BETTER PRODUCTION Shops Using Technology Reprinted From: Waterjet Drives Magazine Engineering Innovation s a sport that pushes the envelope at created more opportunity for engineering Series championships, three Camping A200-plus miles per hour, NASCAR is innovation. World Truck Series titles, one Nationwide often viewed by fans as an ultimate test of “We needed a fast, accurate cutting crown and more than 200 victories in man and machine. Seat-of-the-pants driving solution that could excel at short-run part NASCAR’s top three divisions. It is also the and masterful strategy, however, are not the production and rapid prototyping,” says only organization to win the Sprint Cup Series championship in four consecutive seasons, with Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS bringing home titles from 1995 to 1998. PROBLEM Needed high speed, high-accuracy cutting solution for short-run The machine shop supports Hendrick’s production and rapid prototyping four Sprint Cup programs and engine SOLUTION 55100 JetMachining Center abrasive waterjet from Omax department as well as the JR Motorsports RESULTS Improved flexibility, reduced cycle times Nationwide team. It produces more than 600 engines per year, many of which are leased to Stewart-Haas Racing and other General Motors teams. Parts are produced only elements that distinguish the winners Larry Zentmeyer, production manager at on a fleet of laser machines, Haas CNCs from the rest—the creativity and ingenuity Hendrick. “Omax JetMachining Centers not and, as of late 2007, Omax’s 55100 Jet- of engineers and machinists behind the only met those rigorous expectations, but Machining Center. scenes can be just as important. also offered the versatility to cut a variety The 55100 is one of three large-footprint That ingenuity and creativity is a driving of materials.” abrasive waterjets in that line. Though force behind the success of one team, Founded in 1984 by Rick Hendrick as a designed to cut complex parts from flat Hendrick Motorsports, which maintains a five-man team operating in a 5,000-square- stock ranging to 5 × 10 feet, the waterjet commitment to investing in advanced tech- foot shop, All-Star Racing was rechristened distinguishes itself from laser machining nology. One recent equipment purchase, Hendrick Motorsports after a successful with the ability to easily cut a wide variety an abrasive waterjet machine from Omax, season with driver Geoff Bodine. Since then, of materials, including aluminum, copper, has not only improved the flexibility of the the Concord, North Carolina-based orga- rubber and carbon fiber, the manufacturer team’s manufacturing processes, but also nization has racked up eight Sprint Cup says. Additionally, the machine is equipped with Omax’s Tilt-A-Jet system, which auto- matically calculates and offsets the natural taper that results from typical waterjet cutting heads. After installation, Omax provided onsite operator training to Hendrick machinists Ricky Blackwelder and Scott McMillion as well as a handful of CNC operators. The crew trained by cutting real parts rather than the templates provided in the training soft- ware package. “The system is so intuitive that after 2 days, Ricky and Scott were able to hit the ground running,” Mr. Zentmeyer says. “That was a huge advantage as we raced to manufacture parts in time for the After a successful season with Geoff Bodine in 1984, All-Star Racing was rechristened Hendrick Motorsports and grew into a NASCAR dynasty. The No. 5 car driven by Mr. Bodine is visible at left. Designed to cut complex parts from flat stock ranging in size to 5 × 10 feet, the 55100 is one of three large-footprint JetMachining Centers from Omax. The waterjet machine’s ability to hold tolerances to ±0.001 inch has enabled a significant reduction in secondary operations. Daytona 500 and the 2008 season.” sport requires improving parts from race to Productivity improvements provided by race. The parts the team takes to Daytona the waterjet are exemplified in the manu- in February, for example, are typically not facture of a rocker stand, an 8620 alloy steel as good as the parts it takes to Talladega part that holds the rocker arm in place on in April. However, while Hendrick puts con- the engine. Reducing cycle time and increas- siderable effort into improving existing pieces ing operator flexibility were especially impor- for the next race, the team works just as tant for this job, as a pair of rocker stands hard to design, test and implement new accompanies each engine. parts. “Waterjet technology helps us keep Previously, the shop bought just enough pace with those continuous developments,” material to complete an order. CNC opera- Mr. Zentmeyer says. tors then devoted countless hours to machin- Word of the shop’s improved capabilities Mr. Zentmeyer noticed a request for a piece ing square pieces into sophisticated parts. swept across the 100-acre campus as with unusually small holes and followed the Now, the shop buys sheet material in bulk engineers realized that if they could design finished product back to the customer. He and nests the parts to get the most out of a part, the machine shop could likely cut it. found that its machinists were performing each sheet. The waterjet cuts a blank in 15 Soon, the shop was inundated with orders unnecessary secondary operations. Hendrick minutes, and the rocker stand is finished for new parts, modified existing parts and had been using the waterjet only to pierce on a CNC machine shortly after. even projects that were previously handled start holes, which the customer would then All in all, the machine has reduced cycle by third-party vendors. An important facil- drill and tap. Testing revealed that the water- time on this job by approximately 15 to 20 itator of the sudden influx in orders was the jet could hold tolerances to ±0.001 inch, percent, the company says. Additionally, waterjet’s Intelli-Max software, which enables enabling the shop to save both time and finishing these parts requires so little main- machinists to import .DXF design files and money by machining the holes directly to tenance that CNC operators can work on two move parts to production in a matter of tap size. or more machines at once. This was particu- minutes. “It wasn’t long before e-mails were The machine now produces thousands larly beneficial in the run-up to the 2009 Sprint coming in with .DXF files attached and the of parts per year, ranging from templates Cup season, when the machine cut blanks machine was in operation 15 hours per day, and brackets to carbon fiber seats and for 1,400 rocker stands in 6 weeks. 6 days per week,” Mr. Zentmeyer says. silicon rubber gaskets. “We knew the water- While that may seem like enough to keep In fact, operators sometimes find that jet would provide more flexibility and ver- the team well-stocked throughout the season, customers don’t fully understand the water- satility to ensure quick turnaround and Mr. Zentmeyer notes that the nature of the jet’s capabilities. For example, in one instance, improved productivity, but we never guessed how much it would enhance our engineer- ing and manufacturing processes,” Mr. Zentmeyer concludes. The 55100 Jet- Machining Center enables Hendrick Motorsports to cut complex parts from a variety of materi- Reprinted from the October 2009 als, including MODERN MACHINE SHOP Magazine and Copyright © 2009 aluminum, copper by Gardner Publications, Inc., and silicon rubber. 6915 Valley Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45244-3029..