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MCC Tooling achieves
quick and easy machining
with ESPRIT®
In choosing ESPRIT to write programs for
its CNC grinders and wire EDM machine,
MCC Tooling found a CAM system so user
friendly that the owner’s young grandchildren
sometimes use it. More importantly, ESPRIT’s
efficient programming is saving MCC Toolingtime and money.
MCC Tooling makes andresharpens custom cutting tools,
step drills, form tools and dovetailcutters, in quantities ranging fromone of a kind to as many as 100
pieces, for customers in the oil,airline and medical industries.
Marcus Alexander founded MCC
Tooling in 1984 in Garland, Texas,a suburb of Dallas, with leased
space and a single grinder. It has
since grown into a ten-person

Quality control supervisor and CNC programmer
Michelle Steward programs a wire cutting die.

business with a variety of machines:
a Mitsubishi MV1200-R wire EDM
with B-axis, a Walter Helitronic
Vision CNC grinder, a Walter
Power CNC grinder, a Walter Mini
CNC, a TRU TECH grinder, 10K.O. Lee grinders, a Harig surfacegrinder, a Gallmeyer surface grinderand a Cincinnati #2 centerlessgrinder. The company works withmetals including carbide, stainlesssteel and high-speed steel.
MCC Tooling began using ESPRITin 1999, when it purchased its firstwire EDM machine, a Mitsubishi
FX 10. “After hours of extensive
research and vetting different
programs and software, wefelt ESPRIT would fit our needs
and our price range perfectly,”
Marcus says. “ESPRIT is user
friendly, works seamlessly with
our machines, and it integrates
well with SolidWorks. It’s so easythat my grandchildren have comehere and programmed their own

things for us to cut out for them.”
In 2013, ESPRIT helped the shop
move to a Mitsubishi MV1200-R
with B-axis, which Marcus
purchased because it could
hold closer tolerances. Initially
unfamiliar with the ins and outs ofprogramming it, MCC machinists
resorted at first to trial and error.
ESPRIT enabled them to get up tospeed quickly with the machine.
“One thing that helped us was
being able to see the heads movingon the simulation in ESPRIT before
running it on the EDM. This ensures
we don’t waste time running
an incorrect part and saves us
money by not scrapping parts.”
The B-axis, a MMK Matsumoto,changed MCC’s world, making

1“One thing that helped
us was being able to see
the heads moving on thesimulation in ESPRIT before
running it on the EDM. Thisensures we don’t waste
time running an incorrectpart and saves us moneyby not scrapping parts.”-- Marcus Alexander,
owner of MCC Toolingindexing from tooth to tooth far
more accurate. MCC cuts a lot of
multiple flute form cutters. Before
the B-axis, making these parts
took the shop several operations
on different machines and a longer
setup time on the EDM. Now,
it takes less than two minutes
to set up the B-axis, and using
ESPRIT, MCC can program tools
in only four additional steps. “We
can mount the tool in B-axis andwalk away knowing that we’ll
get the perfect tool every time,”
Marcus says. “Also, with ESPRIT,
we can check all the clearance
and rake angles on tools to makesure they will work well and thatthe dimensions are correct.”
Quicker quotes with ESPRITWith more companies competingfor projects, MCC must ensurethat it provides precise job quotes
quickly. “We have to know how
long something will take to run inorder to accurately quote a job,and we have to accurately quotea job so we don’t lose money ortime while running the machine,”
Marcus says. “With ESPRIT, after
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Email: esprit@dptechnology.com

we program a job, we can produce
the code and see exactly how longa job will take to run.” Marcus candraw up a print in minutes, send it
to the customer and, if approved,
have it running on the EDM thatsame day. “Customers think I’m
the greatest because I can movefrom quote to job to finishedproduct so quickly,” he jokes.
Occasionally, customers comein without prints or with a tool
that’s so badly worn it’s almost
impossible to correctly measure.
Once they have an inkling of how
to proceed, Marcus and his teamfind it easy to draw up the tool inESPRIT and figure out the otherdimensions. ESPRIT also allows
MCC to more easily doublecheck customer measurements.
MCC was recently commissioned
to make a double-ended toolinginsert for a customer, and Marcus
was able to use ESPRIT to draw
the insert to the customer’s exact
specifications and turn it into EDM
code within seconds. He thenused ESPRIT to draw a fixture
that would hold a carbide blankon a CNC grinder. The job wastricky, though: the fixture had tobe made so that the blank would
locate in exactly the same spot
every time on the grinders. Marcus
then designed a second fixture
to hold the insert while he cut theform on the EDM. The process
was originally supposed to takefour operations, but Marcus
reduced it to two using a four-axis
program. Best of all, this method
resulted in the ability to machine
the insert in the same manner

every time — Marcus can simply
insert a carbide blank and go. The
customer, which had searched
unsuccessfully for a machine shopthat could make the insert properly,
was so pleased with the outcomethat it now orders around 50 toolsa month from MCC Tooling.
These days, Marcus spends
most of his time quoting jobs,
so being able to cut down on
programming and machining timewith ESPRIT is beneficial, allowing
him to spend more time completingother tasks around the shop.
“Our industry is fast-paced andeveryone needs a fast turnaroundon jobs. Time is money for us.”
And it’s clear that with ESPRIT,
MCC Tooling is translating
shorter quoting, programmingand machining times into highvalue for their business.

Marcus Alexander, owner of MCC Tooling, runs
his shop’s Mitsubishi MVR1200-R wire EDM
machine with MMK Matsumoto B-axis.

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All rights reserved.
ESPRIT is a registered trademark of
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