Punch pressing flexibility sought by subcontractor

For CNC punching flexibility a subcontractor opted for a machine with an additional auto index station and two multi-tools - one with eight stations and one with three.

When BK Engineering decided to boost capacity by investing in an LVD Global punch press, it realised that it could become even more productive by standardising on LVD CADMAN software for all its sheet metal working machine tools.

As BK's Managing Director Peter Cleife explains, the company's business had experienced 18 months of continuous expansion and reached the point where it needed to invest in more capacity.

"We already had two Amada punching machines, an LVD Helius laser and an LVD press brake".

"What we needed was a new punch press to flood the front end," he says.

The choice of machine was driven by the fact that BK is a pure subcontractor and tends to concentrate on small to medium sized batched of precision parts for applications in electronics, defence and communications.

"We are generally punching up to 3mm in a variety of materials including mild and stainless steel, aluminium, brass, copper - so we needed something that was going to be versatile".

"The new machine also had to be able to take 2.5 x 1.25m sheet as standard without a reposition, as some of the parts we make, such as mobile phone antennae, are quite big," says Cleife".

""Because we are only running small batches set up time is important, and as we may only be running each batch once, programming time is important too".

"Finally, because of the way that material prices have moved in the past twelve months, material utilisation was also something we were concerned about." Having looked at all the main players, BK homed in on the LVD Global 20 1225.

As Cleife explains, "It has some very good features".

"For a start it will take a 2.5 x 1.25m sheet without repositioning".

"And it has three programmable clamps so that we can achieve good sheet stability without losing the flexibility of punching close to the edge of the sheet for better material utilisation".

"For flexibility we opted for a machine with an additional auto index station and two multi-tools - one with eight stations and one with three".

"The combination of large station auto index and indexable Multitools means that we can rotate tools such as a 80.0mm x 6.0mm slitting tool or a large obround to any angle, and the indexable Multitools mean that we can rotate 13 of the machine's 39 tools in one set up".

"This enables us to get work on the Global very quickly without having to change the tool set-up." Getting the right punch press was only part of the job though; Cleife also wanted to sort out BK's programming software".

""We had quite an old system that was no longer supported, and wanted a solution that would integrate with our existing equipment," he says.

BK examined a wide range of possibilities, but as Cleife explains, the decision to go for LVD's CADMAN Integrated Software Solution was pretty straightforward".

""We more or less made the decision on the first day of our visit to LVD's factory in Belgium".

"We had given them some DXF files to work on ahead of our visit, but we also took with us the file for another fairly complex part and got them to program it there and then".

"It was a real test under real conditions and they passed with flying colours".

"It's one thing to see a carefully rehearsed demonstration of well-known sample component, but when you actually see your own part taken from disk and turned into metal while you are there - 'warts and all' - and you see how easily any problems that crop up are solved, that really is impressive." With CADMAN, LVD was able to offer BK an offline programming system that could not only pick up 2D DXF and DWG files, but also 3D IGES and SAT files".

" "A lot of our customers are using 3D modelling and can give us an IGES file to work from".

"This means we don't need to work from 2D drawings, do the development, make all the bend allowances and so on".

"CADMAN B 3D enables us to develop the geometry of the blank using LVD's 'True' bend allowances from our LVD PPEB CNC pressbrake, this develops the blank via a database of 'real' bend allowances that the pressbrake machine and operator experiences, eliminating the iterative process that you tend to get in conventional DIN - Norm bending practises".

"Once we have developed the geometry for the part using the CADMAN B 3D via the IGES or SAT file import we can post-process the flat part via CADMAN P/L for any of the three punch presses or the laser".

"We can do this at the push of a button depending on the capacity we have available".

"And once we have produced the blank the CADMAN B 3D software generates the tooling set up, bend cycle and program to form up the component on our LVD press brake," explains Cleife".

""We knew we were in the market for software and a new punch, but the attraction of going the LVD route was that we got a turnkey solution from one source that would interface with the new Global, our existing Amada punch presses, our laser and our LVD press brake.".

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