CNC West Oct Nov Web

CNC WEST October/November 2018 www.CNC-West.com 47 and where I wanted to go, then offered up expert opin- ions. First time buyer looking for only one machine their sales rep came in, saw my shop, and was open and hon- est. We talked it over for two months before I pulled the trigger on a Ganesh SL20Y2 Swiss style screw machine. It is basically two 4 axis lathes. Cross milling, drilling, live tooling everywhere, it is awesome.” Nate ordered the Ganesh SL20Y2 specifically to ser- vice a couple of jobs he already had in house. One exam- ple is a gun barrel. It is a 4” barrel for a .22 caliber pistol. They’ve made them for years and produce up to 40,000 annually. Before getting the Ganesh Nate would rough form and part it off on the Brown & Sharpe, then center- less grind it, then gun drill it, then it needed a groove on the back, a 5 degree taper and finally knurl it. The part would sit and sit just waiting for the next operation. The Ganesh does all of that in one pass. “It was a big invest- ment for me,” explains Nate. “The machine is overkill for what I originally purchased it for. I wanted it to be future proof and offer the ability to manufacture more complex parts. Funny enough I got the second machine because customers learned I had a new machine and started hav- ing me quote more work.” He received a 150,000 annual part order from a customer out of the blue because they knew he bought a new machine. “I had to buy a second Ganesh just to keep up. I’ve got so many new parts in that I’m short on time to run the parts I originally purchased the machine to run.” The second Ganesh is an identical SL20Y2. It has the exact same everything, same bar feed- er, same controller, same tooling. Nate can run any part on either machine without making program edits. It sim- plifies things for him, plus he was so happy with the first one there was no point changing anything on the second machine. Talking with Nate he is probably most impressed by his newfound ability to produce complete parts in one opera- tion. Even the most basic of parts has become so much faster and easier. Automatic Specialty Co. runs hundreds of thousands of a simple brass lock nut. It was five ops be- fore and literally took them weeks if not months to com- plete an order while waiting on machines and changing setups. It was the first part he ran on the new Ganesh. “I set up the brass nut before I left on Thursday,” touts Nate. “Sunday morning it was done, all unattended. We cut a month of production down to one extended weekend. I’ve always liked long runs, but now I adore them even more because it is being done lights out.” Nate has moved all his multi op parts from the Brownies over to the two Ganesh SL20Y2 machining centers. If it is a super easy one op part it stays on the Brown & Sharpe…..for now. “My goal is the have three or four of the Ganesh Swiss machines running 24/7 with the least amount of human interaction possible. The Brownies served this company well for so many years that I might have one chromed as a display, but I can’t say enough how much I love my Ganesh Swiss screw machines. They are a perfect fit for what we do. I wish I had pulled the trigger sooner rather than later on that first SL20Y2.”