Product category:
Software, off-line programming, CAM, for metal cutting machine tools
News Release from: Delcam | Subject: FeatureCAM CAM software
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 03 July 2007
Machining fixture library held in CAM
saves time
With FeatureCAM, a manufacturer of vehicle retrofit kits has a library of standard fixtures, so if it takes longer than 5 min to set up a part for machining, only then is an alternative needed.
It is a good idea to keep a CAM library of standard fixtures - each capable of holding a variety of shapes for machining - so that a machining set-up can be quickly configured That is how a designer of retrofit kits for vehicles has been able to speed up development cycles when introducing new designs
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 6 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Kairos Autonomi is using Delcam's FeatureCAM feature-based CAM software in this way.
"With FeatureCAM, we can literally go from thought to part in 20 minutes," said Troy Takach, president and CEO of Kairos.
he said that the US government, wants one-third of all vehicles used by its military ito be autonomous, or self-driving, by 2015.
Most of the vehicles will have to be retrofitted, which is why Kairos was inspired develop a kit with which a trained team can retrofit existing production vehicles in 4h or less.
"We make a lot of parts that are kind of mundane but easy to get wrong, in which case we would use up a lot of time," explained Takach.
"So we import the DXF file and the feature-recognition capability of FeatureCAM sees the features we need to produce.
We really rely on FeatureCAM to keep our manufacturing time as short as possible".
* CAM system's advantage - as there are several types of parts common to every vehicle kit, the parametric capabilities of FeatureCAM can be used to make variations quickly.
"With FeatureCAM, we have a library of standard fixtures from which we can choose.
If it takes longer than five minutes to set up a part, we need to think of it in a different way," explained Takach.
"This allows us to make ten different parts in a short period of time and get them directly to assembly." Another advantage was found with FeatureCAM: by using its inversion tool, Kairos can machine parts that are larger than a milling machine's working envelope.
Kairos operators do this by machining one half, then turning the component over to complete it.
Takach said that FeatureCAM had had a big effect on Kairos' profitability as a developer because it saved time and helped reduce time on non-product development.
"This means we have more resources and time to put on our main task which is development of autonomous vehicle software systems. Request a free brochure from Delcam ...
We think of FeatureCAM as a bridge between the engineer and the mill which allows us to shorten the time frame and eliminate false steps.".
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