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Forgeline Motorsports | Haas Customer Success Story
 

Machining Performance Racing Wheels on Haas

Between 2016 and 2020, Forgeline Motorsports of Dayton, Ohio made significant upgrades to their machining operations, with investments in six new Haas VF-5 vertical machining centers, and one new Haas ST-40 CNC lathe. The main driver for the upgrade was to increase their capacity for machining one-piece wheels by 25-30% to meet growing demand. Prior to the upgrade, Forgeline had a stable of 8 Haas CNC machine tools, dating as far back as 1996. 

All of the newer Haas CNC machines feature the new Haas Next Generation Control (NGC), built on a Linux platform, with 1 GB of memory and Ethernet as standard. Product Engineer Todd LaRue estimates the machines with NGC controls are 20% faster than the older Haas VMCs and lathes at the shop, so between the 7 new machines (bringing Forgeline to 15 Haas CNC machine tools overall) and the speed increases, machinists were quickly able to get one-piece order times down to about three weeks – six weeks for 3-piece wheels. 

“The machines are significantly faster, probably 20%, at least. The surface finish we get off the new machines is better too, reducing the amount of grinding we have to do. The addition of Ethernet has also sped up our process, by reducing the time it takes to upload large programs from Mastercam to the Haas,” LaRue explains. “With Ethernet, it’s super fast. It saves us 10, 15 minutes per program.”

Machining process

The one-piece wheels arrive at Forgeline as aluminum billets. Machinists put them through two lathe operations to machine the front and back. “Then [billets] go under the mills and get all their spokes,” LaRue says. “The holes in the back, the spokes in the top side, the lug patterns, the center bore – it’s all done on the VMCs. Then the wheels go to grind, wash, powdercoat, and assembly.”

David Schardt, President of Forgeline, says milling times on each wheel can vary from 40 minutes to more than 3 hours, depending on the complexity of the design. Some ornate race wheels have tall spokes and complex 3D shapes on their faces, requiring as many as six milling passes per side. 

LaRue says machinists save time by basing their designs on using common tooling to avoid changeovers. Between wheel diameters and widths, the company has about 128 basic designs, and several cosmetic variations on each, so managing complexity is a constant challenge. Nearly 700 lathe profiles are programmed for various designs; machinists design and test parts using Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks software, and program with Mastercam computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software.

“The combinations get crazy,” LaRue says. “It’s exponential. When you create one design, it’s hundreds of programs.”

Early days

The complex programming and design tools are a far cry from Forgeline’s origins. Dayton Wire Wheel started making car wheels in 1916 . Schardt’s family bought the company in 1970.

“My brother Steve and I grew up working in the wheel factory, lacing wire wheels, and doing whatever other jobs were needed, so we've been in the wheel industry our entire lives,” Schardt says. He adds that his father owned Dayton Wire Wheel from 1970 until about 2000.

In the early 1990s, David Schardt was running The Wheel Source, a business that sold racing wheels and custom wheels from other manufacturers. He and his family members saw a market for better, customized racing wheels, so his father and brother started Forgeline in 1993.

“It took off in racing right away, because there weren’t very many wheels with custom offsets,” Schardt explains. “It was a two-part wheel. We were buying the forging in a [5-spoke] shape, and all we were doing was drilling in the lug bolts, doing the center bore, and milling the pad on the back side. We’d weld that center wherever we needed to in the barrel to get the offset, and we could buy all the barrels.”

He and his family members made those early wheels on an open milling machine, without guarding, that would spray coolant and chips all over the shop, Schardt recalls. 

“As cars got heavier, and faster, with more downforce, and tires got stickier, we were having problems with the barrels cracking right at the weld,” Schardt explains. “The three-piece wheels were starting to get popular, where you bought components and you bolted them together. Three-piece wheels are assembled from: barrels, the main wheel body; lips, the part that holds the hardware; and faces, the outer part that gives the wheel its look, and where lug-nuts connect it to the car. They perform well in race situations, but a one-piece wheel is ultimately lighter and stronger.”

In 1998, the company bought a 1996 Haas VF-3, its first VMC and first machine with a full enclosure, for $25,000.

“We got our money’s worth out of that one,” Schardt says. He adds that one-piece wheels started becoming popular about 10 years ago, and Forgeline added them to its lineup in 2012.

Since those early garage days, Forgeline has expanded into 30,000 ft² of space, and employs 27 people. About half of the company’s business comes from street wheels, and half from racing enthusiasts. Forgeline is also the spec OEM wheel supplier for the Ford Mustang GT4 and Chevrolet Camaro GT4, competing in IMSA’s Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge Race Series. The Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge Race Series, part of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), allows race enthusiasts to buy standardized, race-tuned versions of common cars from major manufacturers – providing a level playing field in which every driver is using a nearly identical vehicle.

“The machines are significantly faster, probably 20%, at least. The surface finish we get off the new machines is better too, reducing the amount of grinding we have to do. The addition of Ethernet has also sped up our process, by reducing the time it takes to upload large programs from Mastercam to the Haas.” 

– Todd LaRue, Product Engineer, Forgeline

ABOUT Forgeline Motorsports

✔ Haas machines:

✔ Products they make on Haas machines: Performance Racing Wheels

✔ Location: Dayton, Ohio, USA

David Schardt, president of Forgeline, in front of the company’s newest Haas VF-5 vertical machining center.