6 Applications Where Auto Adjust Can Save You Tons of Time

Guide channel changeovers can take time. Depending on the bar feeder model and condition, and the expertise of the machinist, they can take up to 30 minutes. And, many times, this isn’t a job for just anybody. It has to be scheduled with maintenance, which might spell half a day that your CNC lathe is down.

Plus, guide channel changeovers require quite a bit of organization: keeping them straight so they go back in same order and making sure all the sizes are correct (that you never overlapped your 38mm and 43mm). It can be done, but it takes patience and understanding.

That’s where the auto adjust feature comes in.

Auto Adjust technology can shrink that changeover time from 1 hour to five minutes. And the good news is, it’s been accepted for over 10 years, so it’s already proven its value. Let’s explore what it is and six applications where it might save you tons of time.

What Is Auto Adjust?

The Auto Adjust feature enables the channel to automatically change from one size to another. The guide channel defaults to the maximum allowable diameter. Using a controller, you change two parameters, a series of clamshells (curved, hinged inserts that line the inside of the guide channel and cradle the bar stock during feeding) adjust through the bar feeder to your material size, and then you swap out the bar feed collet, and you’re on to your next job.

6 Applications Where Auto Adjust Might Save You Tons of Time

1. If your production runs are small but many

We’ve seen many shops across all sorts of industries, from robotics to architecture to spaceflight, scrambling to meet customer needs around small, just-in-time quantities with tight deadlines – think lot sizes around 300 pieces. For a high-mix/low-volume shop to fulfill 400 of those orders in a day, an Auto Adjust can quickly earn its keep.

2. If you have hot jobs coming in a little hotter than they used to

For shops handling hot jobs — rush orders that need to jump the production queue — Auto Adjust reduces the cost of a mid-run changeover from roughly an hour of downtime to five minutes. Because the adjustment requires only two parameter changes on the controller rather than a full guide channel teardown and rebuild, a single operator can execute it without pulling a programmer off the floor or waiting on a maintenance window.

3. If you have a shortage of employees to change out guide channel sets

Labor shortages have made unattended or minimally-staffed machining the new standard for many shops. Auto Adjust supports this by reducing guide channel changeovers — traditionally a skilled, scheduled maintenance task that could take 30 to 60 minutes and require pulling an experienced operator or programmer — to a two-parameter adjustment any trained floor employee can perform in about five minutes.

4. If Engineering needs to switch on the fly from one job to another

Sometimes, one moment’s top priority becomes another. This is especially true for shops that produce parts made to order, where the next machine run is contingent on the latest order. Having the Auto Adjust costs you only five minutes, rather than an hour.

5. If you experience turnover on the shop floor

Changing over different size guide channels can be frustrating if you’re having to teach new employees the changeover techniques. Auto Adjust is intuitive, and smooths out the process.

6. If you want less waste

Auto Adjust also reduces material waste caused by changeover avoidance. We’ve witnessed shops that would machine down 0.90” of a 2” bar, simply to avoid the time and effort of a guide channel changeover. This practice accelerates tool wear, generates excess scrap, and returns minimal value at scrap price. With Auto Adjust, the five-minute changeover cost makes switching jobs on remaining bar stock economically rational again.

Edge Technologies can guide you with Auto Adjust.

Auto Adjust, a bar feeder feature that’s been proven across more than a decade of field use, reduces bar feeder changeover time from up to 60 minutes down to approximately five. It works by defaulting the guide channel to its maximum allowable diameter, then using a series of clamshells to automatically close down to match the new material diameter. The operator changes two parameters on the controller, swaps the bar feed collet, and the machine is ready for the next job — no disassembly of the guide channel required.

Auto Adjust works, and it’s lean manufacturing in a bottle.

The FMB Turbo 5-65 was one of the first bar feeders to come with the Auto Adjust feature. Ten years since it’s come out, the technology has only proven its value, and now the need is even greater, with hot jobs coming in a little hotter, employee shortages, and time more precious than ever.

Plus, in the case of the FMB Turbo 5-65, it is built on a cast-iron frame, making it one of the beefiest bar feeders ever created, with a steady rest on front and a frame that extends past the bar feeder so that the bars sit on a frame rather than sheet metal.