A Productive Advantage Over Generic & CNC Machine Shops
Our shop does not utilize CNC equipment, but rather manually/mechanically operated specialized machinery. This is because the usage of CNC machinery is impractical for the work that we perform and would only result in unnecessary higher rates and decreased productivity.
CNC machines and general machine tools (like standard knee mills) perform general jobs with no specific efficiency. They don't do any one thing real well - and they are not designed to perform any complex operation. They are very limiting in that they only run one small end mill and offer no special fixturing options. So everytime a new job comes around that can't be clamped similarly to the last one - time is wasted re-tooling and tearing down and setting up a new fixture and writing a new program and you're set back by the performance of a little end mill in a lightweight machine.
Generic manual machinery does cut out the programming time and hassle on lower quantity jobs (as does specialized industrial manual machinery) but the generic machines are lightweight, old and outdated - often with flaws in need of repair, and offer no gains in any specialization or capability. They are simply run by a person instead of a servo motor!
Instead we can apply processes and machinery that were designed to do the job at hand. Full industrial machine shop equipment designed for production with features engineered to accomplish a specific job at peak efficiency. Processes and tooling options are at our disposal. Everything from tiny abrasive hones, shell mills, large side cutting milling cutters, specific form cutters, large indexable facing mills, gang tooling where multiple cutters with multiple teeth are presented in a single cycle, etc.
For instance, instead of waiting for a tiny end mill to profile every contour to make a sprocket in a CNC - we'd do the job with a multi tooth cutter designed for the purpose of sprocket cutting in short order. Instead of chambering a deep pocket back-and-forth with a long, thin end mill prone to breaking - we'll employ a deep side milling cutter engineered to do the job in a fraction of the time - usually in one cycle! Instead of boring a deep hole in an undersized lathe with a wobbly boring bar - we can set up a honing mandrel that is designed to support the bore and get the job done in a snap with absolutely no chatter! ...and so on.
Many are not aware of the capabilities or even existence, let alone the marked gains per application of specialized machines - or that when they are offered in conjuncture they perform complex as well as general machining operations with the greatest possible efficiency - think of it as having a group of specialists that can all correspond and work together instead of a few laymen who have the same basic training. It's like employing a 'mini-factory' that gears up for a specific product and sees through each stage with peak output in mind. You get automation and uniformity through mechanical means and smart process engineering - without the waste of programming and the limitations of under-performing machinery and tooling.
General operations are still performed, but they are performed on machines built to do the jobs. Instead of having a floor of machines that repetively offer the same basic operations - we employ machines that are all distinct from one another and perform their own applications at top performance... Have surfacing done on a machine with the bulk and power to cut 24" x 24" square in a single cycle with the flip of a switch with provisions for positive measurement during the cycle - instead of a super expensive face cutter in an under powered machine that results in surfaces prone to warpage, size descrepancy (which is difficult to impossible to check without losing your setup) and damages the machine because it's not designed for surfacing. General machines simply aren't built to effectively compete on anything but generic mill and drill jobs.
Add to this the ability to perform operations only otherwise available on super expensive specialized automated equipment - without the drastic high charges. Instead we offer those difficult to source or otherwise thought cost prohibitive jobs at workshop rates. To get that from automated equipment your order would have to be in the realm of full time production quantities. With our processes there is no programming time, no paying high-dollar overhead compensation, and the 'fat' of extra personal to support those huge operations is cut out - because you don't need it in your low-mid quantity order.
