CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
6 January 2012
Implementation Investments
WorkNC Delivers Automatic CNC Programming at Serdar Plastik, Turkey
Serdar Plastik in Turkey opened for business in 1973 and created its mold manufacturing department in 1984. Since then it has grown to employ 375 people, has three plants, covering 24,000 sq. meters in total, and is soon to open a fourth. The company specializes in the manufacture of precise plastic parts and components for major manufacturers in a wide range of industries including domestic appliances, heating systems, automotive, medical, electronic, telecommunications, defense and aerospace. It provides a service from product design and manufacturing feasibility to molding and assembly, so its moldmaking workshop is an important and integral element of the manufacturing cycle.
The company has been using high-speed machining (HSM) centers since 1996, so it is well experienced in these machining techniques. Ceyhun ÇINAR, CAM Engineer for Serdar Plastik says, “WorkNC takes the guess work out of CNC programming and it is the closest thing to ‘single button’ CAM. It has several automatic toolpath types to fit our every need such as Global Roughing, Global Finishing, Optimized Finishing, ContourFinishing, Curve Machining and Hole Boring. The system is automatic, we just have to enter a few basic parameters and WorkNC does the rest.”.
All WorkNC’s remachining operations are from dynamic stock models. These update as cutting progresses so that the system knows exactly what material has been removed and exactly what is remaining. The advantage for the user is that tool loads are controlled producing smoother and more fluid machining processes, better surface finishes and a longer tool life. High-speed machining requires careful control of the tool trajectory to avoid sudden shock loading of the cutter.
The molds cut by Serdar Plastik illustrate the power of WorkNC and the time and quality benefits intelligent high-speed machining can produce. Ceyhun ÇINAR explains, “WorkNC has a lightning fast graphic toolpath editor. We had to manufacture a mold for a filter which has 20,000 hexagonal shapes separated by 1mm channels in 52 HRC 1.2083 Stavax material. We produced the CAM program very easily by programming just one hexagon using WorkNC’s engraving toolpath and then, using the toolpath editor, replicated all the other 19,999 toolpaths, enabling us to machine the mold 15% faster than our competitors.” Because Serdar Plastik produces one off components and mold tools each part it manufactures is unique, which could result in a very heavy workload for its CAM programming office. Ceyhun ÇINAR says, “We stick to using around six of WorkNC’s toolpaths to do all our work. We particularly like the automatic programming in the software which helps us to avoid errors and produce the part right first time on our four high speed machining centers.”
The company is examining the possibility of implementing 5-axis machining so that it can manufacture more of each tool in one operation and also produce more complex shapes to meet the growing sophistication of its customer’s designs, helping to reduce costs and provide a better service. Ceyhun ÇINAR adds, “We are considering the purchase of WorkNC for 5-axis machining which will give us a significant commercial advantage over our competitors.” Sescoi’s Auto 5 module automatically changes 3 and 3+2 axis moves into 5-axis continuous paths, so implementing this will enable Serdar Plastik to continue its automated approach to CAM programming for the next phase of its expansion plans.
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