Superior Metal Products (SMP) was confronted with a common issue for many CNC machining activities: coolant and chip control. In this particular case, they found that their bar-fed CNC turning center was shooting chips and coolant back through its tubes during operation. As a solution, they 3D printed a plug that could block undesirable residuals at the back end of the tubes.
The plug itself consists of 4 parts: a threaded knob, expander, nut and an O-ring. The first 3 were all 3D printed, saving a lot of time for the company. Put together they form a blocking mechanism that prevent chips and coolant from shooting back through the tube and into the bar feeder while turning DOM tubing. After inserting it into the end of a bar and tightening it, the plug provides an effective seal and consistent push point that is perpendicular to the tube.
We struggled to find a solution that offered push-point consistency for the bar feeder and positive sealing for the various tube IDs we run. Tapered plugs tend to dislodge and leak, and care must be taken to ensure the plug end is perpendicular to the tube. Otherwise, push rod droop or tube orientation can cause push length variation. Frank O’Connor, President Superior Metal Products
3D Printed CNC Solutions
The company printed all of these parts from ABS and found the process to be both effective and cheap. Moreover, they developed a base plug design and simply modify the sealing diameters depending on the tube ID and prints. This allows them to easily scale it for other machines and tube sizes if necessary.
Superior Metal Products aren’t the only ones 3D printing tools for CNC operations. A nice example is that of this 3D printed vacuum cleaner for clearing chips and dust. Small residual materials are a typical by-product of subtractive methods like milling, so printable items like an add-on vacuum cleaner running on a small 775 DC motor go a long way to enhancing the process.
Featured image courtesy of MMS Online.