Product category:
Mould and die making, machining, CAD/CAM, software
News Release from: SolidCAM (CADTECH) | Subject: SolidCAM CAM at Big Bear Plastic Products
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 23 January 2008
CAM trims 5-axis vacuum formed parts
Vacuum forming company is now able to use customer generated model files to produce tooling and cutter programs, which has significantly improved project lead times.
UK plastics vacuum forming company, Big Bear Plastic Products, reported that being able to use customer generated model files to produce tooling and cutter programs has significantly improved project lead times The company said that as component tolerances reduced, the pace of new tooling release increased
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 27 Feb 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Consequently, as the need to link the validity of mould tooling, trim tooling and cutter path geometry increased, the use of an integrated CAD/CAM system gained importance.
The company growth rate allied with reducing project lead times led Big Bear to invest in a CAM system to support and integrate with its current SolidWorks CAD system - from Cadtek - which enables it to accept and manipulate solid models imported directly from its customers.
Project engineer at Big Bear, Dan Patrick, said: "It may still be necessary to manually program some components on line at the machine, which may not have valid model files, but with most new projects the model file is the heart of the project so it would be wrong not to use this as source data at every opportunitiy".
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* Seamless CAD-CAM integration - following advice from Cadtek, Big Bear Plastic Products installed two seats of SolidCAM, which integrate seamlessly with its SolidWorks CAD systems.
Operating from inside SolidWorks, SolidCAM works directly with the model data, enabling Big Bear's engineers to quickly add the 5-axis trimming paths once the datum and orientation of the part has been established.
Patrick added, "It isn't uncommon for new components to come in families, so we start by programming the most complex one, which contains the most features.
We can then simply suppress some of the operations to get the trimming paths for the remaining simpler components." Once the toolpath has been prepared, SolidCAM verifies it, showing the tool, the holder and the machine tool, picking up any collisions in its graphical simulator and ensuring that the machine operates safely and reliably.
* Coping with an increase in programming workload - the programming work load at Big Bear increased rapidly during 2007, so as its engineers were becoming familiar with the software, programmers from SolidCAM helped by creating some of the toolpaths.
Patrick said, "Assistance from SolidCAM helped us to overcome the initial backlog of work.
Now more familiar we regularly produce new trimming programs in less than half the time it would have previously taken".
Programming 'off line' in SolidCAM has also raised the efficiency of the physical trimming equipment.
Parts programmed manually on the machine resulted in downtime, as trimming could not continue at the same time.
While parts are programmed in SolidCAM the machine can run without interruption.
* Customer data transfer simplified - Big Bear's customers have seen benefits from the introduction of SolidCAM.
Most now supply designs as CAD models, which simplifies the transfer of data and ensures that design intent is communicated unambiguously.
Within Big Bear Plastic Products, more and more parts go through SolidCAM route, eliminating the possibility of error and enabling the company to offer project turnaround times which would previously have been very difficult to achieve.
Patrick concluded: "Growth at the company is continuing at a very healthy rate with an emphasis on lean manufacture.
The introduction of SolidCAM has contributed to this expansion, enabling the company to manufacture more complex parts in a shorter lead time, raising throughput, and maximising the productivity of our trimming machines".
* About Big Bear Plastic Products - vacuum forming specialist Big Bear Plastic Products is based in Droitwich, UK.
The company has achieved an enviable position, supplying a diverse range of markets from Leisure to Aerospace.
Big Bear Plastic Products offers consultancy and design services along with manufacture and supply and assists customers from concept to components.
Services include, tooling and material selection - incorporating customer specific supply chain requirements.
* About SolidCAM - SolidCAM is a powerful CAM product that has been especially designed for the shop floor.
SolidCAM supports the complete range of major manufacturing applications including 2.5D Milling, 3D Milling, High-Speed Machining, Multi-sided Indexial 4/5 axes Milling, Simultaneous 5 axes Milling, Turning, Turn-Mill upto 5-axis and WireEDM.
SolidCAM has advanced through 23 years of continued development and improvements and has Certified Gold-product status from SolidWorks, providing seamless, single-window integration and full associativity to the SolidWorks design model including parts, assemblies and configurations.
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