Best Carbide Discovers a Key Ingredient to Improving Tool Quality
It was a fatal auto accident in 1986 involving both parents that thrust brothers, Mark and Sal Nunez, into the carbide drill business their father had started six years earlier. But in the intervening years, they have transformed their father’s vision of providing customers high precision, high quality carbide tools into Best Carbide Tools, Inc (Gardena, CA). Today Best Carbide operates in a 25,000 square foot facility with over 50 employees working multiple shifts.

In addition to standard endmills, drills, burrs, routers, Best Carbide also makes specials. Their superior quality tools are used throughout the world in automotive, aerospace, moldmaking and woodworking industries.

The 1990s brought tremendous growth for Best Carbide and the Nunez brothers recognized that continued reinvestment in technology was essential in maintaining a competitive edge. “The industry we are in is a very competitive industry”, said Mark Nunez. “ and if you don’t make a commitment to automation, you’re going to be left behind. You need the best equipment available,” he continued, “it’s not an inexpensive proposition, but it’s going to pay off in the long run.” After deploying some high tech machinery, with automated loading/unloading, and achieving some production benefits, the Nunez brothers continued to examine every aspect of Best Carbides process such as wheel life and machine maintenance. In looking for other areas of improvement they began to explore the area of coolant filtration.

A Closer Look Reveals A Key Piece of The Quality Puzzle
Like many companies in the carbide cutting tool business, initially, Best Carbide started out with cartridge filters. “They promised 5 microns”, said Nunez, “and within a couple days it was maybe throwing out 20 microns then within a week closer to 50 microns, then, it would bypass it right away.” This inconsistency was a major concern for a company building a business on close tolerances. “It wasn’t consistent at all”, continued Nunez. “It’s called 5 micron but in reality you’re maybe getting 20-30 microns… the same with Centrifuge systems. Those were awful.”

“We had heard of the Transor System and its One Micron Filtration capability”, laughed Mark Nunez, “but when we couldn’t consistently hold the 5 microns promised with cartridges, why would we ever believe one micron was possible.” After a couple years of frustration and some continual prodding by their machine sales rep, who had multiple successful experiences of installing Transor Systems as part of an OEM package, Mark and Sal Nunez took the plunge. “We knew we wanted it but weren’t positive if it would work, because both the cartridge filters and centrifuge people promised us something and never delivered. When we switched to the Transor, I was incredibly surprised. They gave us everything we needed. “

They purchased a Transor and installed it on several Rollomatic CNC Grinders. The impact was immediate. “With the Transor", stated Nunez, “we experienced an immediate improvement in our cycles times.” Then one by one, other benefits began to emerge. “It’s cut down our maintenance incredibly. Work moral is better because you don’t have to deal with all that sludge inside the machine, everything is nice and clean, and set ups are easier. There are so many advantages with the Transor.”

It didn’t stop there. Sal Nunez discovered other additional production benefits they were able to attribute to the Transor System. “We always had pretty good wheel life because we spec out our own wheels, but after we installed the Transor, we noticed our wheel life was much better. Also with Transor our wheel edge holds up better which means higher quality and closer tolerances.”

Both Nunez brothers readily discussed other maintenance issues as well. A problem with carbide particulate getting into spindle bearings became non-existent. “Because carbide is extremely abrasive”, said Nunez, “any little bit of that stuff will destroy anything, so eliminating it has a huge impact. We saw it right away.” They also found that temperature controlled coolant from the Transor chiller eliminated thermal variances keeping the machine and controller a consistent temperature. Both agreed that the Transor protects their capital machinery investments. “I know we are going to see that our machines will last longer in the future because of the Transor, That’s a fact.” concluded Mark Nunez.

One Micron Filtration Is Critical In Producing Micro Tools
Like many tool manufacturers, the Nunez brothers understood the need for filtration when producing larger cutting tools. With larger tools and heavier stock removal, the need for keeping particles away from the wheel to maximize speed was obvious. Nunez used an example. When manufacturing a tool 1” diameter by 6” length from a solid piece of carbide, typically, the inside of the machine would be covered with dirt and debris. By eliminating this, the role the Transor plays in filtration is visually noticeable, he commented. But with micros, the stock removal is so minimal, one would tend to ignore the need for the one-micron capability, based on what the eye can see.

But in recent years Best Carbide has had an ever-growing business in micro tools. “We specialize in micros,” said Mark Nunez, “and the Transor has made a big difference in that part of our operation. Not everybody can make micros under 0.002”, but because we can hold our corners, they’ve really become one of our specialties.”

He went on to discuss that any small amount of debris that embeds itself on the wheel can make a difference when producing a tool the size of a human hair. He emphasized how critical the edge is to obtaining size control, finish, accuracy and that the Transors’ One Micron Filtration was key to this aspect of their business. He also noted that the Transor has enabled Best Carbide to virtually eliminate any scrap, a common problem in manufacturing micros.

Guaranteeing Quality Products
Both Mark and Sal Nunez clearly stated that achieving superior customer satisfaction is their guiding philosophy. Best Carbide does this through their talented staff and also in their confidence that their manufacturing processes can continually meet and exceed customer requirements. For Best Carbide, having extremely clean oil, consistently filtered to one micron, has added to that confidence in knowing that the tolerances, concentricity and overall surface finishes will be met day in and day out.

Included in the Transor System was a chiller that keeps the coolant at a consistent temperature. According to Nunez it has been a big factor in holding tolerances. By controlling the temperature that a tool is running eliminates variances making the machine operation more stable. “”It makes a huge difference, especially on micros”, said Nunez. “Prior to installing the Transor with a refrigerant system we had to watch our process very closely and measure a large percentage of the tools. We still do laser measurement, but we’re much more confident in the daily operation now.”

“Having the cleaner oil, we’re also more confident in leaving a third shift somewhat unmanned”, said Nunez. “We have confidence to run a lights out operation because clean, temperature controlled oil helps guarantee better consistency in tolerances and size control for those 8 hours… that’s a big issue.”

Best Carbide’s Bright Future
Sal and Mark Nunez said they had a two-point agenda when they started talking to Transor. They knew that having clean coolant would lead to holding tighter tolerances and getting better finishes. The second main reason was their concern about keeping maintenance as low as possible. “After getting a Transor we saw those benefits and others that have helped out in so many different ways,” commented Nunez. “For instance, we don’t have to throw away and replace cartridges anymore as the Transor automatically cleans the elements rather than replacing them. That’s less disposal. Also debris from the elements is placed into a cloth bag for easy reclamation.

The Nunez brothers succeed in the carbide tool business and have a clear vision for the future. “I’m conservative and I want to make sure we don’t want to grow so quickly. We want to continue our legacy of providing exceptional tools and great customer service. I like to say that Best Carbide is not just our name, but what we really stand for.”