Dovetail Machine-Ready Blanks for Five-Axis Machining

Dovetail Machine-Ready Blanks from TCI Precision Metals, Inc. (Gardena, CA) are the perfect complement to any 4-axis or 5-axis machining center fitted with a dovetail workholding fixture. These blanks eliminate all material prep, allowing machine operators to simply load, lock and go. “When purchasing material to be used in dovetail fixtures, why not have it ready to machine when it arrives at your door? Today, 4-axis and 5-axis machining centers are one of the most sought-after machine tool formats by shops, especially for aerospace applications. The reason is clear: one set up and you are ready to machine four or five sides. The challenge with this promise of efficiency has always been the need for low profile, precise and secure workholding from a single surface. Dovetail workholding fixtures have solved the problem of how to hold the part, but the challenge of material handling and preparation still remains. That challenge is solved with these blanks,” said Ben Belzer, the president of TCI.

In preparation for finish machining, each part must be rough cut and precision machined on one surface to add a dovetail feature. This added material prep reduces efficiency and takes away from overall throughput capabilities of 4-axis and 5-axis CNC machining centers. Dovetail Machine-Ready Blanks eliminate this material prep, allowing shops to get right to the high value of finish machining. These blanks are produced to customer specifications; order from one to thousands with quick turnaround. Each blank includes a dovetail feature to match the customer’s specified brand and model of fixture and arrives ready to go from receiving directly into machining centers. The benefits are many:

• Eliminate material prep – one less unnecessary operation in your shop.
• Reduce cycle time, chip-to-chip.
• Reduce setup time, including the number of setups.
• Better inventory management.
• Reduce bottlenecks.

TCI also offers Machine-Ready Blanks that “help shops increase throughput up to 25 percent. allowing them to ship finished parts fast and get paid quicker,” noted Belzer. With a single purchase order, users receive custom precision blanks ready to load directly into their CNC machining centers that eliminate the need for in-house sawing, grinding, flattening, squaring operations and outside processing. Each blank arrives deburred, clean and to customer specifications – guaranteed as close as ±.0005 in dimensionally and as close as .0002 in flatness, squareness, and parallelism. “Customers can use the time they previously spent in setup and prep for more productive use of CNC machining centers, adding to their bottom line profitability. And with our ability to consistently produce close tolerance, flat blanks, part movement is reduced, improving overall quality,” added Belzer.

TCI Precision Metals, Inc., 240 Rosecrans Avenue, Gardena, CA 90248, 310-323-5613, Fax: 310-323-1255, tci@tciprecision.com, www.tciprecision.com.