Edgecam has the edge for racing car components

Jaye Engineering of Ravenstone, near Olney in Buckinghamshire uses the latest version of the EdgeCAM offline CNC machine tool programming system from Pathtrace of Reading.

Nearly 50 years after they were built, the Grand Prix and Le Mans winning cars raced by the likes of Fangio, Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn perform at least as well today as when new.

And, should one of these precious vehicles be damaged or need a replacement part, a well-organised army of specialists can quickly replicate components which not only function correctly but also look like the originals.

Jaye Engineering of Ravenstone, near Olney in Buckinghamshire, is among the leading exponents of this highly-skilled craft and has found by using the latest version of the EdgeCAM offline CNC machine tool programming system from Pathtrace of Reading, says the task of reverse engineering and producing engine and suspension components has become a lot more straightforward.

In fact, EdgeCAM has even made it possible to reproduce the finish and features such as draft angles and split lines that normally distinguish an 'original' forged part from a modern substitute precision machined from solid.

EdgeCAM also plays a key role in programming the geometrically complex components used in present day Grand Prix cars, which accounts for most of the company's business.

"Without EdgeCAM we would struggle to meet customer requirements," comments Managing Director, Peter Jaye.

"We have invested heavily in multi-axis machining centres, and to get the best results and productivity from these demands efficient programming.

Our batch quantities are normally five to 10 and with Formula One work, the likelihood of modification between batches is high - so we need programs we can trust and we must be able generate them fast enough to satisfy customers that have massive time constraints." Jaye Engineering installed EdgeCAM in the late 1990s following a 'poor experience' with another system.

The requirement was for a single source solution combining part programming with 3-D solid modelling CAD.

A key factor in favour of EdgeCAM was that it was partnered with Unigraphics SolidWorks, which is also used by one of Jaye Engineering's major customers.

"We find EdgeCAM supports CAD data import extremely well," Peter Jaye comments.

"As a lot of our work involves ongoing component development the fact that changes to the SolidWorks model are automatically and seamlessly incorporated by EdgeCAM is a boon.

Also, the programming system accepts IGES file translations of CATIA models and, when we are reverse engineering, the solid modelling capability proves very useful." The company's main machining resource is a pair of five-axis machining centres and a four-axis machining centre.

The five-axis capability comprises three interpolative and two positional axes, thus permitting the machining of all but the clamping face of any component in a single cycle.

On one cover-type component with eight faces, the first operation sets up the clamping and datum face, followed by just one operation to machine the remaining seven faces.

Program duration ranges from between five or 10 minutes to three hours or more, while positional or feature accuracy of 10 microns is not uncommon.

A wide range of materials are routinely processed, including cast and wrought aluminium, high tensile steel, stainless steel, titanium and magnesium.

Peter Jaye explains how EdgeCAM offers some very useful features.

"I really like the history file down the side of the screen as it allows me to quickly 'prune and graft' if I want to alter a machining sequence.

From an operational standpoint, the roughing cycle strategy in Version 6.75 is highly effective, too.

The options within it provide a lot of flexibility for roughing different features and they save considerable time when programming." When it comes to program verification, he maintains: "EdgeCAM Simulator is excellent; we can be very confident that, if it works on the screen, it will work on the machine.

We can spin the component model around to see how it is being machined - and that further enhances our confidence.

Simulation also gives us a very good idea of the resulting surface finish." A very high standard of machined finish is always the target using a stepover rate of 0.01 mm during machining.

Although this leads to lengthy part programs, the combination of storage capacity and processing speed on the machines' Heidenhain CNC systems means they can easily cope.

A recent task completed by Jaye Engineering was the manufacture of replica steel suspension wishbones for a restored 1955 Ferrari 625.

This type of car scored Ferrari's only victory at the world famous Monaco Grand Prix in that year.

Although the original wishbones were forgings, the smaller quantities now required would not justify a new set of forging dies.

Peter Jaye therefore captured the data by digitising an original wishbone into SolidWorks, added certain details such as draft angles either side of the split line - which made the period appearance of the component convincing - then quickly developed the machining program in EdgeCAM.

"Once we'd completed the model, it took about 90 minutes to develop and generate the part program," he says.

Each wishbone was then machined from a solid billet, working from either side.

Overall machining time was about six hours and the finished part was shot peened to create the cosmetic appearance.

"We used to program parts like this long-hand," concludes Peter Jaye, "but having EdgeCAM makes it significantly easier and so much faster.".

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