Chamfering can be an important step in the manufacturing process, removing sharp edges and burrs from a workpiece in order to create a proper gear.
Octagon Manufacturing Technology, a small machine shop based in India, has been supplying CNC machines for chamfering and other processes for about 15 years.
“In forging, there are some operations missing because of cost constraint, so we made CNC lathe machines for that particular missing operation,” said Ajay Purandare, co-founder of Octagon Manufacturing Technology. “It was a good business, actually. After that, we slowly started making various types of machines, like SPM drilling machines and multi-spindle drilling machines. After that, we manufactured CNC twin spindle default drilling machines. In addition to chamfering solutions, Octagon also provides in-process deburring solutions for gear blanks.”
Company vision
Octagon’s vision is centered around innovation, technical expertise, adaptability, and a customer-centric approach, with a focus on delivering specialized solutions to the gear manufacturing industry, according to Purandare.
“For the gear industry, we are looking forward to offering various solutions for the problems that they’re facing,” he said.
For example, Purandare said Octagon has had success finding a solution for a company facing a chamfering operation. Octagon offered a design that was able to meet their needs.
Octagon’s chamfering machines can be used to successfully chamfer thin and potentially delicate gears by holding the component horizontally or vertically between the centers while two spindle removers operate from both sides of the gear, according to Purandare.
“Since it is a twin spindle machine, it makes it a good solution for the industry because of the price of the machine,” he said.
Variety of machine options
Some of the machines that Octagon offers include a twin spindle CNC SPM gear teeth chamfering machine for disc gears with an X-, Y-, and Z-axis slide; a twin spindle CNC SPM gear teeth chamfering machine for shaft gears with a rotary axis; a twin spindle CNC vertical deep hole drilling machine for PET bottle dies; a 5-axis SPM VMC for PET bottle bottom die drilling with 0.8 mm to 5 mm diameter holes on various angles; a 3-axis CNC SPM sliding head lathe for 1 mm diameters for turning and grooving; and a twin spindle PLC-based automatic SPM for drilling and riveting of PVC pipe and socket.
Working with customers
Providing solutions for its customers means that Purandare and his team work with customers to ensure they get the most efficient machines to meet their challenges.
“This is our specialty,” he said. “We also have the latest technology, but we can keep costs lower because of our company structure, since our company’s still very small, we have less overhead with flexible setups.”
When most customers contact Octagon, the company already has 50 percent of a solution ready, according to Purandare, with inventory in place that can be modified to directly fit a customer’s needs.
“We get the inquiry from them; we get all the details of what they are actually looking for and how much cost they want to spend for that product,” he said. “We get all that information first and then go ahead. We have a few machines for manufacturing in-house setup, and most of the parts we get are made from outside parties and vendors, so we can make both bigger sized and smaller machines. We also ask how they came to know about Octagon.”
Company Beginnings
For those who don’t know Octagon, the company’s journey began in 2010, according to Purandare.
“My business partner, Raju Wable, and I were both technocrats with experience in different organizations when we founded our company,” he said. “We started small, with just one employee, manufacturing length measuring machine assemblies as Octagon Precision (I) Pvt Ltd based in Pune, India.”
In 2014, Purandare said he and Wable created educational/trainer tabletop CNC lathes and CNC milling machines.
“These low-cost solutions gained popularity in engineering colleges and polytechnic institutes,” he said. “However, our success was short-lived, as our dealers copied the design and started manufacturing the machines locally, leading to a drastic decline in orders.”
Despite this setback, Octagon continued to experiment and develop tabletop models for the automotive industry, according to Purandare.
“Our lack of knowledge about actual industry expectations hindered our progress,” he said. “We kept ourselves afloat, but financial struggles persisted. Without official training on business development, we relied on trial and error, driven by our passion for innovation.”
However, 2024 marked a significant change for Octagon, according to Purandare.
“We joined the Teaching-Learning-Community (TLC), a professional businessmen’s group,” he said. “Under the guidance of our mentors, we are now strategically working toward growth and development. This new chapter has brought renewed hope and direction to our company.”
Looking to the future
As Octagon continues into the next phase of its future, Purandare said he’s confident the company can do many things for the gear industry.
“We can see that there are very high-end machines in the industry; there is no middle solution,” he said. “If the component is small, the user has to buy very big machines and do the production on that machine, so the cost of production is very high. We are sure we can offer some good machines for the actual need of the customer.”
