2019cnc4-5

CNC WEST April/May 2019 www.CNC-West.com 37 on it and got the job. Then we had to figure out how to manufacture it. At the time it was the largest, most com- plex part we had ever done. We really wanted this project to set us apart from other manufacturers. And it accom- plished just that. It’s a showcase part for us still, one we are very proud of and like to show off. The challenges of manufacturing this air inlet are essentially machining a tin can from a block of billet.” The airflow inlet starts out as two pieces of billet weighing 1400lbs. The finished part when assembled together weighs a scant 18lbs. Cascade leaves a lot of chips on the floor, and if they inadvertently had a problem and scrapped one, someone would notice. “You have to machine it a certain way to relieve the stress- es in the metal,” describes Troy. “At 60” with features as thin as .060 you machine one side and if everything isn’t right you flip it over and it can curl up and become a po- tato chip. Managing thin walls requires a lot of finesse.” Cascade’s management team knew a lot was riding on the success of this project and wanted every available ad- vantage. They turned to Vericut for a couple of reasons. “This was a high visibility job and we wanted it right the first time,” tells Devon. “It is expensive material going onto a really expensive machine. One slip up in programming could cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars. Spindles are not cheap to replace, and you can’t replace lost time, it is just lost forever. You don’t want to make a call that your machine is down, and the customer can’t build planes be- cause of it. With no errors, and no problems in our pro- cess, customer confidence is reassured every time we de- liver 22 beautiful parts a month.” Troy has been a Vericut user since the early 2000’s and reaffirms how it has saved his butt many times. “As a programmer you pride yourself on being good at your job, but we all make mistakes. Veri- cut ensures those mistakes are not costly mistakes. When you start messing with giant machines chewing though large quantities of metal at a high rate of speed you want to know before that button is ever pushed that every- thing will be just as you planned. That security starts with management buying the seat of Vericut, but every step of the process builds more and more confidence. I know my programmers did their job, and thanks to Vericut the people out running the machines know that too. Vericut isn’t cheap, it’s priceless. We thank Vericut every time it catches something we missed.” Cascade’s 30 years of experience helps them thrive in a mission critical environment. As a tier 1 supplier to the biggest names in aerospace they take pride in the chal- lenges that come with that responsibility and privilege. “The average run of the mill shop doesn’t want to deal with the complexities of managing the snowflake,” con- cludes Devon. “Here at Cascade the snowflake brings out the best in us, because we start with the end in mind.” The air inlet starts out as two pieces of billet weighing in at 1400lbs. The assembled finish weight is only 18lbs. With six machining operations and multiple trips to the CMM it has become a showcase part for Cascade. They purchased their first seat of Vericut specifically for this program because of the cost and complexity associated with manufacturing. Devon Ellis, director of engineering describes it as “machining a tin can out of a block of billet.”