Industry News
Local SPE and the Governor Help Support Manufacturing in Minnesota
The SPE - Upper Midwest Section helped sponsor Minni Tek on August 18, 2009. SPE realizes small businesses and the local manufacturing sector are vital elements to keeping local economies strong, and last week, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty reinforced that message during his keynote address to a crowd of nearly 170 people attending Minni Tek, a half-day, invitation-only event organized by Vista Technologies. The educational event introduced attendees to the new methods and technologies used to manufacture low volume production parts including additive fabrication, milling and aluminum tooling.
During his speech, Gov. Pawlenty
noted that the public perception of manufacturing is 20 to 30 years
out of date, and praised Minnesota manufacturers for adopting niche
and value-added systems to counteract decline in the sector. He also
commented on the prevalence of Minnesota growth due largely in part
to in-state entrepreneurs who build their businesses locally.
The Governor had a tough act to follow, because Chapter President Richard Bopp had the podium before Governor Pawlenty to discuss the local SPE chapter and all the positives there are to joining. He highlighted the Online Technical Library, technical conferences, opportunities to network and for career development and the Golf Event on September 15, 2009. There were no member applications leftover on the Sponsor Table so we are looking for a great upswing in membership!
Dan Mishek, co-owner of VistaTek
and on the SPE Board (Membership Committee), and his grandfather, Ken
Wilson, founder of Wilson Tool, introduced the Governor together. The
event was held at North Oaks Golf Club in North Oaks, Minn. Attendees
included engineers and purchasers from companies including Medtronic,
Lockheed Martin, St. Jude, Toro, 3M and Boston Scientific.
About Minni Tek
Minni Tek strives to increase the awareness of the growing niche of low volume production and its struggles. The intention of this platform is to educate companies of new technologies and the successes that follow. For more information on MinniTek or to download the presentations, please visit www.lowvolumeproduction.com.
The session concluded with an expert panel discussion on the trends of low volume production and the implications these trends have on the Minnesota economy.
Other participating experts at the event included:
- Dr. Art Erdman, University of Minnesota, event moderator
- Gloria McDonnell, HLB Tautges Redpath, LTD., presenting on manufacturing and regulations
- Jeff Hanson, RedEye, presenting on Direct Digital Manufacturing
- Dave Reasor, Product Development Solutions, Inc., presenting on CNC Machining
- Dan Mishek, VistaTek, presenting on Rapid Tooling and Injection Molding
- Expert panelists David Sparks, Andersen Corporation; Michael Thorsfeldt, Clearfield; Paul Hennen, Donaldson; Bill Buenz, Graco; and Kimberly Stenerson, Medtronic
Local Section’s Steinwall, Inc. wins INTERNATIONAL INNOVATIVE DESIGN
During the National Plastics Expo (NPE) in Chicago, Steinwall was among 41 other companies worldwide to compete for the honor of being judged one of the best in the plastics' industry. Steinwall won for their contribution to the John Deere Seed Tube project.
The part looks surprisingly simple; yet a simple part design sometimes involves creativity and a complex mold design. The project objective was to design a one-piece molded tube given existing exterior part geometry; the current design was a clam-shell tube. The tube is used for dispensing seed into the ground and the clam-shell parting lines caused seeds to bounce resulting in variability in ground placement.
The design was achieved in three steps; first, design the curved core, than design the cooling, and finally determine the sequencing of the mold. And, this design needed to accommodate high annual volumes requiring the process to be extremely robust and repeatable.
Step One: The core needed to be both straight and curved; therefore, a double-acting slide was necessary to allow for the straight portion of the core to eject first and then a swing arm was required to allow the core to clear the cavity steel when ejecting.
Shutting off the swing-arm core also presented unique design challenges. Since the core moves on an arc, the shut off point involved dynamic analysis to guarantee proper alignment. Without proper alignment, core damage could result increasing flash at the end of the tube. This flash was undesirable as it would also cause the seed to bounce.
Step Two: Cooling the curved-core that was moving on a double-acting hydraulic slide with a swing-arm was extremely challenging! The challenge was machining ¼ inch water lines into an 18 inch curved core while maintaining steel strength. After several false attempts, the solution was to machine the water lines first in flat stock and then machine the curve.
Step Three: Final sequencing of the tool operation is very involved and took this form:
- Mold Open
- Lock Pin open
- Hydraulic slide out
- Hydraulic swing-arm open
- Mold open
- Ejection Forward
- Mold Close
- Ejection retract
- Mold close
- Hydraulic swing-arm close
- Hydraulic slide in
- Lock Pin closed
The timing of the sequencing above is crucial to producing acceptable parts. Several proximity switches were installed to increase the robustness of the operation.
The article was provided by Steinwall, Inc and for more information, you can go to www.steinwall.com/awards.html