CNC Milling | Design for Manufacturing
Manufacturing Process Developed for Made in USA Production
Gold Tone Music Group was looking for a way to produce their proprietary Zeroglide nut in the USA. We created a manufacturing process and tools that allowed them to cost effectively produce in their US facility.
What We Did
Manufacturing Process Selection
Gold Tone had over twenty variations of this product with differences in geometry to fit all of the different musical instrument types and models. They wanted to use the traditional material of animal bone for these parts but also be able to offer a premium quality version in the engineering grade polymer, POM. They wanted to produce at least 200 parts per day. The manufacturing process to best fit these requirements was CNC machining.
Fixture Design and Fabrication
In order to perform machining operations, fixtures had to be designed and created to hold the stock material securely while it is shaped precisely into the desired geometry. The fixtures had to be easy to operate, precise and robust. After designing these fixtures we also fabricated them.
Machining Process
Over twenty different machining profiles were created to manufacture the various ZeroGlide models. Since the CNC milling allows flexibility, we were even able to build processes that allowed Gold Tone to offer custom ZeroGlide nuts to their customers.
QC and Process Documentation
It is important to have quality control tools and processes in-place. We designed "go/no-go" jigs to quickly inspect the parts. We also developed thorough process documentation to train machine operators and factory workers to produce these parts.