C & R MOLDS, INC.
2737 PALMA DRIVE
VENTURA, CA 93003
(805) 658-7093 : (805) 650-9249 Fax


Ooya vertical machining center at C & R Mold uses Dapra insert ball nose mill cutters to finish surfaces and mold shutoffs. Tolerances of .001 can be held over a large surface, due to close tolerance of the Dapra inserts.

The machines are made by Sharp Industries in Compton, CA. and the mills are model LC turret milling machines. In the EDM room, the two Sodick sinkers are both A3V models with 8100 controls, one is a couple years old, the other about eight.

The shop's two lathes are NCTL 500A Mori-Seiki's with a retrofit Numeritronix Exec 1501 NC. Another NC control on the Mori's is Fanuc 20A NC. The lathes are thus upgraded so they can even be downloaded from the computer, if need. The Exec 1501 is a pushbutton control with CRT screen, on a pendant suspended from the top of the 20A Fanuc NC unit. The net effect is turning an older NC machine into today's CNC.

Additionally, the shop's two CNC lathes have 12" by 18" swing and the two Sodick NC EDM machines have 14" by 24" capacity. Machines normally use program disks for the CNC but the shop has direct download capability.

"We can go either way, which really helps. "If you have real long programs, you run a contour for example with the Dapra ball nose cutters. When you're doing the ball contouring, the programs usually get real long," notes Randy Ohnemus, vice president. His partner is Craig Smith, president of C&R Molds.

Adds Ohnemus: "We use four different sizes of the Dapra ball mill cutters—3/8", 1/2", 5/8" and 3/4". We like the Dapra's because they have a replaceable kit in the holders which are longer (extended) so you have more reach to get down into your mold for contouring and profiling.

"The cutters have long life which is important when you have a long run and it permits us to do a lot of overnight unattended machining. We usually do our long runs at night."

The Dapra cutters are real rugged tools, he adds. "They hold up real well for both profiling and contouring. For your unattended machine, you must have something you can count on.

You can make your money on tooling when you run unattended. It improves your productivity at lower cost.

"Your machines are running and it always costs x-amount of dollars to keep that machine running. Downtime, we all know, is lost revenue. That's why there are so many ulcers in this business, people try like crazy to get more work into those machines, keep them busy every minute.

"And as the industry improves its equipment, so are parts designers. They also are making products a lot more difficult to produce all the time, what with CAD/CAM, all the computer stuff, modeling methods, such as rapid prototyping, sterolithography, etc."

The shop uses other types of cutting tools such as Kennametal and Valenite carbide end mills and lathe tools. The only Dapra tooling are the four ball nose cutters. They come with tapered extension and plain cylindrical shanks. That means designed for extra long reach and extension, tapered body for extra stiffness and rigidity which facilitates longer tool life.

The CAD-designed and CNC ground ball nose inserts are tight tolerance, true radius and accurate size tools, allowing roughing and finishing operations to maintain diameter size and true ball shape. These, according to Dapra, are the first 2-flute insertable ball nose cutters in North America.

They replace brazed and solid carbide tools currently used. They eliminate time for resharpening and resetting tools. Once worn, they can simply be replaced. The new insert immediately brings machining operations to true size and radius cutting dimension. Their two-flute design doubles feed rates.

The single piece, thick insert design assures utmost strength and consistency in milling the stock after rough clearance cuts by larger roughing cutters. Dapra also supplies flat bottom and backdraft cutters for profiling, contour milling and small radius corner finishing. Backdraft cutters are for climbing straight walls and contour or profile milling with only the corner radius of the insert engaged in the cut.

Form cut with Dapra insert bad nose mill results in very little bench work as second op finishing. Part is filter vessel mold for pool industry.