We tooled this operation at Ohio broach & Machine Company based on an existing tooling process at a customer’s plant that was under-performing for them. At the time of quotation, the customer had tooled this part on a much smaller machine with approximately 24 inches of stroke. The deep slot in the part was broached in multiple passes which presented a problem with tooling breakage. Between the tool breaking and the multiple set ups to broach the parts, the customer was hard-pressed to keep up with the production requirements. At Ohio Broach & Machine, our expert design engineers redesigned the slot tools to broach the deep slot in one pass. The rounded slot and the serrated tooth form are broached in progressive operations on the same machine as the deep slot. After the broaching is complete, the part is placed in a drilling machine where all the holes are drilled to tolerance. After the drilling operation the part is deburred, heat treated and then black oxidized to finish the part.
To accomplish the broaching operation we use a 15 ton, 90 inch stroke machine for all the broaching operations. The fixture is set up as (3) stations which allows the operator to transfer the parts between stations. At every stroke of the machine a completely broached part is removed from the fixture. The operator then turns around to load this part into a drilling station to drill all the holes while broaching the next part. The fixture is hydraulically clamped and automatically cycled once the operator depresses the cycle start pushbuttons. The part is then taken to a deburring area then heat treated and black oxidized to finish it completely ready to ship to the customer.