OSG's Blog for

Admitting My Mistakes

Author: Kip Hanson

Published May 29, 2018 - 10:15am Cutting Tool Engineering Magazine

I received an email from a reader letting me know that he disagreed with my recent article on tapping versus thread milling. In it, I stated, “There’s little chance of successfully thread milling metals much above 45 HRC. And if you’re going to try to tap them, be prepared to duck the flying shrapnel when the tap explodes!”

We all make mistakes. So when Tom Fares, president of TNT Custom Equipment in Stow, Ohio, called me out on that section of the article, saying that he routinely taps holes in 45 HRC steel alloy and thread mills into “the low 60s,” I listened to what he had to say.

Fares uses an OSG EXOPRO S-XPF oil tap to form M30 × 3.5 threads in a proprietary alloy similar to 1050 steel but heat-treated to 45 HRC. He said he tried “every M30 forming tap I could find,” but this was the only one his Hurco VMX-84 50-taper belt-driven vertical machining center could actually turn without stalling the spindle.

He has nothing but good to say about the OSG oil tap, citing another example of a long-running job where he taps M30 holes in A514 grade 50 plate (a high-strength structural steel). At 250 rpm, the OSG averages up to 9,000 holes through 1.575" thick material compared with 1,750 holes per tap with “the other brand.” That spindle speed is faster than Fares likes, and he thinks tool life would be even better by slowing things down, but he needs to run at that rpm to keep the spindle from stalling.

He also breaks the rules somewhat by using a water soluble, semisynthetic cutting fluid with a chlorinated lube additive. (Speaking for myself, I’d use a sulfur-based oil or squirt a little tapping wax into the hole.) “I know they say water soluble coolant isn’t recommended for form tapping, but it works for me,” said Fares.

On the thread-milling side, he cuts 62 HRC flame-hardened 1045 and 52100 steels for prototypes and fixturing, although this is admittedly “one-off stuff, but it can be done.”

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve tapped thousands of holes over the years. Cut taps, roll taps, spiral, plug and bottoming taps—I’ve used them all in everything from nickel-based superalloys to Teflon. And while thread milling wasn’t possible when I started in the trades, I did my fair share of that as well in later years.

In my defense, Fares is using a coolant-through-the-tool tap. This is one of those “newer” cutting tool technologies that makes a huge difference in many applications but especially when you’re pushing the limits as TNT Custom Equipment does. The tap is also advertised to reduce torque by up to 50 percent compared with competing brands, which is surely another factor in Fares’ success.

Anyway, my bad. My wife is enthusiastic about pointing out my mistakes, but I don’t often hear it from my readers. So thank you for your email, Tom, and for sharing the details with me. That’s the wonderful thing about manufacturing: There are always new things to learn.

You can view the original article by clicking here

OSG USA, INC. was recently named as one of the 2018 Best Places to Work in Illinois. The awards program began in 2006 and is promoted by The Daily Herald Business Ledger in partnership with the Human Resources Management Association of Chicago (HRMAC), the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, MRA-The Management Association, the Small Business Advocacy Council and Best Companies Group.

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Illinois, benefiting the state's economy, workforce and businesses. The 2018 Best Places to Work in Illinois list is made up of 30 companies in the small employer category (15-99 U.S. employees), 24 companies in the medium employer category (100-499 U.S. employees), and 21 companies in the large employer category (500 or more U.S. employees). OSG USA, INC. has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Illinois in the mid-sized category.

To be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:

• Have at least 15 employees working in Illinois;

• Be a for-profit or not-for-profit business or government entity;

• Be a publicly or privately held business;

• Have a facility in the state of Illinois; and

• Be in business a minimum of one year.

Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the Best Places to Work in Illinois. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Illinois and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final rankings.

OSG USA, INC. was recognized and honored at the Best Places to Work in Illinois awards ceremony coordinated by The Daily Herald Business Ledger on May 17, 2018 and will be profiled in a special publication on June 18, 2018. The final rankings were announced at the event and will be announced on the Business Ledger website (www.dhbusinessledger.com).

For more information on the Best Places to Work in Illinois program, visit www.BestPlacestoWorkinIL.com.

Many companies are encouraging their employees to be healthier by offering programs for them to participate in. OSG offers several opportunities to its employees to participate in, including a Runner's Club, Boot Camps, Walkathon and Biggest Loser Challenge.

The OSG Runner's Club began in 2011 with about 10 participants, this year we have 19 in our Illinois offices. There are four races planned for this year, with the first race being June 3.

Adam Samano, Desktop Support Technician II, avid runner and founder of the OSG Runner's Club was recently featured in Chicago Athlete's magazine discussing the OSG Runner's Club. To read the full article, click here.

We recently moved our HQ to Irving, Texas and we're growing! That means we have new and exciting opportunities for you! We are looking to build our team with passionate and talented individuals like you. Come visit us at our new corporate HQ for the employment open house on Friday, January 27th from 1:30pm to 4:30pm! All candidates will have the opportunity to interview onsite. 

When: Friday, January 27th, 1:30pm-4:30pm

Where: 1945 W. Walnut Hill Ln, Irving, TX 75038

Open Positions:

Customer Service Representative I

Purchasing/Inventory Control Clerk

Desktop Support Tech II

Software Developer/Systems Programmer I

Click here for more open positions!

OSG Benefits:

- 15 days of PTO earned your first year (and 10 paid holidays!)

- Casual business environment (we can wear jeans every day!)

- Affordable medical and dental premiums

- Up to 6% employer match on your 401k deferral

- Access to company condo in Maui for as low as $20/night

Click here for more information about our open house.

Paul Garcia, a sophomore at Fenton High School, hurries off to his internship as soon as the final school bell of the day rings. His friends wonder where he is rushing off to.

“Are you going to McDonald’s or something?” they asked.

“No, I have to clock in at 4pm at my internship at OSG,” Garcia replied, and then ran to meet his mother in the school parking lot.

Garcia works as a Jr. Manual Operator intern at OSG. He comes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4pm to 8pm. He works on the manual grinding machines to acquire hands on experience. He also job- shadows OSG CNC operators.

When he is not at OSG, he is a straight- A student and a basketball player at Fenton High School.  He participates in PLTW (Project Lead The Way) program where he learns the basics of engineering principles. He is also enrolled in the accelerated classes which have more challenging content and a greater amount of homework than the traditional classes. 

“It is challenging to juggle my internship, school work and sports,” said Garcia. “After I get home from OSG around 8:15pm, I sit down at the kitchen table for dinner with my mom, work on my homework and then I finally I go to bed.”

You are probably wondering what is pushing him to do all of this. Paul has a dream, a dream  to be a mechanical engineer. He believes that this internship at OSG is a great opportunity to gain manufacturing experience before he pursues his career in engineering.'

In November 2015, Garcia attended the annual Manufacturing Expo hosted by College of DuPage. He met OSG’s HR Generalist, Paul Wilhelm, where he learned about the internship opportunity.

“I thought this was a big opportunity as soon as I heard about it,” said Garcia. “I had to take it before anyone else takes it. It is not every day that I come across this type of opportunity.”

Garcia and his parents are aware of the stigmas the society has toward manufacturing. Garcia himself used to think that manufacturing jobs were tiring and dirty. However, his negative perception was debunked when he learned how much technology OSG uses in the factory and how clean the factory floor is. His family also supports his decision to work in a factory setting.  

“My parents are very proud of me,” said Garcia. “I went through the entire hiring process by myself from contacting Mr. Wilhelm to going on my first interview.”

Garcia’s next step is to go attend college and study engineering. He is already thinking about pursuing a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering. Watching a student like Garcia strive for his dream makes us at OSG hopeful and excited for the future of manufacturing. We are committed to helping students acquire additional experiences and skills outside of school and prepare them for their manufacturing careers.

OSG USA, INC. has introduced its highly anticipated 2017/18 Cutting Tool Solutions Catalog in print and digital versions.

The latest catalog edition is over 1,300 pages and features new products including the EXOCARB® ADF flat drills and PHOENIX® PSTW indexable shoulder cutters, and many new expansions to our quality lines such as the EXOCARB® MAX-MINI drills, EXOCARB® WDO drills, PHEONIX® PXD indexable exchangeable head drills and PHOENIX® PFB indexable ballnose end mills.

The 2017/18 Cutting Tool Solutions Catalog can be downloaded digitally from here.

You may also request a free hard copy by contacting OSG Customer Service at 1-800-837-2223.

Have you used our aerospace tools? Tell us your favorite. Have you participated in our Aerospace Seminars? Let us know what you thought. To continue to shape aerospace dreams, we would love to hear from you about how our tools and seminars helped you! We will be giving away $25 VISA gift cards to everyone who shares a story on our social media sites!

How to Enter

Facebook

• Comment about your favorite OSG tools or your thoughts about OSG Aerospace Seminars on our contest post
  

• Only one entry per person

Twitter

• Tweet us @OSGTOOL about your favorite tools or your thoughts about OSG Aerospace Seminars
  

• Use our hashtags, #OSGHelpedMe and #OSGforAero to tweet your stories and see what other people say

• Only one entry per person

Submission Period

• Submission period begins at 12pm on Monday, July 18th and ends at 9pm Friday, July 22nd (CT)

• You must comment or tweet during the submission period to receive a gift card

Eligibility

• Our sweepstakes is open to legal residents of United States

Prize

• Everyone who shares a story will receive a $25 gift card

• You are responsible for monitoring your Facebook or Twitter account for prize notification

• If you don't respond to our message within 2 days, or if the prize is returned to us as undeliverable, you will forfeit the prize

Facebook is not sponsoring, endorsing or administering this sweepstakes and Facebook cannot be held liable for anything related to this sweepstakes.

“Dirty floors and oily machines?” “That’s my grandpa’s age,” said Yuchieh Lou, a student from Harper College. Manufacturing students from Harper College in Palatine, Illinois received first-hand exposure to today’s manufacturing as a high tech field and hopefully, are considering manufacturing as a viable career option. On Wednesday, April 6^th, 14 students who are enrolled in the Manufacturing Technology Program at Harper College visited OSG’s carbide tooling factory in Bensenville for a field trip.  This was conducted as part of OSG’s ongoing Manufacturing Day programs to inspire and support the next generation of manufacturing personnel.

Students started the day hearing presentations about OSG and available career paths. Our HR Generalist, Paul Wilhelm, explained to the students that the retirement of baby boomers is opening up positions for the younger generations in manufacturing. However, it is also creating a skills gap between the skills manufacturers are losing but require and the skills younger people have. Today’s manufacturers require new personnel to have more expertise in manufacturing such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematic) skills at an earlier stage of their career to close this gap. 

The students also learned about OSG products through tooling demonstrations in our R&D center. Lukasz Gaca, Machining Applications Engineer at OSG, showed various OSG tools in action. Students also tried hand tapping in a block of aluminum to provide them with some hands on experience with tapping tools.

“One of the exciting things about manufacturing is to create something from raw material,” said Dan Jack Combs, a Harper College student. 

After the tooling demonstrations, the students were taken on a plant tour. They were able to see OSG’s manufacturing floor in action with more than 60 CNC machines and in-house coating vessels for patented OSG CVD Diamond and AlTiN/TiAlN coating.

“From this visit, I realized that modern manufacturing does require higher technical skills,” said Billy Tsiveriotis, a Harper College student.

Harper College’s manufacturing department focuses on career readiness using a combination of classroom theory and hands on training with state-of-the-art machines that students will likely to encounter in the industry.

“Our goal in the manufacturing program at Harper College is to improve the caliber of students coming out of the program and getting hired by manufactures,” said Aaron Kolb, an instructor of the Manufacturing Technology Program at Harper College. “Manufacturing has become a high-tech career path with many options, and we work hard to make sure our curriculum matches the needs of manufacturers.”

OSG’s production team is hopeful and excited about the future of manufacturing as they interacted with the student and experienced their motivation and interest in manufacturing.

“Some of the students asked me what constitutes the best employees,” said Chuck Abate, Plant Manager of the OSG Bensenville factory. “I stressed teamwork, integrity and ability to continually learn in addition to technical skills.”

In order to help students get additional experiences and prepare for their manufacturing career, OSG offers an internship program at the Bensenville factory.

1. Composites helmets

A new helmet made of composites, Half Cap, was introduced to Major League Baseball (MLB) for its 2016 Spring Training. Boombang, a company based out of Los Angeles, developed the Half Cap which is constructed with fiber composite, an advanced energy-absorbing impact layer, a foam liner and a breathable moisture-wicking cover. About 20 pitchers are trying out the new helmet during training camp.

Photo Credit: Composites Manufacturing

2. Storm proof house with composites

Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ won the 2015 Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon by designing and constructing “SURE HOUSE” to prevent damage from hurricanes. They incorporated shutters made of composites for “SURE HOUSE” which was the biggest challenge for them. Not only did the shutter have to be lightweight, but also easy to pull down and lock in case of a storm. Utilizing composite materials was their solution as they provide high strength while being lightweight.

Photo Credit: Composites Manufacturing

3. Composites could detect bombs

A new type of fiber composite was developed by the engineers at the University of Utah to make a portable scanner for detecting alkane vapor (an ingredient of gasoline, airplane fuel and a homemade bomb). According to them, the only thing available currently for detecting alkane is a large heavy device in a lab. In order to make the portable scanner, they developed a new type of fiber composite with two nanofibers that transfers electrons from one to the other, but when there is alkane, alkane adheres to the materials and prevents electrons to transfer between the materials. The newly developed composite materials will be utilized in the sensor array of the portable scanner.

Photo Credit: Composites Manufacturing

Sources:

http://compositesmanufacturingmagazine.com/2016/03/major-league-baseball-players-could-benefit-from-protective-composites/?utm_source=Real%20Magnet&utm_medium=Publication&utm_term=Industry%20Digest%20-%203/7/16&utm_content=Major%20League%20Baseball%20players%20use%20composites%20at%20Spring%20Training%202016!&utm_campaign=Industry%20Digest

http://compositesmanufacturingmagazine.com/2016/02/building-a-storm-proof-house-with-composites/

http://compositesmanufacturingmagazine.com/2016/04/utah-composite-material-detect-bombs/