Part Buyers Authority Issue #1

Feedback from Customer: In January we received a suction roll from our customer in Richmond, VA for rebuild. The Tending Side Bearing/Suction Housing was cracked due to failure of the drive side housing which hung the entire roll off the tending side housing in a cantilevered condition. This was the only spare that the customer had and they feared the worst if the roll in the machine should fail as it would stop production. This roll was not manufactured by GL&V so we didn’t have a pattern from which to make a casting, nor did the client have any drawings or other records to help. Bearing Housing inspection Bottom half was found to be cracked So, we sprang into action using some new tools which have recently become available to us. We had a vendor come to Hudson Falls and 3D scan the existing housing. From this scan a drawing and a 3D model were made of the part. Contact: CARL BERUBE [email protected] 23 Click here to SUBSCRIBE or CONTRIBUTE as an author. Using the CAD tools in VXModel and the product knowledge provided by the customer, Neidrach was able to recreate the entire casting as a solid model true to design intent. Day 1 Day 2 3D Scan / bottom Half Modeled CAD Model Day 3-4 Day 5-6 Day 6-8 We sent the 3D model to another vendor that also has a tool new to GL&V: RoboMolding. Using this process a sand mold was robotically recreated of the original part (the mold is what the molten metal is poured into to make the desired shape) and a new casting was poured. RoboMolding was used for the mold New casting was poured 3D printing was used for the cores Machining Assembled back on the roll Day 9-15 Day 16 The casting then was moved to the machine shop where it was machined per the drawing created from the 3D scan. The finished part was assembled to the roll and returned to the customer. The entire process took 5 weeks to complete from the time of order. Day 26 Understanding today’s additive and advanced manufacturing technologies is critical as you never know when these technologies might be needed. Knowing that your providers also have partnerships in place to execute some of these technologies is equally important. Day 17-25