Sometimes, there can be a relatively cheap and simple solution to what seems like an expensive and difficult problem.
One of Fastco’s cold heading machines was having ongoing issue with the transfer block. A maintenance request was put in and it wasn’t immediately clear that there were large problems with the block itself. Replacing it would have cost about $20,000. Process Engineer Nick Steimel came up with a test to validate the problem with data. He used a torque wrench on one of the bolts that swings the transfer fingers open. There was a significant drop in the pressure of one machine vs. others. Lack of holding pressure when transferring can lead to dropped progressions, forming and quality issues, and downtime for tool repair.
Nick worked with Brandon Schell (Machine Repair) and determined the root cause. Air assist pistons on the transfer block increase the finger pressure. However, there are sleeves inside the pistons that had fallen out due to wear. The air assist pistons had stopped working and all the pressure was coming from the springs only.
They came up with the idea of drilling & tapping a set screw below the sleeve on the transfer block to retain it. This improved the pressure by more than three times at minimal cost.
As you can see, when teams come together to collaborate, it often yields better results. In this case, engineering and maintenance team members working together solved an ongoing problem quickly, cheaply, and effectively.