Product category:
Milling, boring and routing machines - manual and CNC
News Release from: Micromech | Subject: Isel PC-driven CNC router
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 03 December 2007
CNC machine improves prototypes costing
A prototyping company, not satisfied with more traditional processes, now machines solid models using a PC-driven CNC router to work wood, plastics, MDF, and non-ferrous metals.
Micromech said that the use of a PC-based CNC machine has helped a manufacturer improve the quality of its designs by allowing the company to make more prototypes Apparently, their industrial designers were very concerned with how a product 'feels' in the hand
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 28 Apr 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Viewing solid models on-screen did not give the sense of how it 'feels' to hold the object.
Only prototypes can do that,s aid the company.
The industrial design company specialises in ergonomically designed hand-held products such as hand tools, game controllers, and consumer electronics.
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Designers' ideas were presented as sketches and often included foam models, so the client had something to 'hold'.
It takes a skilled model maker about one day to make a blue foam model but it is not highly accurate as the process of cutting them requires some interpolation between surfaces.
Once a customer has narrowed product choice to two or three concepts, solid modelling is then required.
More accuracy is required than can be obtained with blue foam.
The main drawback was that of using an outside vendor do this work and their cost limited the number of prototypes.
Since the design company was producing a solid model of the design it made sense, said Micromech to manufacturingtalk.com, to use model geometry to produce prototypes in-house.
The company considered 3D printers, but the prototypes produced require a great deal of finishing: taking at least a day of sanding for most products.
The company did not want to allot that kind of time to model production and a 3D printer was not highly accurate.
* PC-driven CNC router - to produce prototypes from solid models, the solution was to machine them.
The design company acquired a PC-driven CNC router from Isel.
The machine was designed for production routing and drilling on a wide variety of materials including wood, plastics, MDF, solid surfacing materials and non-ferrous metals.
The technical specifications of the machine included a router working area fof 500x500mm and Z-axis height of 200mm.
The table features the following.
* A rapid travel rate of 9000mm/min.
* A Z-axis cutting force of 100kgf maximum.
* 0.013mm resolution and repeatability.
A key feature of the servo system, said Micromech, is its ability to cut 3D continuous contours at up to 5000mm/min, far faster than most machining centres.
Now, when a designer wants to make a quick prototype from Pro/ENGINEER data, tool-paths are first generated in Pro/MANUFACTURE and then sent to the model shop to be produced.
It takes about a day to program the machine and produce a prototype, so by the next day a designer has a part to examine surfaces, fit together, or see what feels good in his hand.
Thanks to the accuracy of the machine finishing time is minimal.
The machine has a positioning accuracy of +1mm in 300mm, a repeatability of 0.01mm and anti-backlash ball screws for play-free motion.
These screws have excellent power transmission due to the rolling ball contract between the nut and screws, this type of contact ensures low friction, low wear, and long life.
The ball screws also make it possible to produce parts to the machine resolution of 0.013mm and for the model makers this means that a part can be sanded down with sandpaper in about 20 to 30 min.
The machine runs on average 20h/week, although there are situations when it runs constantly.
The CNC machine is very stable and reliable being constructed from extruded aluminium profiles that can support all the soft materials used.
The machine has four hardened and ground steel shafts and eight re-circulating bearings in each axis.
This shaft-and-bearing system produces very smooth, play-free motion and an extremely rigid system that produces high-quality cuts.
The problems of noise and dust that areere unacceptable in an office environment were solved by enclosing the router in a cabinet constructed from the same aluminium extrusions.
* Prototype cost cut by 60% - before acquiring the CNC machine the prototypes made by an outside service cost time and money, limiting the number of prototypes used in the course of a design.
After installing the CNC machine, the cost of a typical prototype dropped by 60%, allowing designers to make more samples to better refine a design.
The prototypes produced on the Isel machine have been invaluable in that they give designers and clients an accurate part to hold in their hands improving the quality of its designs.
Another important benefit of having the machine is that it impresses clients and prospective clients having the ability to mill parts in-house and showing them how quickly they can get to hard prototypes, has helped close several sales.
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