{"type":"slider","config":{"limitSpaceForControls":false,"pager":true,"speed":1000,"timeout":6000,"fx":"fade","preset":"header","backAndForth":"circle"}}

{"type":"breadcrumb"}

in cooperation with

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":271,"responsive":{"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

Application Report

Micro-drilling in 58 HRC pre-hardened Unimax steel

"We are now 60 percent faster"

Previously, the ejector holes at Metz Connect were wire-cut in pre-hardened Unimax steel with a hardness of 58 HRC. If the workpiece contour permits, micro drills from MOLDINO's new EMSBH-ATH series in Blumberg now do this high-precision work.

“While searching for interesting innovations in metal machining, I found the new drills from MOLDINO on the internet by chance,” recalls Konrad Reinel. “And the thought immediately occurred to me: maybe we could use them to produce our ejector holes instead of wire-cutting them.” The CAM programmer at Metz Connect GmbH in Blumberg in the southern Black Forest is also responsible for work preparation.

in cooperation with

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":271,"responsive":{"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":245,"responsive":{"x":{"ratio":"4_3"},"m":{"ratio":"original"},"t":{"ratio":"3_2"}}}}

Michael Birk (left), Konrad Reinel and Fabian Müller from Metz Connect and Timo Heimann on the far right, process optimizer at MOLDINO.

Reinel had discovered the double-edged ATH-coated micro drills from MOLDINO in the new EMSBH-ATH series. These solid carbide drills, available in diameters ranging from 0.1 to 2 mm and with a tip angle of 140°, are specially designed for drilling hardened steels with diameter tolerances in the μm range up to 60 HRC.

MOLDINO is no stranger to Metz Connect. Around ten years ago, the company began to switch to solid carbide tools from the Japanese manufacturer for HSC milling, particularly hard milling. At that time, the company was still trading under MMC Hitachi Tool.

"Today, when it comes to hard milling, we use 90 percent MOLDINO tools," emphasizes Reinel. Timo Heimann has supported Metz Connect for almost as many years. As a process optimizer, as the application engineers at MOLDINO call themselves, he is in regular contact with his customers from the tool shop in Blumberg. Reinel had approached him about his 'drill discovery,' so he visited briefly later. With him: the micro drills from the new EMSBH-ATH series.

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":248,"responsive":{"m":{"ratio":"original"},"t":{"ratio":"4_3"},"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

Konrad Reinel's CAM workstation with the mold core to be drilled, opened in PowerMILL (Autodesk, formerly Delcam).

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":252,"responsive":{"m":{"ratio":"original"},"t":{"ratio":""},"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

Teamwork: Fabian Müller (above) with the MOLDINO tools EMSBH-0080-8-ATH with a diameter of 0.8 mm diameter (left) and the DN2HC centering drill with a diameter of 3 mm (right).

Wire threading was only possible by hand

“After the short presentation by Timo Heimann, we were convinced that the new micro drills could be implemented in our process,” Reinel reports.

The underlying idea was to be able to drill ejector holes with a diameter of less than 1 mm, but above all between 0.6 - 0.8 mm, in pre-hardened Unimax steel (Voestalpine/Uddeholm).

As the holes place very high demands on accuracy - the diameter tolerance is +0/+0.005 mm - they have been start-hole drilled and wire-cut. The high accuracy is required to ensure that the distance between the hole and the ejector pin is so tight that no burrs occur when the plastic is injected. In addition, the ejector holes are eroded with a center roughness value of Ra 0.2 μm. This is necessary so that the ejector pin and the hole wear as little as possible, says Reinel, explaining the high-quality requirements for the hole surface.

"Wire-cutting the holes is incredibly time-consuming," explains Fabian Müller, a trained mechanical engineer who sets up and programs the machines. "Due to the small diameters, I have to manually insert each hole on the machine individually." This is because the 0.4 mm starting hole electrode used here produces a diameter of around 0.5 mm (often not quite round)—too small for automatic wire threading.

"I'm always standing next to it. It doesn't run overnight, and there's always the risk that the start hole will deviate or not be clean after eroding."

There were good reasons to replace this process with micro-drilling at the machining center. The hard milling for the injection molds - punching and forming tools are also manufactured in Blumberg - is mainly done on the automated RXP 600DSH from Röders.

An articulated arm robot (Fanuc) operates the 5-axis machine, half of which is also used for graphite milling at Metz Connect.

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":355,"responsive":{"x":{"ratio":"original"}}}}

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":356}}

Left: EMSBH-ATH | Micro drills
Available from DC 0.1 – 2 mm and LU up to 30xDC

Right: DN2HC-ATH | Chamfering tool
Available from DC 3 – 16 mm

"It is important that the centering drill has the same angle as the solid carbide drill used. That's why the DN2HC has two point angles, 135° for the drill and 90° for chamfering," says Heimann. "This means we only tap the hole so the EMSBH drill is centered." The following pilot drilling and finish drilling were then done with the EMSBH-ATH. "I have to run the tapping process with reduced parameters," Reinel describes the procedure, and Heimann adds: "After centering with the DN2HC, we drilled with reduced values using the EMSBH, changed over to 100% working parameters and drilled the dowel hole to a depth of 16 mm."

The micro drills can be cooled with MQL or emulsion during drilling. Concentricity of less than 5 μm must be guaranteed.

Drilling in three steps

“To determine the process parameters, we decided to first drill test holes in a Unimax remnant block on the Röders machine,” explains Reinel. This tough, hard, and extremely wear-resistant hot-work tool steel is relatively easy to machine and is used for all tools in Blumberg. “We machine all our inserts on 56 to 58 HRC pre-hardened Unimax and test all our cutting tools on this material.”

MOLDINO process optimizer Heimann recommended drilling in three steps: Centering, pilot drilling, and finish drilling. Although the pilot hole can also be milled, he opted for the special MOLDINO DN2HC centering drill with a diameter of 3 mm.

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":250,"responsive":{"m":{"ratio":"original"},"t":{"ratio":""},"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

Drilling the 8 mm deep ejector holes with the EMSBH-0080-8-ATH in the Unimax mold core. Each 0.8 mm hole took around one minute to drill.

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":253,"responsive":{"m":{"ratio":"original"},"t":{"ratio":""},"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

Even overnight: On the automated 5-axis Röders RXP600DSH with HSK-40 interface and Fischer spindle (42,000 rpm), the new EMSBH-ATH micro drills are also being used.

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":299,"responsive":{"m":{"ratio":"original"},"t":{"ratio":""},"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

Perfect: The 0.8 mm hole drilled with an EMSBH-0080-8-ATH 0.8 mm drill in Unimax at 147x magnification.

The premiere in actual production was then the drilling of the ejector holes with the parameters described above—but using an EMSBH with an 8 mm effective length—in the inserts of a segment mold. Segment because many injection molds at Metz Connect can be flexibly converted. In this case, for the lids of two—to seven-pole terminals, the running time per hole was around one minute for the nine workpieces with a total of 72 ejector holes. “Initially, we had a few problems with the cooling, which is why the drill only achieved 45 holes within tolerance,” admits Reinel. “We have now purchased new shrink-fit chucks with a cooling channel bore for internal spindle cooling. This allows us to apply the cooling to the drill precisely.”

Faster, reliable, and automatable

Like Reinel, his colleague Müller is impressed by the accuracy achieved with this drill. "We inspected the holes drilled in our test workpiece under an optical measuring device. All holes were within the tolerance of +0/+0.005 mm." The center roughness value of the drilling surface of Ra 0.2 μm was also achieved everywhere. There were no deviations in the dimensional accuracy of the entry and exit holes. "And it's always nice to see how fast it goes."

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":301,"responsive":{"m":{"ratio":"16_9"},"t":{"ratio":"4_3"},"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

The nozzle side of an injection mold, as typically used by Metz Connect. The mold is divided into segments for the flexible production of multi-pole terminals.

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":300,"responsive":{"m":{"ratio":"original"},"t":{"ratio":"4_3"},"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

Images from Metz Connect: W-LAN components

Process optimizer Heimann had prepared an economic efficiency calculation for producing the 0.8 mm ejector holes as part of the Production50® methodology developed by MOLDINO for Metz Connect. “The calculation showed that when comparing start hole and wire EDM with micro drilling, the production costs of the latter are not significantly lower,” emphasizes Reinel. However, the significant advantage is the throughput time. “Micro-drilling is almost 60 percent faster here. This means that you can probably save two weeks on some tools.” Another benefit for him is the significantly higher process reliability and the ability to manufacture unmanned ejector holes. Michael Birk, Head of Segment Molds at Metz Connect and responsible for process engineering, also sees these advantages as a significant benefit. “The successful switch to micro-drilling is another step towards the future for us: it means automating toolmaking even more extensively.”

Production50 method

MOLDINO always proceeds with optimization projects according to the Production50 method, which was developed by the Japanese cutting tool manufacturer specifically for the milling sector. The objective is to analyze the existing milling processes to gain a new perspective on the entire production process and identify improvement potential. Profitability calculations show the added value of this changeover.

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":298,"responsive":{"m":{"ratio":"original"},"t":{"ratio":""},"x":{"ratio":""}}}}

Images from Metz Connect: Dip switch, cable with plug, cable connector, terminal

Cooperation as the key to success

Metz Connect

The roots of Metz Connect GmbH go back to 1976, when Albert Metz founded RIA Electronic in Blumberg in southern Baden. The company began with the development—including toolmaking—and production of connectors for the electronics industry.

This has developed into today's globally active and still growing Metz Group, with production and sales locations in Hungary, France, the USA, and China.

The company employs around 800 people worldwide and around 650 at its headquarters in Blumberg, where the toolmaking department sits. It offers a complete range of products for the electrical and electronics sector, from connectors, terminals, cables and wires, and housings to complete system components.

The injection molding, stamping, and forming tools manufactured there are used exclusively for internal purposes. The tools for the in-house Bihler stamping and bending machines are also manufactured.

www.metz-connect.com

Contact us and take advantage of our strengths, we look forward to your challenge.

{"type":"widget","config":{"id":"9"}}

{"type":"form", "config":{"id":1, "type":"custom"}}

CONTACT DETAILS

MESSAGE

SEND

Further Application Reports

{"type":"widget","config":{"id":"7"}}

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":256,"responsive":{"x":{"hoverScale":"1_0_5","hoverTransition":"0_6"}}}}

Color Metal

Significantly shorter processing times and less tool wear after switching to new MOLDINO cutting tools

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":706,"responsive":{"x":{"hoverScale":"1_0_5","hoverTransition":"0_6"}}}}

Erwin Quarder GrOUP

Highly complex contours in the µ range and high-gloss milling on 384 measuring areas. 710 hours of machining.

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":705,"responsive":{"x":{"hoverScale":"1_0_5","hoverTransition":"0_6"}}}}

FISCHER INNOVATIVE MOULDS

Graphite milling: Three times higher feed rates, lower production costs and improved dimensional accuracy

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":246,"responsive":{"x":{"hoverScale":"1_0_5","hoverTransition":"0_6"}}}}

Metz ConNeCt

Micro-drilling in 58 HRC pre-hardened Unimax steel

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":236,"responsive":{"x":{"hoverScale":"1_0_5","hoverTransition":"0_6"}}}}

RSD Polytec

High-gloss milling with the EPDBEH tools reduces polishing costs by 30%

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":235,"responsive":{"x":{"hoverScale":"1_0_5","hoverTransition":"0_6"}}}}

Siebenwurst

Reliable and dimensionally accurate with more than 14 x D overhang length. Direct milling brings a significant reduction in process costs compared to die-sinking EDM.

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":707,"responsive":{"x":{"hoverScale":"1_0_5","hoverTransition":"0_6"}}}}

RÖDERS TEC

The P50 Accelerator -
Are you equipped for the future requirements in mold making?

{"type":"presetElement", "config":{"type":"footer"}}

Moldino
Production50
Products
Career
- Benefits
- Jobs
News
Contact
- MOLDINO Tool Engineering Europe GmbH
  The Edge To Innovation
  
  Itterpark 12
  40724 Hilden
  
  T +49 (0) 2103 2482-0
  F +49(0) 2103 2482-30
  
  marketing@moldino.eu

{"type":"hierarchy","id":3,"config":{"block":[1023],"allowPrepend":false,"description":"child"}}

{"type":"hierarchy", "id":4}

A member of

{"type":"media","config":{"type":"image","fileId":22}}