CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
11 January 2005
Implementation Investments
Mold Shop Uses SURFCAM® With Tool Path Verification Powered by MachineWorksT to Boost Productivity
Surfware, Inc., developer of SURFCAM CAD/CAM Systems, announced that Western Industrial Tooling is using SURFCAM to maximize its productivity and drive growth in its markets. Western Industrial Tooling, a mold shop in Redmond, Washington specializing in 3-axis complex-surface tooling, has experienced incredible time saving results utilizing SURFCAM with tool path verification powered by MachineWorks.
"What used to take two and a half hours with our previous, non-SURFCAM verification product, now takes under five minutes," said Ian Adie, Programming Engineer at Western Industrial Tooling. "The images are sharp and clean. The speed and accuracy enables us to have an increased sense of confidence when cutting."
In addition, Western Industrial Tooling is now able to use a comparison tolerance, which was nearly impossible with previous methods. This provides even greater assurance in the final results.
"Our parts have to be exact and we need to have the ability to zoom in on critical areas and check them accurately," Adie commented. "Using our old methods, this project and other similar projects would have tied us up for several hours."
Western Industrial Tooling employs the "true solids" mode of verification, which provided Adie with a sharp image of the finished cut. "True solids," one of three modes available in SURFCAM, is ideal for 3D chip removal and encompasses a faster tool simulation.
"The MachineWorks tool path verification and machine tool simulation technology is fully integrated within SURFCAM, said Joe McChesney, product manager at Surfware. "It provides customers with visually-rich graphics and superior verification tools to proof their tool path motion."
SURFCAM's MachineWorks verification provides a number of powerful simulation tools while staying true to the initial CAD model. By comparing the processed stock model with the original design, it quickly identifies, lists, and displays surface irregularities, remaining stock material and rapid-feed clashes. The infinite navigation and zoom tools enable manipulation of the model during animation without quality degradation. This animation can be paused to closely inspect areas of concern, or accelerated through long, less-critical portions of the program.
"The ongoing innovations in SURFCAM provide us the confidence to program parts both accurately and efficiently," continued Adie. "Using SURFCAM's MachineWorks verification, we are able to produce quality results in a fraction of the time versus previous methods. This reduction in programming time has truly boosted our shop's productivity."
For more information on MachineWorks, please visit http://www.machineworks.com .
Surfware, Inc. is the developer of SURFCAM® CAD/CAM software for PC computers. SURFCAM is designed for CNC programming of 2-, 3-, 4, and 5-axis mills, lathes, wire EDM, laser, plasma, and water-jet machines. Machine shops worldwide use SURFCAM for 2D and 3D mechanical design, surface modeling, reverse engineering, prototyping, mold-making, pattern-making and production machining. For additional information, visit Surfware's web site at http://www.surfware.com .
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