“I bought my Hurco VM1 to improve the efficiency of my tool room. Then I found that it saved my bacon with a critical customer when I used a feature I didn’t think I needed.”


-- Ivan Russell

VAN-AM Tool and Engineering is an integrated, full service contract metal stamping plant. It meets the needs of a wide range of Midwest customers. While VAN-AM had purchased a few CNC machines in the past, it always found that programming and editing were very time consuming and inefficient for many of its die component operations. Therefore, Ivan Russell, President, maintained a number of manual and 2-axis knee mills for much of his machining.

Feature on Hurco’s VM1 Exceeds Customer’s Expectations

When Ivan’s local Hurco distributor, Dirk Gage, of Gage Machine Tool, discussed Ivan’s operations with him, Dirk was convinced that Hurco’s VM1 machining center would be a profitable investment for Ivan. He arranged a demonstration of Hurco’s UltiMax control for Ivan and his toolmakers. They were impressed with how fast print data could be converted into a program and edited to produce a stamping die detail. Ivan also wanted to make sure that the Hurco conversational control could handle off-line generated g-code programs for the form dies that were also an important part of his business. When shown that the control can handle both types of format with equal ease, he placed an order.
    Dirk spent a couple of days training Ivan’s toolmakers and within a week they were programming and using the VM1 machining center. A form die for a motorcycle headlamp was one of the first parts that was run on the VM1. The contour was generated off-line and downloaded to the control and its 1 Gig hard drive. The pre-hardened steel was cut with no problem, and in this case, sent to the customer for press tryout. For some reason, a misfeed occurred and caused a mark on the die surface. It needed immediate repair. Ivan took the die back to the shop and found that the original program was still on the control’s hard-drive. A re-cut was done overnight and was delivered to the customer the next day. Ivan never thought he would need to store programs for future use and did not think the standard hard drive was important. After that experience, he won’t buy a machine tool without one.

Summary

Hurco’s VM1 machining center equipped with the powerful Max control is easy to learn, easy to use, and very efficient at cutting tools. The VM1 was a perfect fit for Ivan’s needs. His manual and 2- axis mills now see little use and will be sold. Since Ivan Russell purchased Hurco’s VM1, all of VAN-AM’s die details have been produced on it. The VM1 has saved the company valuable time by allowing Ivan’s toolmakers to produce dies 40 to 50 percent quicker than with its previous milling operations.