Expanding services

After moving from Poland, Greg Kordalski founded KES Machine LLC in Newington, Connecticut in 2000. Since then, the business has been helping engineering and manufacturing companies maximize productivity and minimize downtime with its accredited calibration and repair services. KES Machine’s technicians help machinists solve geometry errors, lead screw errors, and repeatability concerns – sometimes diagnosing errors before they become critical problems, saving downtime.

While the company initially focused on CNC service work, in 2008, it invested in its first RenishawML10 laser system and began developing its calibration services. The company works with machine tool builders, importers, distributors, and end-users, primarily in the aerospace, defense, nuclear, and medical sectors.

In 2019, KES opened a Polish subsidiary to support manufacturers there. “Since I was born in Poland, I visit quite frequently, so this is why I chose Poland as the first country on the European continent” Kordalski explains. “However, this doesn’t mean that the expansion of the company in Europe will be limited to Poland.”

The company offers in-house and on-site repair services, as well as monthly maintenance contracts to keep equipment operating at optimal efficiency and accuracy. In 2016, KES obtained ISO 17025 certification and became a fully capable calibration service company.

“ISO 17025 accreditation demonstrates our capabilities to our customers,” Kordalski explains. “Showing that we follow industry requirements for testing and calibration enables us to provide a value-added service to engineers and ensures all our equipment is up-to-date and our technicians offer the best service to customers.”

Challenges

Component quality is dependent on machine performance. Without understanding a machine’s error profile, it’s impossible to have confidence components will fall within specification during manufacture. KES aims to be the go-to calibration service provider and deliver the solutions its customers are requesting. This led KES to investigate volumetric machine tool compensation and explore available systems on the market.

“In the past few years, we’ve seen manufacturers invest in more automated machining systems,” Kordalski says. “Probes and calibration are key to the success of these systems, so we’ve seen a growing interest in the annual calibration of equipment and machines using probing systems.

“KES Machine has always been at the forefront of technological advancements. Accuracy, software, and support are important factors when looking for new products. When we see equipment that makes processes more accurate and efficient, we go in that direction.”

Krzysztor Siergiejczyk, head of KES Machine in Poland explains, “After having a good experience working with Renishaw in the U.S., when opening the Polish subsidiary, we quickly established contact with Renishaw Poland. We were the first company in Poland to adopt Renishaw’s XM-60 and we have a big ambition to take care of customers within the European market throughout the upcoming years.”

Solution

When he first founded KES, Kordalski purchased his first ML10 laser and QC10 ballbar from Renishaw. KES has since purchased other Renishaw equipment, including XL-80 laser systems, XR20 rotary calibrators, off-axis rotary software, and QC20 ballbar systems. The company is also an advocate of Renishaw’s machine tool probes, tool setters, and broken tool detection systems, and is a full-service representative of Renishaw products.

KES Machine ultimately selected Renishaw’s XM-60 and XM-600 multi-axis calibrator because of its ease of use, flexibility, and ability to capture large amounts of data. KES can use the equipment on CNC machine tools and CMMs to perform volumetric compensation. This laser measurement system can measure errors in six degrees of freedom along a linear axis, simultaneously, from a single setup. It provides a powerful diagnostic tool to measure all geometric errors in the axis from a single capture.

Additionally, the XM-600 multi-axis calibrator is designed with extra functionality, enabling it to communicate directly with Renishaw’s UCC controllers, and is compatible with Renishaw’s CARTO software suite. These features make it an ideal calibration solution for a manufacturing facility using machine tools and CMMs, such as KES.

“Renishaw offers a range of calibration solutions for improved machine performance, increased machine up-time, and preventative maintenance schedules,” explains Jeffrey Seliga, marketing manager at Renishaw Inc. “By using the XM-60, the KES team can collect a range of measurements, including the pitch, yaw, roll, linear positioning, and horizontal and vertical straightness in the same time it takes to collect a single measurement using conventional techniques.”

Results

“I would say about 80% of our equipment is now Renishaw,” Kordalski notes. “Although we still investigate other brand systems, ultimately, we are looking for the best technology, and Renishaw typically wins. For example, we recently invested in the XK10 alignment laser system. While it’s still a new product for us, we’ve already seen its benefits when testing spindle direction or when installing machines, to help adjust straightness and squareness.”

KES Machine used the XM-600 to implement CNC volumetric compensation and will soon offer CMM calibration to its customers, as well as support for Renishaw CMM hardware, as the XM-600 directly interfaces with Renishaw UCC controllers. For years prior to the release of the XM-60 and XM-600, KES typically used multiple pieces of different equipment to measure linear positioning, pitch, yaw, and roll. The XM-60 manages this process with one pass and includes horizontal and vertical straightness over the completed travel. Measurements that took 2 to 4 hours now require less than 30 minutes, depending on the machine axis length.

The equipment can diagnose machine errors. KES uses CARTO software, along with its own custom software, to simplify its processes. The KES team uses CARTO software’s cut-and-paste feature to help the compensation process and saves time using the report builder feature.

“Volumetric compensation is a relatively new process in the U.S., but we have had great success in the past two years,” Kordalski says. “We can better support our customers and provide solutions they demand to ensure machine precision. For example, we’re now seeing some of our customers installing these solutions onto new machines and performing volumetric compensation during installation, ensuring machine accuracy from the very beginning.”

“The support from Renishaw has been outstanding. When first introducing the product, Renishaw arranged to visit our facility to review the system and features, and the team is also on hand for support and regularly asks for feedback and recommendations about its software. Our team is out in the field using Renishaw equipment and software daily, so we’re happy to make recommendations – it’s a great feeling when a new version is released and your suggestion has been added,” Kordalski concludes.

Renishaw
https://www.renishaw.com/calibration
PMTS booth #5099
EASTEC booth #3151

KES Machine LLC
https://www.kesmt.com