At the 2006 International Manufacturing Technology Show this September, Mold-Tech will work with Makino to demonstrate capabilities once thought impossible. They are making a prototype part to demonstrate how companies can work smarter.

"It is a fictional part, for proprietary reasons, but we'll call it a hybrid staple for the medical industry," says Lee.

"It's made in 420 stainless steel at about 52-54 Rockwell. It's a little eight-cavity mold with extremely tight detail. In the past it would not be considered for milling."

Mold-Tech will mill the part on the Makino V22 vertical machining center.

"The finishes will be adequate so that we do not have to do any polishing, because the detail is so small it would be impossible," says Lee. "The radiuses will be down to three-one thousandths, and we are cutting with a six one-thousandths diameter end mill.

"Once people can see these capabilities, they, too, will want to design their parts to eliminate sharp corners and put smaller radiuses in there, saving time and money down the road on their own projects.

"This goes all the way upstream to the part design and tool design. We now design a tool around certain capabilities that will allow us to do the mold quicker and more cost effectively, without giving up any quality or robustness on the part.

"A lot of times we get a part from a customer and the first thing we do is look at where we can take dollars out of the project if we allow geometry changes in certain areas," says Lee. "Our customers are becoming more and more receptive to those types of requests for changes, knowing that it's going to help them in the long run.

"This is another reason we've been successful and hope to continue to be successful in the future - we are helping our customers do things quicker and better than other people around the world."

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