RP is basically a visual aid that allows the moldmaker to evaluate the design and know it is correct before the process moves to the hard tooling stage. From the model he can accurately determine where parting lines in the mold can and should be set up. If minor modifications need to be made, [...]
Today many original equipment manufacturers are under tight restraints, such as cost, new product development and time-to-market, giving mold builders an enormous opportunity to develop the necessary technology to support today’s plastics industry. […]
The biggest change happening in the CAM industry isn’t in the software products themselves, but in the way CAM companies must now do business. Their customers are moving away from controlling everything within the four walls of a single plant and toward a global supply chain. […]
Stereolithography is a 3-D layering manufacturing process that applies ultraviolet lasers to cure liquid photopolymer resins to produce solid, plastic, 3-D objects that simulate properties of polyethylene, polypropylene and polycarbonate materials. The SLA machine’s software sections the 3-D CAD model into multiple thin layers (typically five to 10 layers per millimeter). […]
Creating and using EDM (electro discharge manufacturing) electrodes is considered a painful challenge by most moldmakers because it is time consuming, slows down mold production and requires precision. […]
Rapid prototyping services can be evaluated in terms of technology, experience, know-how and service. […]
Most of the five-axis “magic” is managed by software in the CNC control and CAM software systems. The machine tool should be selected for sizes, speeds and capacities. And five-axis machine costs are coming down, and quality is improving with the implementation of CAD and simulation in the design process. […]
Plunging—or as it has been recently called in the Midwest, stomping—typically has been an approach saved for long reach roughing applications. When performing roughing applications there are many ways to get the job done—from basic “Z” level roughing using conventional methods (large depth-of-cut, slow feed) to the high speed/feed methods (shallow depth-of-cut, increased feedrates) applied [...]
Today’s moldmaker faces a constant barrage of challenges from customers. Demands for shorter turnaround times, reduced prices and increased precision can often overwhelm a shop’s resources. In this environment, it is not surprising that many manufacturers resort to a reactive philosophy, pursuing change only when directly called upon to do so by requirements of a [...]
How much metal are you removing and how fast are you removing it? A common question among mold shops today, which leads to the next topic: high-feed metal removal. High-feed cutters give you the advantage of machining efficiently and affordably. […]