Because of differences in business philosophies, Snow bought his partner out and invested the needed capital in machines and software to bring the company, James Tool & Mold (JT&M) in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, up to the latest technology for mold design and production. With this equipment, they were able to shorten mold lead times to meet the demands from their customer base.

JT&M has a diversity of customers. Their primary business is plastic injection molds for a number of world-wide manufacturers in consumer goods, electronics, medical, and food dispensing markets. Annual sales are approximately $5 million.

JT&M molds are usually complex 3D designs with multiple cavities. They will prove-out short-run molds themselves or outsource them for longer runs that might require a hundred or fewer parts.

To keep up with their customer's complex designs and quick turnaround, Plant Foreman Bobby Pozzo said that the company needed to invest money in EDM machines and other production equipment, as well as upgrading their CAD/CAM software. JT&M chose an engineering software package with solids modeling that many of their customers were currently using.

They use this software to design the tool using the customer's CAD file, and have the capability to DNC download from the PC design station directly to the CNC EDM or milling machine.

In some rare cases, customers only supply the part drawings and then JT&M designs the tools. But 80% of their jobs are based from supplied usable CAD files which are mostly created from software.

Pozzo added that the company has a network with a 24-hour modem that allows customers to send files to them. With two CAD designers in-house and one on call, JT&M can quickly turn around designs.

For one job, a unique toothbrush, Pozzo said, "It was designed as a solid using the engineering software, translated via IGES surfaces into tool paths and then programmed. Shrink for the plastic was added to the design dimensions and also electrode overburn. Then we produced the electrodes for the job. The same files were also downloaded to the VMCs to machine the mold bases."

EDM Work - Key to Overall Capabilities

The next stop for advanced technology was the purchase of an EDM Solutions CNC Polaris EDM machine. They also have several manual EDM machines, but the Polaris gives them large capacity tool capability with a tank size of 60" x 40" x 24" and X, Y and Z axis travels of 24", 20" and 17" respectively.

To find the right EDM machine, JT&M compared features, service and costs of other manufacturers. They bought EDM Solutions Polaris because of the performance, machine size, ease of programming, price and technical support.

To produce an electrode for a small appliance blender, the company first took the CAM data from a tool path file. Pozzo said that they cut a .030" per side overburn to allow them to bring the electrode down at full amperage (300 amps) for a fast roughing cut. They then orbited the electrode out at .030" per side for a finishing cut.

Pozzo added, "This allows us to achieve faster roughing and finishing cuts. By using this approach, we can burn the tool 50% faster with the Polaris. It took 20 hours to rough the mold with the first electrode and 12 hours to do the finishing burn. The EDM Solutions' 300 amp generator offers around-the-clock burning capability and the use of orbiting, instead of traditional sinker methods, allows us to really blast the metal out, doing jobs in half the time."

Dwayne Voth, JT&M's Polaris operator said, "With the Polaris' larger work tank we can easily cut a large part or have the versatility to do multiple cavities, from five to 10 depending on the part size. We just program the Polaris and let it go. The Polaris' orbiting feature gives us faster burning and better electrode wear rates, instead of four or five electrodes on a typical job, we'll use two, which reduces machine time, cost of electrodes and their machining. The Polaris can orbit round and square or spherical or in a Christmas tree shape fashion. You can program in a radius, tell the machine the beginning and end points and it will do the math for you using a subroutine."

Because the Polaris uses the very latest EDM technology with more precise CNC controls and power supply, its faster overall to other machines. Plus, because it gets higher precision using an advanced Heidenhain TNC 406 CNC control, JT&M can produce much better part surface finishes, saving time in benchworking, at times from hours to minutes.

"EDM Solutions is constantly supplying us with software updates that offer new features. We feel this is important to fully take advantage of all the machine's performance. Plus when new mold materials are available, the company helps us with updated burning data programs," Pozzo said. JT&M works with tool steels like S7, H13, P20 as well as aluminum and Moldmax."

The Polaris EDM machine is now three years old. However, because of EDM Solutions' commitment and philosophy to giving customers software updates, sometimes two or three per year, the machines have the latest technology.

Table size of the Polaris is 39" x 24" with a platen size of 10" x 8". Maximum part capacity is 6,600 lbs. with ram capacity of 440 lbs. Overall machine size is 64" x 60" x 104". A C-axis head is available along with automatic tool changers and NC rotary table and dielectric fluid temperature control.

JT&M has 20 shop workers on two overlapping shifts with five people on the second shift. The average injection mold that is produced is 18" x 28" x 20" high. With the latest technology in EDM and machine tools, delivery has been shortened. They can now take from 10 weeks for some jobs (depending on the complexity) to 16 weeks. JT&M has the capability to produce three to four molds each week to help keep up with customer demand.