FEATURE MACHINERY
COMPLEX MACHINERY AND CAM V
on Ruden Manufacturing has designed and produced drive components since
1946 with right-angle gear boxes and parallel-shaft speed reducers. “In the industries that we serve we’re
unique in that we’re family owned and operate and design, manufacture and service our own products,” says president and owner Brandon Anderson. The company manufactures and distributes a complete line of hydraulic motors, gear boxes, brakes and tool products along with accessory items including valves and overhung load adapters; and makes all of the gear components for its products..
NEED FOR POWERFUL CAM SOFTWARE In 2001 the company launched its Driven Tool product line of driven and static tooling for the machine tool market. Its metalworking equipment includes horizontal and vertical mills, horizontal lathes and grinders. Several years ago the company purchased a Mori Seiki NT 4250 multi-tasking machine tool and found itself in need of powerful CAM software to program the complex machinery. “We saw the effort that DP Technology
was making with Mori Seiki and that led to us trying ESPRIT because we knew it would continue,” explains Anderson. Creator of ESPRIT CAM software
DP Technology is partnered with Mori Seiki. For customers of both companies this translates to Mori Seiki factory- certified ESPRIT post processors and Mori- specific ESPRIT customer support including an application engineer stationed within a Mori Seiki facility. In line with the merging of machine tool
companies Mori Seiki and DMG, ESPRIT was selected as a partner in the DMG MORI Qualified Products Program which was created to facilitate the technology
A manufacturer of drive components installed powerful CAM software from DP Technology to program its complex machinery, reducing lead times and nearly eliminating scrap
required multiple operations to complete. Paired with robust CAM software the
implementation of multi-tasking machinery resulted in time savings in the form of a reduction in the number of operations; in many cases taking five or six operations down to just one; in addition to reduced part loss from machine set-ups and improved part quality. The company’s programmers found that the software made it easy to retain the integrity of CAD data and process retention. “For our multi-axis Mori Seiki NT4250
ESPRIT was the obvious choice,” says manufacturing engineering coordinator Frank Matz. “With the integration between SolidWorks and ESPRIT solid models import seamlessly into ESPRIT so that there is no need for data duplication on the CAM side unlike when using other CAM packages.” Before acquiring the NT4250 and ESPRIT
acquisition process by providing customers with a single, optimised source for manufacturing equipment.
REDUCE PROCESS DEVELOPMENT TIME “Our primary reason for investing in ESPRIT was to reduce our process development time from design to product release to making the first chip on our CNC machines,” says operations manager Steve Geurts. “If we are able to utilise in our CAM package all of the part geometry as established in our CAD package it greatly reduces time spent in manufacturing engineering on part program or G-code development.” While some products may not require
the tightest of tolerances, others such as driven tooling must hold a tolerance of one or two tenths. Likewise, many parts
UK FIRST PRECISION WITH 5-AXIS CNC MACHINE
Vert Rotors has installed ultra-precision machinery for the manufacture of micro compressors used in satellites and medical devices. "The HSC-20 linear 2nd generation CNC machine
is the most precise 5-axis machine in Scotland and the first such machine in the UK,” says David Bryden of DMG-Mori UK. “This is the machine you must have to achieve tight tolerances and the best surface finish possible.” The HSC-20 linear machine will enable Vert
Rotors to produce compressors at an unparalleled degree of ultra-accuracy, increase their
manufacturing productivity four-fold and create new positions for three highly-skilled engineers. “As our products are such high-precision items it
was vital that we obtained manufacturing equipment to match our exacting standards,” concludes Bryden. “The HSC 20 machine has allowed us to produce parts with an accuracy of 1-2 microns which is far beyond capabilities of other companies in Scotland.”
Vert Rotors
www.vert.co.uk
Parts can now be completed in a single operation which cuts setup time by 95%
Von Ruden’s live tooling required eight hours of setup time, four operations across several work centers and seven days of processing and each setup resulted in a significant amount of scrap material. “Now we are able to save and reuse
machining processes, bolt-hole patterns and pocketing,” continues Matz. “Once you have a few parts under your
belt you never have to program a new part from the ground up every time. The geometry can be completely changed from the previous part and ESPRIT will read the solid model and adjust accordingly.” Parts can now be completed in a single
operation which cuts setup time by 95%. Projected lead times were reduced from eight weeks to fewer than three and scrap has been nearly eliminated. Manufacturing engineer Julie Weege says ESPRIT makes it simple to import a solid model from SolidWorks, “orient the part to our machine axis and program right from the solid part. Having the graphic on your computer to visually see any crashes is the best thing since sliced bread.” For Geurts, knowing that Von Ruden will
be supported if or when technological and mechanical glitches occur was an element of choosing the right CAM package: “If we ever have an issue I know I can get a resolution,” he concludes.
CAM Supplies & Services T: 0871 218 3001
www.espritcam.fr
1 MARCH 2017 | FACTORY EQUIPMENT 8
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