Live Tooling: Keeping Jobs in the U.S.

In the current struggling economy, manufacturing companies are looking for a way to increase productivity, decrease production cuts and still maintain top quality products. Some manufacturing companies choose to outsource some of their work to foreign countries to save money, though this makes it very difficult to maintain a high level of quality in their products and only adds to the damaged American economy.

There is another option that these manufacturing companies should consider which will assist in keeping jobs within the U.S, increase productivity and decrease production time. This option is to obtain innovative machinery which is equipped with live tooling capabilities. Wolverine Machine did just that when it purchased its Miyano BNE 51S with live tooling and sub-spindle. This combination of live tooling and a sub-spindle makes the BNE 51S capable of performing milling, drilling and machining on both sides of a part in one operation. Live tooling and a sub-spindle can eliminate secondary operations, manual part flipping, and the need to use more pieces of machinery to complete the part. In addition, live tooling allows us to manufacture a part with increased accuracy and repeatability due to the elimination of hand loading secondary operations.

Wardjet Z-813 — 8'x13' Triple-Headed Water Jet

This incredible machine can cut almost any material on planet Earth up to 12” thick, with the exception of Diamonds, Carbide and Tempered Glass. Three heads on our Z-813 allows us to cut up to three 4' x 8' sheets simultaneously – allowing our customers to receive 3 times the product in the time it takes most companies to produce one. The Z-813 offers exceptional accuracy of +/- .005”, repeatability of +/- .001” and exhibits no “heat-affected zones”. The water jet cutting process utilizes a combination of water and abrasive forced through a cutting nozzle at up to 2200 mph and 60,000 psi and cuts at speeds of 0.01ipm to 250ipm.

See a side by side comparison of water jet cutting and laser cutting

Watch a short video of the water jet cutting machine in action

History of Water Jet Cutting

Hydraulic coal mining in New Zealand and the Soviet Union is believed to be the beginning of water jet cutting. Water was gathered from brooks and streams and directed to wash over a rock face to carry away the free rock and coal. Through 1853-1886, in the Gold Country of California, water was pressurized and used to move soft gold rock from the mining locations. This allowed miners to stand a distance away while the soft gold rock was being washed, which created a safer work environment for the miners because there was less of a chance of collapsing walls of blasted rock.

In the early 1900’s, Russia and Prussia had gained the knowledge of using pressurized water; they used this knowledge to wash away blasted coal. Approximately 30 years later, Russia evolved this idea and used a water cannon in the first recorded attempt to cut rock with water. Norman Franz, a forestry engineer from Michigan, experimented using water to cut lumber in the early 1950’s and installed the first industrial water jet machine. In the 1970’s there was a breakthrough in water jet technology when Mohamed Hashish created an abrasive which when added to pressurized water created the water jet technique.

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Water jet cutting is an environmentally friendly way to create your parts but to make this machine even more “Green” we have installed a state-of-the-art water recycling system which filters and reuses all water that is used in the cutting process. Not only is this great for the environment, but also helps you by cutting the cost of production. Should you be interested in receiving a quote for this high-tech process, please contact us.

The Stong will Survive

For a free edge finish sample from our 13'x30' Waterjet, please click here.

Meet the Walkers...

Kenneth Walker – President
Ken graduated from Albion College with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administrations. While in school, Ken cam home during the summers and worked on the shop floor of Wolverine Machine. After Albion, Ken was employed at AC Spark Plug as a foreman. Ken eventually left AC Spark Plug and continued gaining work experience and knowledge of the automotive industry. He then decided to continue his education at the University of Illinois, earning his Master’s Degree in Labor Relations. In 1972, Ken began working full-time at Wolverine Machine quoting prospective jobs. His responsibilities grew over the years and Ken was delegated the tasks of scheduling production, inventory control, writing quality procedures and manuals, purchasing raw materials and much more. Seven years later, in 1979, Ken became President of Wolverine Machine when he and his brother, Bruce Walker, purchased Wolverine Machine Products.

Bruce Walker – Vice President
Bruce graduated from Ferris State University in 1966 with a degree in Applied Science. One year later, Bruce was drafted into the Army and was sent overseas to Vietnam to serve and protect our country. Following his two years of Military service Bruce rejoined his family and began working on the shop floor of Wolverine Machine as a Machine Operator- setting up automatic bar machines, manual mills and lathes. His responsibilities grew over the years and Bruce began purchasing, programming and setting up multi-axis CNC lathes and expanding Wolverine Machine’s capabilities. Bruce stocked Wolverine Machine with a variety of CNC machines in order to ensure he would be able to fulfill customer needs. Bruce then moved to the front office and began work as an estimator - determining part processes. Shortly after, Bruce and Ken purchased Wolverine Machine together from their father, Charles Walker, and have been running the company concurrently for over 30 years.

Blaine Walker – Special Projects Manager
Blaine Walker, son of Bruce Walker, attended Milwaukee School of Engineering for two years and transferred to Walla Walla University to complete his Bachelors in Civil Engineering in 1998. Between his junior and senior year of college, Blaine received an internship at Lopez Engineering in Davisburg, Michigan. After the completion of his education, Blaine moved back to Michigan and accepted a permanent position at Lopez Engineering, where he continued to work for 9 years. In 2007, Blaine joined his father and uncle to help run the family business. Blaine began with upgrading the computer systems at Wolverine Machine and helping with human resources by expanding Wolverine’s hiring resources, reviewing resumes and conducting interviews. Blaine now handles all IT and computer hardware and software related issues at Wolverine Machine. Blaine also is responsible for all waterjet quotes as well as assisting with Wolverine’s sales and marketing efforts. Blaine’s waterjet cutting knowledge is extensive – contact him today for your waterjet cutting needs.

Our 13 Acme-Gridley Multi-Spindle Bar Machines

The Acme-Gridley multi-spindle bar machine was designed by George Gridley and the Windsor Manufacturing Company which was based in Vermont. Windsor Manufacturing Company was acquired by National Acme in 1915 and the Acme-Gridley brand of automatic multi-spindle bar machines was born.

The machine's operation begins by loading six bars of raw material stock, one in each spindle. The bar is fed to a stock stop, which is adjusted to a predetermined length. The machine cycle continues as the cross slide tools and the end slide tools simultaneously perform their assigned machine functions on all six bars. This cuts the amount of time to produce a part to approximately one sixth of the time that it would take on a single-spindle machine. The cycle time is determined by the time period taken for the longest operation. Because of the automatic operation of the bar feed and automated tooling movements the skilled operator is able to control multiple machines and produce parts efficiently.

Our machines produce parts up to 4" in diameter and up to 10" in length. Wolverine Machine's Acme-Gridley's are configured to process 16 foot long bars which allows a more cost effective use of material compared to machines processing standard 12 foot long bars. There are also a wide variety of attachments for the Acme-Gridley multi-spindle bar machine, which allows Accelerated Reaming, OD and ID Threading, High Speed Drilling, Flat Milling, Broaching, Internal Recessing, Burnishing, and Back Finishing.

It is often found that the multi-spindle bar machines are very cost effective for medium to high volume production parts due to the possibility of short cycle times. This is a product of the simultaneous and progressive machining of material on all of the spindles. Many times as a result of the accuracy, short cycle times, and the ability to perform concurrent functions, multi-spindle bar machines are able to eliminate secondary functions dramatically lowering costs. To see a short video of our facility click here.

Wolverine Machine’s Bar Machines

• 2 – 9/16” RA-6 Acme-Gridley Bar Machine
• 4 – 1-1/4” RA-6 Acme-Gridley Bar Machine
• 4 – 2-5/8” RA-6 Acme-Gridley Bar Machine
• 3 – 4” RA-6 Acme-Gridley Bar Machine