Machining Vibration with Dr. Tony Schmitz

The MakingChips podcast welcomes guest Tony Schmitz, professor at UNC Charlotte and assistant director, energy production and infrastructure center to talk about machining vibration. Tony teaches mechanical design, helping students design and build useful technology like robots. He also teaches mechanical vibrations, structural dynamics, and advanced manufacturing. He says, “At the end of the day, when you’ve made something, you never feel like you didn’t accomplish something that day.” During this episode, Tony gives helpful information about how to measure and mitigate machining vibration in manufacturing.

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The 3 pieces of the machining dynamics puzzle

Why are machining dynamics important for manufacturing leaders? Knowing the variables within a tooling machine and being able to adjust them appropriately can increase the longevity of the tool and increase productivity. Tony Schmitz explains that there are three pieces of the machining dynamics puzzle. Listen as he explains why considering these three factors are essential for manufacturers.

Feel the machining vibration

Whenever a force is being applied to a nonrigid structure, there will be vibration. The problem, according to Tony, is that CAD/CAM software encourages you to ignore vibration and the variables within the machining tool. CAD/CAM always drafts the cutting process perfectly. However, it doesn’t take into account the reality of a machining tool that vibrates. Vibration means displacement of your cutter that changes over time. However, Tony says that the math equations you learned in school can actually be applied to the shop floor. Hear how differential equations can actually be used in CAD/CAM software to help get higher axial depths of cut without chatter.

Good vibrations v. bad vibrations

“Just like we all have fingerprints, every cut has a fingerprint as well and it’s the frequency content of that sound signal,” says Tony Schmitz. Bad vibration, also called chatter, are unmistakable when you hear it in a shop. Tony talks about how he can analyze frequencies that a machine puts out and identify bad vibrations and problems in the chip making process. He also explains how viewing wave patterns produced by a machine can tell you how to adjust your spindle speed. Tony says, “The most powerful knob on your controller is not the feed override, it is the spindle speed override.”

How to increase productivity in your shop

In order to mitigate bad vibration and increase your productivity, Tony encourages collecting a minimum set of data. He describes how to select the 8-10 standard tools that you use the most and collect data on those tools, using an impact, or tap test. Results from a tap test can help you bid jobs more accurately. They can also help you make adjustments to your machines so that you can avoid chatter and be more efficient. Learn about that and much more on this episode of MakingChips.

Here’s The Good Stuff!

Manufacturing News: A Detroit entrepreneur applies lean auto manufacturing principles to build a beauty salon
Introduction of guest Dr. Tony Schmitz, professor of at UNC Charlotte and Assistant Director, Energy production and infrastructure center
Tony explains the three pieces of the machining dynamic puzzle
How math and physics can be applied to the shop floor
Analyzing frequency data to identify bad vibrations within a machining tool
The correlation of feedback in a PA system and chatter in a milling tool
How a tap test can help you measure your tools data, make adjustments, and increase productivity
The pigskin professor and how Dr. Tony Schmitz put together videos for University of Florida football games

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