January 1998 • Volume 8 • Number 1
MATHANSR and SPEEFEED
Machine Shop Spreadsheet Templates
By G. Mark Boldi
| For any long-time reader of this column, it is evident that we have tended to focus on the "big ticket" items. That is, we have examined software packages pertaining to MRP, MRP II, ERP, quality control, forecasting, business process reengineering and simulation. Most of these packages cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars. However, one of the nice features of the advent of the PC age (where PC stands for personal computer, not politically correct) is that it enables almost anyone who understands the microcomputer and who can identify a specific need to address that need.
In this month's column, we turn our attention to two very specialized products — MATHANSR and SPEEFEED. These products are designed to help managers who work in machine shops and whose business it is to cut metal. This month's reviewer, G. Mark Boldi, examines these products and assesses the extent to which they are able to meet and satisfy a very specific, almost niche-like need. What is interesting about these products is that, unlike other products reviewed, both products cost less than $500. Steve Melnyk
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Both the MATHANSR and the SPEEFEED products are Microsoft Excel spreadsheet templates (i.e., they are xls files) that address specific questions that come up in a manufacturing environment. Because they are template files running in Excel, much about them is identical, though their purposes are not.
MATHANSR.xls is a template with sheet tabs offering solutions to geometric problems found in manufacturing (see Table 1).
| Table 1 | |
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1. circle-segment-sector 2. cone-truncated cone 3. cylinder-hollow cylinder-truncated  cylinder4. Davis "K" gage model "RC" end measurement5. Davis "K" gage model "RC" shoulder measurement6. ellipse 7. fillet area 8. parallelogram 9. regular polygon 10. prism solutions 11. rectangle |
12. ring and ring sector 13. roll dimensions #1 (female) 14. roll dimensions #2 (male) 15. roll dimensions #3 (female) 16. roll dimensions #4 (male) 17. roll in taper 18. sphere-spherical segment- spherical sector-spherical zone-spherical wedge19. trapezium 20. trapezoid 21. oblique triangles 22. right triangle solutions |
SPEEFEED.xls is a template that assists in the calculation of spindle speed, feed rate and radial/axial depth of cut parameters for metal cutting processes (see Table 2). These processes are all in a category I will call machining. Related processes of punching, shearing, flame or plasma cutting and electric discharge machining are not addressed.
| Table 2 |
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1. end milling 2. slotting with end mill 3. ball end milling 4. slotting with ball end mill 5. face milling 6. boring 7. rough reaming 8. finish reaming 9. drilling 10. gun drilling 11. tapping 12. counter boring |
Installation and System Requirements
Microsoft Excel 5.0 (or newer) is the system requirement. The template files are offered for Windows and Macintosh computers. I had the ability to view only the Windows version.
The computer used for this review was a 166 MHz Pentium laptop with 32 MB RAM, 800 x 600 SVGA graphics running Excel version 7 under Windows 95.
Each product came on a single 3.5-inch diskette containing the xls file.
Installation was simply a matter of copying the files onto the hard disk and double-clicking on its icon. On a Windows 3.11 computer, the process is the same with the exception that one would double-click on the file's name while in the file manager.
Documentation
Each of the products came with a binder containing documentation. In the case of the SPEEFEED.xls, the first six pages were devoted to one of the more intense license agreements I've seen lately. The license agreement for the MATHANSR.xls was a two-page insert and it appeared to be the usual boiler plate enjoining the user not to unlawfully distribute the product and informing the user that they have no recourse should the product prove defective in any way.
Next came a couple of press releases describing the uses and advantages of the products.
The technical portion of the manuals consists entirely of screen shots showing the various tabs of the spreadsheet with samples of the kinds of data input required and data output available.
The assumption throughout is that the user will know at least a little about what a spreadsheet is and what a cell is. That is not really a bad assumption to make. Mousing around Windows or Windows 95 and various office programs can be considered a core competency these days.
Functionality of the programs
Each of the products are designed to give specific answers to specific questions. In the case of MATHANSR, there is no attempt to impart any understanding of geometric principles.
I'm sure many readers can relate to teaching their programmable calculators to perform those pesky and often repetitive operations that fill up so much of our days. Think of MATHANSR and SPEEFEED as such programs — they won't teach you what you don't know, but they can save you time.
The usefulness of the programs will depend upon who the user is. Each product in its place could be quite helpful. After spending a month with the products, it is my opinion that the target market for them is the small independent jobbing machine shop. These are places where the job title of the shop floor supervisor is "owner." The degree of computer integration in such places is quite low. The management of product and engineering data takes place mainly between the ears of the person in charge. Coordination is accomplished via conversation. Simple to use, narrowly focused products such as MATHANSR and SPEEFEED should fit right in.
The heart of SPEEFEED
For those who have read this far and are still interested in the products, or are at least interested in the processes they address, I should write a few words on SPEEFEED and the "answers" it gives. Metal cutting is by its nature a brute force process. Rotating cutters are fed into clamped work pieces whose nature is to resist. The rigidity of the machine and the setup, design of the cutter, type and condition of the material, and required precision of the cut piece are just some of the variables that need to be considered when embarking upon the process of machining. A certain amount of risk assessment regarding the cost of breaking a cutter, scrapping a part, damaging a machine tool and injury or death to operators and bystanders must also be considered. (These issues are responsible for the intense license agreement mentioned above for the SPEEFEED product.)
Having said all that, it is generally true that the faster one can remove metal, the more productive the process.
The SPEEFEED program is not user-configurable, (and I think it should be) but within the licensing agreement is a form that can be used to communicate the conditions of the user's machining environment. The program can then be modified to reflect those conditions.
Getting the machining process to go faster is not a silver bullet to improve metal working productivity. If fundamentals like good fixture design, reliable machine tool programming, operator skill level and quality management are not in place, its not even a good Band-Aid. Still, if the rest of your ducks are in row, it may be time to let the chips fly.
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MATHANSR and SPEEFEED | |
| Vendor: | Solvware Inc., PO Box 7669 URL: www.mathansr.com e-mail: [email protected] |