W.G. Strohwig Tool, Richfield, WI, supplies plastic injection molds, aluminum die cast dies and forging dies to customers nationwide and in Canada, Mexico and England. The company, which was founded in 1978, has 160 employees and operates two shifts in a 112,000 sq. ft. shop. Last year, when Strohwig found itself strapped for capacity in EDM electrode making, plant manager Mike Hagen left no stone unturned in his search for an additional machining center. "I looked for months. There are lots of machines available and I checked out every one," he explained when asked about his selection process for a Röders RFM-1000 VMC. Mike's diligent research paid off; the Röders' performance stands out among the competition, and the machine has more than met his expectations for speed, ease of programming, technical support, and capability.

Strohwig needed more production capacity and Mike got it with the Röders. "It has at least doubled everything, most of the time it's three to four times faster than any other machine we've got," he said. This statement is made even more impressive considering that the Röders' "competition" at Strohwig are high-speed, very late model OKK machining centers.

"The Röders, with one spindle, out produces our twin spindle OKK. It is a minimum of twice as fast as any machine we've got," Mike noted.

Speed becomes even more meaningful when coupled with another advantage of the Röders: it is as well suited to machining steel as it is for graphite. Therefore the machine never is idle. When caught up on electrodes, Strohwig uses its Röders to cut steel. "The Röders is very accurate," Mike reported, "It holds tolerances to tenths of a thousandth on steel mold components."

A patented, sealed machine enclosure and patented over pressure system works with a high performance vacuum system to extract all graphite dust during cutting and keep the Röders's enclosure completely clean all the time.

Another advantage is less tooling wear. "End mills last forever," Mike said. Equipped with a highly precise holding method, which uses a shrink fit between the end mills and tool holders, the Röders shows higher gripping force and better true running than machines with conventional collets. "We can use 4-flute cutters for three to four months. All tooling lasts considerably longer," Mike added, explaining that a "laser in the tool changer tells you if three is any runout. With the tool rotating at cutting speed, the laser measures the exact diameter the cutter is running." The Röders, manufactured in Germany and supported in the U.S. by Hansco Technologies, is the only machining center that has this feature. But the feature that draws the most praise from both Mike and machinist Norm Finster is the Windows™-based control. Mike is pleased because "I can go to Best Buy for more memory. There is no more having to pay big bucks to a machine manufacturer to upgrade controls." Mike also sees the economic advantages of a PC based control. "Everyone knows how to run a PC. It's user friendly, and doesn't require lengthy operator training - Norm was comfortable with it within a week."

Norm Finster has 20 years experience and said he has "worked on every kind of CNC control out there." He finds the PC control a big help in editing programs. Copy and paste features allow Norm to enter repeated commands without tedious, time consuming typing. Even more important is the memory capacity of the Röders control. "You don't need the network to run the Röders," he explained. "The OKK has to be connected to the office - I can't load a whole program all at once, like I can on the Röders." Norm can load any file from another machine on the Röders PC, edit it, and send it back to the other machine.

Like most other PCs, the Röders control gives the operator Internet access. When Norm has a problem or question, he simply e-mails the error file to Röders' technical support in New Jersey. Without leaving the machine, he receives a quick response. One problem was forwarded, via e-mail, from Hansco in New Jersey to the Röders plant in Germany, and the answer was soon on its way back to Norm.

"I've worked on all kinds of machines, and I've never had this kind of service before," he said. "Victor Pfister and Jon Smith, (Hansco service technicians) are just great to work with. They are very thorough. They really stand behind their product."

Hansco - Röders commitment to service and technical support is a key reason why Schweda is proud to offer their machining centers to our customers.

"The Röders, with one spindle out produces our twin spindle OKK. It is a minimum of twice as fast as any machine we've got."
-Mike Hagen
W.G. Strohwig Tool