One of my customers has me drill. tap, and install STIs (AKA Heli-Coils) in aluminum castings. Depending on the castings they require either 6 or 3 Screw Thread Inserts. While the job is running in the CNC mill there is enough time to install the STIs but not enough time to knock the drive tangs off. There are available tangless STIs but they are much more expensive and the tool to install them is also pretty expensive. The insertion tools I use now wear out pretty fast, which is no surprise considering how soft the steel is that they are made. Because of the crappy quality I have little faith in the replaceable wear parts in the tangless insertion tool. And it doesn't matter who makes the the insertion tools, they are all made of soft steel. If they weren't magnetic I would suspect that they were made from aluminum. Since I am installing several thousand of the STIs per year it makes sense to figure out the fastest way to do it. I have tried to order a pneumatic tang remover twice and both times they were way backordered. So I have, I think, devised a tool that installs the STI and then knocks the tang off once the STI is at the proper depth. And the design of the tool makes it more robust than the shitty ones I am using now, along with knocking off the drive tang. Right now I use a Procunier tapping head to drive the STIs into the work. If my idea works I will be able to use a modified Procunier tapping head to drive the STIs in and then knock off the tang. I just received in the mail today a Procunier tapping head that I bought from our well known wheeler and dealer Igor. It is slated to be modified for this new tool. And so this coming week I will be making the parts and modifying the new to me tapping head. If it works the way I expect I will report here. If it fails I will also. I think. Anyway, if it does work and proves to be a dependable tool is there anyone here who might be interested in buying one? You would need to provide your own Procunier tapping head. The mods being made to the head are reversible and will take less than 30 minutes if you have never taken one of these heads apart. If you are familiar with them the the job should take no more than 15 minutes. A Tapmatic style head will not work with my tool. There is another tapping head that is similar to the Procunier and is sold by the same company. The brand name is ETTCO. I have one of these heads and it works well. And it would in theory work with my tool but since I have not tried to make the mods to my ETTCO head that I have made to a Procunier head I cannot say for sure if the ETTCO heads will work. So, if anyone here is interested in this tool, how much would you be willing to pay for one? I am considering sending a few out for beta testing but I don't want to make several for testing and then find out that nobody wants to pay enough to cover the cost to me to make them. I can't make any money developing a product if I can't sell it. I have in the past developed and brought to market and eventually sold tens of thousamds a product for scuba divers so I know a little about marketing, but not a whole lot. Thanks, Eric
- posted
9 years ago