SHOP SOLUTIONS Continued from P45
CAD/CAM Puts Magic into Shop’s Machining
T
here is no magic formula that guarantees manufactur- ing success. However, the combination of hard work, knowledge, and advanced technology is about as close as you can get. That’s the formula employed by Andrea Cecutti, the owner of AC&A (Lake Forrest, CA). When he opened his small California startup, AC&A, Cecutti wagered everything on advanced machines, skilled and motivated people, and Tebis CAD/CAM software. Today, AC&A is a vertically integrated manufacturer of complex, close-tolerance production and prototype parts, as well as large composite tooling, occupying a 100,000 ft2 (9290 m2
) facility. Its list of customers spans the automotive,
aerospace, alternative energy and entertainment industries, among others. To service its varied and demanding cus- tomers AC&A employs the most advanced technology that Cecutti has encountered in his long manufacturing career. “I take a totally different approach from the conventional ma- chine shop,” said Cecutti. He points out that cost-conscious, fl edgling machine shops generally opt for a “good enough” strategy when purchasing manufacturing technology, fi gur- ing they can upgrade somewhere down the road. In contrast, Cecutti has opted for the best technology since the day AC&A opened its doors in 2005. Today that means, among other things, JOBS high-speed fi ve-axis machining centers and CAD/CAM software supplied by Tebis America Inc. (Troy, MI). Tebis is an integrated powerful suite of CAD/CAM products with each product using the same database and user interface and based on the same release, thus maximizing the speed and accuracy with which part data can be moved into production. “Most of my machines are the fastest you can fi nd on the market,” said Cecutti, “and having a software able to calcu- late cutter paths that quickly and accurately is important.” He explains that other software products he had looked at had sometimes failed to keep pace with his high-speed machines, fl ooding the machine with data points rather than fully enumer- ated cutter paths. “No matter how fast my machines run, Tebis is able to calculate accurate, well-defi ned cutter paths that also leave us with a high-quality surface fi nish.” There are a number of reasons for this type of performance. “The high degree of accuracy and surface fi nish we are able to
114
AdvancedManufacturing.org | July 2015
obtain is because of the way we calculate the part design, or surface,” said Michael A. Thiessen, regional manager for Tebis. “Many software products tessellate the part’s digital model,” Thiessen said. “A tessellation is like a mesh like a fi shing net that lays atop and approximates the surface. As a result, they are not calculating toolpaths directly on the actual surface but on a tessellated mesh that approximates the surface. We, on the other hand, have never tessellated our toolpaths. Our system maintains the actual digital model and then creates our toolpaths directly on to the digital surface. That’s one reason our toolpath calculation is both accurate and quick,” Thiessen said.
AC&A owner Andrea Cecutti (left) discusses machining operations on the JOBS machining center with NC operator Rudy Hernandez.
And then there’s the factor of harmonizing the various tool- paths. Harmonizing? “Bear in mind,” said Thiessen, “that when you are machining a three-dimensional part your toolpath consists of a series of points calculated according to cordal deviation of the toolpath. In plain English this means that your toolpaths are not all on a single plane. Tebis harmonizes these toolpaths. That entails creating additional toolpath points. The more toolpath points you have, the more accurate the toolpath is, allowing the machine to operate faster and with greater precision. As a result, a lot of our clients don’t have to bench their parts because the toolpaths are so accurate.” That was the type of performance that prompted Cecutti to
purchase his fi rst seat of Tebis back in 2005 when AC&A was just a three-person startup. However, Cecutti didn’t need to be sold on the software, he already knew it intimately.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168