Date

12-2009

Degree Name

BS in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical Engineering Department

Advisor(s)

James Meagher

Abstract

The Cal Poly senior project team worked with Helical Products Inc. to develop an automated method for removing swarf and chip buildup from the drill bits of their CNC milling machines. The removal methods in this report were designed for and tested using a Fanuc Robodrill while keeping the potential in mind for their use in other CNC milling machines. After extensive background research, preliminary and prototype design and testing the final chosen design is shown below. The cleaning device is made from flexible sheet metal and placed on a fixture that occupies one of the two pallet locations inside the CNC machine. The sheet metal is flexible enough to accommodate the full range of drill bit sizes requested by Helical and strong enough to hold the chips in place as the drill bit is removed from the cleaning device, cleaning the drill bit.