribesManufacturers. EPA is among the first of the federal agencies to finalize its consultation policy in response to President Obama’s first tribal leaders summit in November 2009, and the issuance of executive order 13175 to establish regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with tribalManufacturers officials in the development of federal policies that have tribalManufacturers implications.
“EPA is dedicated to strengthening our collaboration with tribes Manufacturers and ensuring that they have a voice and a seat at the table on the issues that touch their health and their economy,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “President Obama has directed agencies across the federal government to revisit and update the ways we work together with tribal nationsManufacturers, a step that is critical to meeting the needs of today and ensuring our communities are cleaner, healthier and more prosperous heading into the future.”
“The final policy builds on EPA’s 1984 IndianManufacturing? policy and is intended to make good on the Obama administration’s commitment to strengthen tribal partnershipsManufacturing by establishing clear agency standards for the consultation process, to promote consistency and coordination. The policy establishes a new, broader standard for the types of actions that may be appropriate for consultation and makes clear the two-way nature of government-to-government consultation by inviting tribesManufacturers to request issues for consultation.Actions that may be appropriate for consultation include developing standards, guidance, policies, permitting decisions, and activities under international agreements.The policy also establishes a management, oversight and reporting structure that will help ensure accountability and transparency by identifying responsible individuals in each office and requiring EPA program and regional offices to identify actions appropriate for consultation at least twice a year.” Original News Release Imagine. “Identify actions appropriate for consultation at least twice a year.”
Here is a post to print out and put in your tool box for reference if you work in the shop…
It’s the machinists in the shop that get a first sense of “Something is Different” or “Something Changed” when a new batch of material is put into production. In my experience, these are the five things to check to confirm that it is a purchasing/ supplier issue rather than the machining process out in the shop.
Different Supplier
Different Process
Different Than Ordered
Different Deoxidation
For Machining- Significantly Different Sulfur
Different Supplier-Different suppliers can have different processes, recipes, standards, and practices. Changing or mixing suppliers can induce more variability in a process than an out of control operator in the shop. Different Process-Maybe it is the same supplier- company, or location. but perhaps they can make the product on two or more different process lines. maybe one from a coil to bar, the other from bar to bar. Maybe the straightners are different. Different Than You Ordered-Maybe you ordered Cold Drawn and they supplied you with Cold Finished. In Cold Drawing, the cold work of die drawing adds strain which changes the material’s mechanical properties. Cold Finished could include cold drawing, but often means hot roll that has been turned and polished to get the same tolerance and surface finish, but does nothing to change the material’s mechanical properties. Different Deoxidation-Maybe you ordered aluminum fine grain, and they supplied Vanadium. Maybe you wanted Silicon .10 max coarse grain practice, and the only steel in stock was .15-.35 silicon killed and your purchasing department said, “Yeah, we’ll take it.” Different deoxidation can affect mechanical properties too. For Machining-Significantly Different Sulfur Levels-There are several “tipping points” for sulfur in the non- free-machining grades of carbon and alloy steels. Steels showing a Sulfur analysis of 0.020% minimum never were submitted to me for machining claims in over 20 years of managing labs and claims in my steel mill career. Steels below 0.018% would often be sent back, especially in plain medium carbon grades like 1045 and 1050. Typically the customer would complain about fighting it to get production.
Steels below 0.015% Sulfur would almost always elicit a very heightened urgency from the customer who couldn’t keep tools in the machine and couldn’t get finish. Steels below 0.010% almost always got a call from their VP to our VP who then put me on the case. This is especially true in medium carbon alloy grades (4140 etc.) where the material is challenging anyhow, especially on screw machines.
I had one claim once upon a time for a batch of 4140 with 0.003% Sulfur. The guys in the shop called it “Toolproof.”
So these are five quick items to check on the material certs to see of the unexpected variability you are encountering in the shop might, just might, be the result of supply chain changes upstream of your screw machines. (Note: My experience was primarily supplying the shops running high volumes on cam automatic screw machines. Even with carbides, coatings and cnc controls, the 5 items listed above can make a serious difference in your shop’s performance.)
The odds are pretty slim you’ll make it into professional athletics.Time spent on math and science can assure you of a well paying professional career, even if you choose not to go to college. Machinists make the bone screws that engineers designed that physician surgeons install in injured professional athletes.
Professional Athletes: 16,500 positions; Average Salary $79,460; source BLS 2008 http://www.bls.gov/k12/sports02.htm Professional Engineers: 1,600,000 positions; Average Salary $79,000 (my quick estimate from a look at the table) http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm
You have a roughly the same chance to make the same wages by choosing engineer or athlete, the number of potential positions improves dramatically for engineers. Physicians and Surgeons: 661,400 positions; Average Salary $186,044 source BLS 2008 http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos074.htm Machinists: 380,720 positions; Average annual earnings $38,940, (Aerospace machinists $43,110) http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes514041.htm
I compile employment and compensation data for the PMPA, and the BLS machinist data seems to understate the wages of top performers.
And the BLS data seems to indicate straight time only. (Not include overtime.) Yes maybe some day I will pay $50 a ticket to watch you play your sport. But based on the number of positions, chances are I’m going to pay a heck of a lot more for your professional work product if you become an engineer, a physician, or a machinist.
If you can do the math, you can see how these odds work for you. Come join us in our world of applying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – in Manufacturing. We can help you find productive use of your talent and skills.
We’re the People Who Make Things.
Guest post by Mark J. Perry
The Port of Los Angeles released data April 14th on March shipping volume, and the number of loaded outbound export containers in March surged to a new, all-time record high of 192,849 TEUs (20-foot-long cargo containers), far surpassing the previous record of 175,262 TEUs set back in August of 2008 (see chart above). Total shipping volume at the Port of Los Angeles in March was 600,796 TEUs, which was the highest shipping activity for the month of March in four years, since the 629,000 TEUs in March of 2007 before the recession started. Hopefully, these shipments include manufactured items, too, not just waste paper and scrap metals.
The export surge in March could be attributed to: a) the falling value of the U.S. dollar making American products more competitive in world markets, and b) the general economic worldwide recovery leading to increased demand for U.S. products overseas. In either case, the BEA trade report for March should reflect a huge increase in U.S. exports, which would have a positive impact on first quarter GDP. Speaking Of Precision: We are encouraged by this news, but wonder just what is in all those containers, as the US’s top ten container exports tend to be waste paper and other scrap and raw materials. Not a lot of value added. Perry Link Waste Paper
The products of the shops that belong to the Precision Machined Products Association are incorporated in nearly every technology. Automotive, Medical, Aerospace, Home technologies like HVAC, Gas and Electric Appliances, Plumbing, Electrical, Electronic, and a host of others you might not think of like Food and Beverage Equipment, Munitions, Off Road and Construction Equipment.
A record high for our industry sales index!
PMPA’s Index of Sales of Precision Machined Products in March 2011 jumped to 129, a newrecord high. The previous high value for our Sales Index was 128, achieved and reported only twice before- in March of 2007 and in March 2006. This was a 15% increase over February’s index of 112 (adjusted to 112, originally reported as 110); it reflects a 42% increase in sales from December 2010 levels.
Over 80 shops participated. Sixty-four percent of respondents reported double digit sales increases.
Given the ubiquity of the applications for precision machined components in manufactured goods of all types, the PMPA’s latest Business Trends Sales Index provides compelling evidence of the recovery of manufacturing.
Machinability of carbon and alloy steels is a shear process. Working the metal (Shearing to create chip) provides heat. The subsequent sliding of the produced chip on the face of the cutting tool provides heat as well.
Three ways to improve machinability include
Optimizing the chemistry to provide for a minimum shear strength
Adding internally contained lubricants
Adjusting cold work
The steels that we are talking about are in large part composed of the ferrite phase. This is advantageous to us as machinists, because it has a relatively low shear strength.
Because ferrite is also ductile, it does not cut cleanly and tends to tear. Grade 1008 or 1010 are prime examples of how pure ferrite machines. Long stringy, unbroken chips, torn surface finishes and lots of machine down time to clear “birds nests” are typical results.
Adding carbon up to a point improves machinability by adding a second harder phase (pearlite) into the ferrite. The good news is that up to a point, the chip formation is greatly improved, and surface finish improves somewhat. The bad news is that the shear strength of the steel is also increased. This requires more work to be done by the machine tool.
Addition of Nitrogen and Phosphorous can not only increase the shear strength of the ferrite, but also reduce the ductility (embrittle it).This ferrite embrittlement promotes the formation of short chips, very smooth surface finishes, and the ability to hold high dimensional accuracy on the part being produced. The downside is that these additions can make the parts prone to cracking if subsequebnt cold work operations are performed.
The graph below shows how cold work (cold drawing reduction) works in combination to reduce chip toughness, resulting in controlled chip length, improved surface finish, and improved dimensional accuracy of the part. To read the graphs, the Nitrogen content is shown in one of two ranges, and Phosphorous content is varied as is the amount (%) cold work. You can see how the synergistic effects of these two chemical elements when appropriately augmented by cold work, can drop the materials toughness by as much as 80-90%.
Phosphorous and Nitrogen affect ductility; Cold work further activates their effect.
Add to that internal lubrication by a separate manganese sulfide phase or a lead addition, and now you can see how these factors can make grade 1215 or 12L14 machinable at speeds far, far, faster than their carbon equivalent 1008-1010. With greater uptime and tool life.
Internal Lubricant- Manganese Sulfides
And you thought that cold drawing just made the bar surface prettier and held closer in size…
I went to judge the F1 In Schools State Championships in Pennsylvania. I was delighted to see the skills and talent in so many of todays students. Best Engineered, Fastest Car, 2nd Place High School
The Formula One Technology Challenge involves a five-step process that meets the standards for technological literacy, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (www.nctm.org) and the National Science Teachers Association (www.nsta.org). The five steps are design, analyze, make, test, and race. The Formula One Technology Challenge was to create and build a balsa racer that meets demanding specifications using CAD software, CAM software, CNC milling, testing for aerodynamics (virtual or actual). Competitors had to create documentation, make a verbal presentation, and of course, race their cars. Each group was also evaluated on their marketing, branding and sponsorship efforts as well. Design, Test , Manufacture PA State Champs Predator Pine Richland H.S.
Sixteen teams amounting to almost 100 students were on site in this competition. Five teams qualified to go to the National Championships- Pine Richland High School, Predator Racing, earned the State Champion title. Elizabethtown Middle school (2nd) Ninja’s and Donegal Middle School (3rd) Twisters also earned their trip to the Nationals. Manheim High School (2nd) PA Hardcore and North Lebanon High School (3rd) (AeroBreakerz) also qualified for the U.S. National competition. 3rd Place North Lebanon H.S. AeroBreakerz 2nd Place Elizabethtown Middle School Ninjas 3rd place Donegal Middle School Twisters Learned About Teamwork
Major industry support included Denford Products (www.hitechinc.us/denford—cadcamcnc.html); 484 Consulting, LLC, whose CEO, Paul Koontz, actually chaired the Pennsylvania State Championships. HITechinc (www.hitechinc.us) sponsored the state event for Pennsylvania and their president, Brian Haskell coordinated the event. Synergis (www.synergis.com/home), the Autodesk software distributor provided $1500 in award monies. Their Tim Varner lead the engineering evaluations of the submissions. Synergis: Financial and judging support plus gave awards
Looking for skills and talent? What can you do to help your local schools cultivate your local talent? These companies and schools are working together through F1 in Schools Challenge to make a difference for their communities.
