We do milling, lathe, and molding of medical products. The customer prints are clearly from metal machining backgrounds or worse yet first year trade students. 0.002 flatness on polyWarpylene? Critical dims of non-form/fit/function areas? Arc-radius less than 1 degree on an internal surface? Your first line of defense is a good DFM discussion with the customer. We also use bosses for sensitive materials even with Schunks. More plastics vids, Titan! Thanks.

@robguyatt9602

2 жыл бұрын

Excellent point. Years ago I was asked to machine a part that was drawn by a 1st year Mech Eng student. It was impossible. So knowing the application, I redesigned and produced the part. It took some back and forth with the client to get them to at least give the part a try even not to their drawing. The client's response when they did put the part into use was quite pleasing :) As to plastics, I've been making tiny parts in Acetal including gears (0.5 m) for decades. It's a magic material to work with.

@VPEEK

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed you can always tell if someone isn't use to designing plastic parts from the tolerance. It's also tiring having customers complain their plastic parts with really tight tolerances are out of tolerance. Only to find out they aren't inspecting them in a climate controlled inspection room and that temperature difference is what's putting the parts out of spec.

Tested Positive for COVID 5 Days ago. Did the audio for today’s KZread video in my Closet last night at 10pm and sent it to my son Chris who is visiting family in Maui… which puts him 5 hours behind me. He blasted BRoll of the actual parts and fixtures that I talked about and BOOM… Loaded to KZread. This morning, I woke up at 8am… which is later than my usual 4:45am and drug myself out of bed… I think my symptoms are way better than most… just deep throat congestion and crazy body soreness. Took vitamins and Motrin and sat down with my coffee… Opened KZread and started going through your comments… I love my job so much and love the community we have built… Reading through all of your comments and hearing from everyone made me so happy and fulfilled. I wasn’t feeling it last night and had to work to clear my throat enough to speak clearly… But as a very experienced machinist, there is nothing I would rather do than to share my knowledge and watch others benefit from it… It’s my Passion. I love this Trade and Love All Of You!!! Worse part of COVID for me personally is the fact that I have to stay away from my team for a few weeks… But will say… I am so incredibly Blessed to have Built the Best Team in Industry. I love that I can go through something like this and KNOW… Our company moves forward without skipping a Beat. Hope you all have a very Blessed Sunday!!! PS. Everyone at the shop is perfectly healthy… I got it from my beautiful wife Gina… She went through a hard week, and now she is perfectly fine😁🙏🙏🙏 Love you guys… BOOM! Titan

@dfpolitowski2

2 жыл бұрын

I had that thing last October. It is like a normal flu but it comes on much faster, so fast I was too tired to finish the day at work. I had to go home at noon and crash. Didn't have the energy to get out of bed the next day. But got back to normal strength in 4 days. Take care.

@julianlay4181

2 жыл бұрын

Good luck from the UK Titan.

@lo-fivibes96

Ай бұрын

I wish you a speedy recovery

This is so wonderful that you're freely sharing what you've learned! Others would consider the things you share to be trade secrets and the how would never leave their lips. Thank you for expanding our world and helping everyone to learn and grow! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! :)

My Man, always thinking outside of the box. My first boss always used to tell me you have to be smarter than the material! 👍👍🤙

For somebody currently learning the trade of machinist and cnc programming you are an inspiration. I loved the trade soon as I started training but no plan for a future. You and your videos have helped make that clear for me. Thanks Titan. Boom.

You are so right Titan, getting the method, work holding and sequence is important with all jobs but even more so with Plastic. It's great that you freely share the the knowledge you have gained, let's hope it continues long into the future.

It’s amazing how you freely share your knowledge, experience and trade secrets.

This takes me back, I started my machining journey as a sealmaker. Delrins, nylons, poly materials and Teflon composites were my playground, as well as the rubbers and urethanes. Each having their own set of issues.

If you take a super sharp end mill like a YG alu power and dynamically face parts with a .05 stepover but super fast you can face plastic without much tool pressure. Got a 16 surface finish on UHMW that way on one parts.

Loved hearing the details of this process. Looking forward to more videos like this

It's funny how plastics are harder to machine because they are softer. I believe that most machine shops just don't think outside the box, which is why only a Titan could figure this out.

@TITANSofCNC

2 жыл бұрын

Competing is a mental game… That’s what I try to teach everyone on this channel. Let’s show you how to cut chips efficiently but also speak to the mental aspects of the business so you can outcompete the competition, make money, build a great team and culture… and just have fun.

My experience with plastics was how they can easily blow a corner or edge out as the cutter comes off the job . This was still a pressure issue and the tool was not sharp enough .

@hiemabedrog

2 жыл бұрын

Always "eat" into the part

@davidtheswedishtechguy

2 жыл бұрын

We often go the other way and use doll or heavily used tools when we have a problem cutting plastic, often the tools are to sharp and that's what gives us problem som times😆

We've bean cnc plastic for 40 years and every part and every day is a new part and a new day😂🤮 We work a lot with round stock and all kinds of plastic and you have to be all over it when manufacturing cause even one degree colder or hotter could get you off buy ~0.05mm and not only that there's tension in every extruded plastic or raw stock and you don't have that in metal in the same way.. We also never use coolant, we machine it dry as a bone👌 keeps our cnc machines as new for a lifetime to🤜😁 There one part that we have done for years and it's 1200mm seal in nylon and to get that right my boss dose that by hand on a big lathe, I think we get a order by 3 a year and we're the only one doing this part in Europe, no one els take it on and my boss learned how to do it from the previous owner that was a real old school.

Hey titan! I just wanted to say you’ve inspired me greatly. I have started up a machine shop a year after I graduated and we machine plastic. I have a total of 3 machines. We are an all female ran machine shop. You and Ed Daughtery inspired me. Thank you

@velobob4299

2 жыл бұрын

That's great! I'm a retired toolmaker. Old school 'on the handles' as we say in the uk. When I finished my aprentaship in the late 70s I was given the opportunity to work in the toolroom. Worked with a lady toolmaker (a rare thing back then) for about 4yrs. She was absolute mustard. Milling Turning Grinding EDM. Good luck Lorena.

@TheGirlwiththepants

2 жыл бұрын

@@velobob4299 thanks so much. My dad is a master tool and die maker. He’s been doing this for over 35 years. He teaches me so much. I’ve been learning the old school way to set up instead of what we learned in school. Love being a machinist. I want to inspire kids that are my age about blue collar jobs! Cheers

One thing I also learned very bloody quickly is that plastic cutters need to be razor sharp. I keep a special box with cutters apart specifically for plastics as even lightly working soft metals like alu ruins them. Thanks for the tips Titan, as well as other commenters! Love to hear from experienced vets in the trade.

The insights you share are out of this world 🙏

I work solely with plastics. Teflon, Natural Poly, Pvc, etc. Thin walls are always a nightmare. Might try these fixtures on some parts. Great ideas from titan, as usual.

When i machined delarin i always machine outside first then do inside to do the finish side make a block to sit inside to try keep the part as solid as possible. Had parts fly or bowed trying to find the sweet spot. Making jaws of same material to hold the part is alway useful i found when making some weird and wonderful shapes.

Fun fact. You can grind acetal copolymer (Delrin) to within those specs on a decent standard shop grinder and fly cutting does wonders too. From someone who has spent the last 10 years in medical where we use delrin and PEEK extensively for fixtures/machines because of its non porosity and chemical resistance.

@robguyatt9602

2 жыл бұрын

Hi James. I make gears for my products from Acetal but would like a bit more strength. I've not tried Peek yet. Any thoughts? Specs show a significant increase in tensile strength vs Acetal. But there are several varieties of Peek.

@jamesg8246

2 жыл бұрын

@@robguyatt9602 I have seen gearsets made of peek in some things. I'd try it. It is a bit tougher than Delrin and I believe it has a higher resistance to the effects of heat. Even more life can be had with glass filled PEEK but not sure how that impacts machine ability or finish. Haven't used both.

Great video titan, It's sort of like a wood-working technique: if you can't finish something nicely, exactly to the spec, you leave some gaps and then lightly sand it off.

Just about to close on my first space and get a doosan DNM machine. A lot of my work is outsource from my day job, tons of delrin and PEEK parts for all of the usual big customers. Excited to use some of Titans tricks for nailing depths and finishes in plastic🔥

@TITANSofCNC

2 жыл бұрын

Nice, We have a lot of cool tricks coming up and more plastic videos.

Just wait till you try turning UHMWPE

Trick process! Nice work!

Had to turn some Delrin rods at 3/8 diameter, about 12" long. With +-.01" on the length it should have been a breeze, but sure enough, one cold winter they inspected a batch as soon as they received them and rejected them. We got them back and they were in fact undersize, but once at room temp they were well within tolerance. Plastics can be a pain, don't even get me started on Teflon...

@robguyatt9602

2 жыл бұрын

I machine Acetal too. My parts are for my own products. Nothing like the length of that part. But it raises a point I never thought about. If I was sending my drawings out to other shops I think in the notes I would require that tolerances be held when the part is in a certain temperature range. I learned very early on not to mike a part straight off the lathe. Let it cool. I now use compressed air as coolant. Actually, I like doing Teflon. Nowhere near as good to machine as Acetal but :)

@joebender557

2 жыл бұрын

I believe nominal inspection temperature should be 68°

@diditwork370

2 жыл бұрын

@@joebender557 SATP is a real thing

Awesome video👍

Ah I remember the days of having fun with Delrin, UHMW, Teflon. Hate machining plastics lol. Stuff gets everywhere.

Excellent problem solving. Plastic is most definitely harder to machine than metal. I had the same problem and solution in my years as a machinist. Delrin was one of the easier plastics to machine. UHMW was probably the greatest challenge because there's stress in the stock so as you cut it away the stress relieves and the part deforms. I had to rough cut, then leave the parts on the bench for a day to let the material stabilize. Then come back and finish the next day.

Enjoying the show

Plastics are absolutely harder to machine to tight tolerance’s. Not to mention how tough it is when the part has to be submerged 100 ft deep in the ocean.

@matth1210

2 жыл бұрын

Had this problem customer and boss blamed me for part leaking. They checked my seal and dimensions everything was perfect to there drawing. Turns out they didn't put enough bolts on the drawing so it wasn't putting pressure evenly on the seal so i had to drill and thread more holes i never got a apology from the customer or my boss.

YOU DID THE IMPOSSIBLE!!!! GENIUS!!!!

Due to the low stiffness of plastics, it's easy to put 1/2% strain into a part with clamp loads. I.e. 0.005" off per inch of part. So excellent practice to back off the clamp pressure for the finish pass.

you should make a video going over speeds and feeds for Delrin parts. also what tools work best for it. coatings vs uncoated. I personally am not a fan of machining plastic at all!!!

use a freeze spray to keep the parts cold

Thank you Titan

When i was in school you started out with delrin. It's supposed to be easier to cut but you blow put edges of you don't do it right and for turning taking light cuts is never your friend. Taking big heavy cuts on stiffer uncut material makes a nice string fly off and leaves a great finish and hits size better

Plastic is much less stabil, and ends up curling and twisting when you mill the center out of it especially with thin wall thickness. Inconel is like machining rocks, but at least it stays put. As long as you use sharp tools and don't crush it, Inconel machines pretty consistently. Another good video Bud

Titan, every time I want to throw in the towel I watch your shows and it inspires me to keep trying. The only way that I know how to mass produce my product is by injection molding. I don't have the finances for the molding. It would be nice to find someone in the business that believed in my product that could lead me in the right direction. Seems like I've found every dead end road there is!

@jacks19822

2 жыл бұрын

Make a 3D print, and then CNC them out to show your clients. You will never regret it. CNC is a absolute must, before deciding to make ANY injection molded parts.

@allenhuebner6251

2 жыл бұрын

@@jacks19822 Your correct Nathan, I've had many made out of cnc. I'm way beyond that stage

@jacks19822

2 жыл бұрын

​@@allenhuebner6251 Great to hear someone succeeded watching titan.

@allenhuebner6251

2 жыл бұрын

@@jacks19822 I'm sure that many have but in my situation I'm far from success. I've had molding companies tell me to my face that they don't deal with people like me just because I'm a nobody I guess. Buy American products they say but the cost of molding here in the US is far from what I can afford and now it's going to cost me another 20k for import tax but yet still cheaper. So now I'm planning on selling my house to get the funds for the molding and have a company here in the US mold my product if I ever get to that point. Like I said many times I wanted to just quit but following people like titan gives me a little push to keep trying!

@jacks19822

2 жыл бұрын

​@@allenhuebner6251 I agree, Design and MADE in USA is going to be the most important trend in the coming years, as we all know consumers like to support local brands. About local mold factories: It's all about relationship, if you visit them in person, it would be quite different. My recommendation is if you really couldn't get them to make a mold, try a mold factory elsewhere, and get your product off the ground first, then after you have volume, do it locally in US. (the cost difference would be around 2~5 times, just have to bite the bullet) You can always say your product is designed & assembled in US. (like Apple) (Above is exactly what I'm doing with my own product, I need our product made locally, sell locally and even recycle locally. this is the only way we'll create sustainable local jobs & local designs in the destination market, also to give new brand a kick since many people love to buy brands originated in their own country. [too many made in china piece of shite ])

I cut plastics on a haas mini mill for five years it was for suction and discharge valves for offshore natural gas compressors And yeah you can plunge all the way thru the plastic and chips fly just like milling the valves it take the other machines 4 to 5 hours for 1 set of valves and it take me less then a minute for the plate from my machine

Did you try using the same material as Jaws material to clamp, I'm assuming you used the aluminium as the jaw, I've used HDPE or vesconite or ertylite as clamp material on the respective materials to be cut, leaving no marks on parts, but also considering how hollowing out will warp a part, so rough out then finish, or "kiss" like you call it!

I think that you are slowly turning me into a CNC kinda guy, ty for saving me

@TITANSofCNC

2 жыл бұрын

Nice🙏🙏😁

@matthewj1489

2 жыл бұрын

O ya please keep making this kinda content, it’s freaking awesome to watch not to mention if your changing me into a cnc guy, imagine all the kids that could get behind this.. You got no where else to go but up!! Inspirational for real!

I always love a challenge with different products. Try working with stone and glass it's a different world.

Smart to rough everything low as possible with not messing up the parts on the the first pass

Plastic is always a challenge, though my specialty is in turning. I assume that material is acetyl, which is no problem if clamping pressures are kept low. The bigger challenges are in softer materials such as Teflon and Ertalon.

Not just plastic, but every material will stress relieve.

I was thinking almost the same setups. I dunno how people don't know how to machine plastics, that's like half the parts in The Bay. Those are standard setup proceedures at every shop I've worked in. 😂

I've made plastic parts that I had to start with 1/2" extra on the length. After roughing, the part shrank almost 3/8 on the length.

Thanks for the info. BOOOOOOOM!!

Titan, havev you milled composites honeycomb cores (nomex or kevlar). Very special material for aresopace sector. Special tools and vacuum clamping necessary

Sometimes there are no short cuts when machining soft material with tight tolerance. Months ago, I was making some HDPE parts for food industry, and it was a nightmare. The part is about 12” X 12” X 1” and has a .002” flatness call out and .002” tolerance on the depth of the step. The part is so sensitive with the pressure. a little bit of force can move all your dimensions out of the tolerance.

I'm a machinist for a plastic molding company.. you would be surprised how tough plastic can be. It will explode. Glass filled materials will wear your tools out rather quickly. Coming up with ways to hold them is challenging. It will melt on you. It will warp.

Id like to see a vid on rubber I cut a rubber stamp once and used air duster to freeze it

Specialized in Vesconite & coefficients of friction played a huge part of machining, Now it can be 3D printed, Titan (dove tail ) stones were USED in the building of lighthouses 250 yrs ago Major breakthrough for mankind Their is Vision in the Outlook

Although I work with tight tolerances not so much with plastic. And yes I would probably be ripping my hair out on something like that, mostly due to the fact that if I do it there is only 1... 5 at the most. I'll always look for quick and easy fixturing methods. An old co worker of mine would always fight for pallets, and dovetails, and I would respond with: "there is only 2 or so parts". The fixturing is harder to make than the parts themselves.

For plastic - all your tools must be super sharp, or they will melt it. For steel - it will cut anyway. ; )))

@hiemabedrog

2 жыл бұрын

My personal experience is a slightly used carbide cutter, it gives the smoothest cuts.

@davidtheswedishtechguy

2 жыл бұрын

Disagree, we often use doll or used tools cause to sharp are often the problem in som plastic.

Been doin hdpe for years dont even think about it any more

When i was in school for machining our teacher said more kids break tools in plastic than any other material (that the school was willing to provide). People would often think oh aluminum is softer than steel so i can go faster in aluminum. Well plastic is softer than aluminum so i must be able to go super fast. But then the plastic melts to the tool loads it up and snap. Or the plastic slipped in the vise.

We machine allot of plastic for our products in house and it’s tricky as fuck. Finish inconsistent billet to billet, tolerances hard to hit, drilling leaving nasty holes and so on. Every plastic has its cheeky differences. Machine on a hot day vs cold day. Eg… put some plastic billets in the fridge and take them out just prior to cutting if you want finish to be consistent billet to billet. We basically design around it now tho. Hart to wreck a tool on plastic but it’s a challenge none the less

The toughest plastic I ever machined was called rexolite. It was very brittle and would crack and shatter.

Some plastic parts seem to have areas that are completely impossible to machine. Areas that can only be achieved by precision injection molding!

interesting sir,,,👍👍💝💝✌✌

I am like thinking that there is insane callouts on flatness and parallelism and all on a plastic part that is going to deform like hell just by looking at it.

@robguyatt9602

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly. I strongly suspect tolerances called for are often excessive and unnecessary for the job. It just adds to the cost of the part.

It's all about Is the work holding with plastic

Plastic is hard to machine because it’s easy to warp. I’ve had success using light vise pressure like the way you described

A motor cage machined fully out of plastic...was drilling mounting holes for plastic insulator bushings too difficult?

Slides in and cannot pull out…..story of my life 🍻

Was that the company that makes alot of pumps?

I've read and heard that cutting tools you intend to use for plastics should remain cutting only plastics, and that once they cut metals it becomes troublesome using again for plastics. What are your thoughts?

is it even possible to be parallel within .001" to a flat surface that can vary by .002"? i think the parallelism tolerance should be .002". nice looking parts there Titan and great strategy.

@andrewdiehl5746

2 жыл бұрын

Sure, depends on the relative lengths of the surfaces.

Plastic can really suck to machine. Soft, so it can be tough to hold. Hard to keep flat and prevent warping

Plastics are harder to machine in my opinion. The first delrin part I ever made gave me fits on repeatability at first until I figured out it was warping up.

Hoging in=? Can You explain

Which material it is? Any specific make and grade?

@TITANSofCNC

2 жыл бұрын

Watch the video.

We are winning a lot of repeat medical ABS parts.

what kind of plastic is that?

I would of made steel jaws for my tooling !

Hello titan sir how r u i want a job as programmer or operator in ur workshop

I have been marching plastics for over 30 years very intricate parts People think it’s magic😁

Try grinding centerless 286 is hard as fuck sizes go all over place

Inconel to most manual machinist ,is considered a tough metal.not hard.plastic is Micky mouse to machine.you titan figure out how plastic works under pressure. Hence the saying grace under pressure. Most of time I use tool steel cutter with positive rake.shear action is better than peel action.

Titan. Every work carbon nanotubes or transparent aluminum

I have nightmares about turning PE1000. horrible stringy stuff.

lsm!

Best way to machine plastic is to use a totally different kind of cnc machine from a lathe or mill. It’s called a 3D printer.

@brandons9138

2 жыл бұрын

Nope. 3d printers can't come anywhere near holding these type of tolerances.

Always hated machining plastic.

I dont think machining plastics are difficult. I have been in this trade for 20+ years, machining all types of engineering plastics,making 30k holes of 0.015 holes on 1 small part. Flatness 0.02mm...😅

Delrin? Ha! Uhmw? Ha! Fr-4? Ha! Ect ect. Now when your holding tight tolerance on teflon come talk to me…. Black magic. Teflon changes size if you look at it funny

Why no carbon fiber ? Better than plastic

a bit confused as to why you would machine plastics in the first place

@TITANSofCNC

2 жыл бұрын

🤔To Make Money😂😂😂

@tarehjernetarehjerne4082

2 жыл бұрын

@@TITANSofCNC I am no expert, but plastics have the advantage of being easy to melt and form. Seeing you had sufficient volume, plastic injection molding can yield 5 thou or less of tolerance. Proper calculation with thermal expansion can you approach 2 or 1 thou of tolerance. Form tolerance as you spoke about seems (to me) overrated as plastics can’t hold their form as metals can. I’d love yo hear why you chose to do it this way

@brandons9138

2 жыл бұрын

Injection molding is far more expensive than machining.

@andrewdiehl5746

2 жыл бұрын

​@@tarehjernetarehjerne4082 There are a million reasons to use plastics over metals. Frction, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, chemical resistance just to name a few.

@tarehjernetarehjerne4082

2 жыл бұрын

@@andrewdiehl5746 Thats not my point. Why would you resort to machining it over different methods?

Completely different processes. I hated doing plastics, the operators just would follow the instructions correctly to run them. They would fall back into their habits from running metal, and would just cause their own failures, time and again.

@biytor9071

2 жыл бұрын

Here's a good example. Customer went from aluminum to delron for an adjustment rod in an assembly we machined all the parts for. Programed the job, and had to slow down the process to maintain tolerances and keep the shrinkage (huge issue the comes into play later) under control. We were running these on our Swiss machines, and everything was beautiful, customer was happy and the test lot was 100% accepted. 2 months later we get a full order and set it up, first part is good, entire days work is spot on. Everyone goes home, night shift comes in and the start of the nightmare begins. Operator cranks up the feeds and speeds, to produce more parts per hours. Ran twice the amount as was expected for the shift, was really getting it. Note left for day operator says around 250% increase in feeds and speeds. First piece for day shift checks out good, and each piece pulled off the machine looks good. Then... QC comes and does a random sample of last nights work and ever parts is .100 short, taking no-goes on threads, diameters are all under spec. You name it, either under or over on the entire part. Not one dimension is correct, or even in tolerance, but the next part they check off the machine is perfect. I get called up and asked to look at it. See what's going on and the changes to the feeds and speeds, drop the part they just checked, as good, in cold water and check again. It had shrunk. Heat build-up from the machining was causing the material to expand (very thin, long part) giving the impression of correct tolerances for about 5 minutes after machining, then slowly shrinking as they cooled to room temp. Thousands of parts scraped in one day.

no...no it is not