MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY OPTIMISING RESULTS
L
ong before a racing season concludes, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team is
already thinking about improvements to the following year’s car. This complex process sees the majority of car components redesigned. In production, they rely heavily on Vericut verification, simulation and optimisation software from CGTech, a core production engineering resource at the F1 for over two decades. Not so long ago, a Formula One car
would undergo a complete redesign each year, with the exception of commodity parts like fasteners. With the introduction of the cost cap at the start of the 2021 season, all that changed. Non-performance components or parts already performing at the right level can be carried over to the following season. Robert Brown, Machine Shop
Manager, says: “It’s changed the nature of how we work. Now, as soon as a decision is taken to carry over a component type, we can use some of our spare ‘Summer capacity’ to manufacture the carry over, meaning we can focus on redesigned performance parts when they start arriving in time for the following season.” Close liaison between design
engineering and production engineering has become more important since the cost cap implementation. Historically, designers would simply create the part they wanted without much consideration for machining costs. “It’s different today: we can point
out a small design change that might reduce the machining cost by two-
thirds, for example,” he says. “The voice we have in the design cycle is much louder than a few years ago.” James Peddle, Production Engineer,
goes deeper into the process: “When we receive a redesigned performance part, we start by assessing how many operations the machining process will require to produce the component in the most efficient way possible. We then look at the fixture requirements and start programming.” This stage of the process also
sees the creation of a routing and an estimate of cycle time, which the team can use to approximate a cost. What follows is the beginning of the optimisation phase, where production engineers look to reduce the lead time even more. Here, the team relies on tools such as the Vericut Air Cut Optimisation module, that can reduce cycle times considerably. “Air Cut Optimisation is a very safe
optimisation to apply,” says James Peddle. “It doesn’t work the cutters any harder or affect part quality: it simply reduces the amount of time that cutters are not in contact with the component. “To ascertain the time required for
the machining element of making a component, we simply use the output time calculated by Vericut. The machine kinematics in Vericut’s virtual environment are such that we’re confident the time reported will match the real run time.” Producing complex redesigned
components economically and safely is seemingly unthinkable without the help of Vericut. “Primarily it would be
unsafe and massively labour intensive,” states James Brown. “I think the days are gone when you can just read the X, Y, Z co-ordinates of the G and M codes on the screen - not with the complexity of parts today. At peak times, one operator will be responsible for multiple machines, running brand new CNC code. Ensuring the machines run safely without using Vericut? Forget it.”
A meeting of minds Among the many beneficial features of the software is CGTech’s NX Interface, which provides an easy and convenient way to verify NC programs directly from within NX, the CAM system in use at Mercedes- AMG Petronas Formula One Team. The interface can verify individual
CNC programs, a series of selected CNC programs or a complete sequence of operations. All CNC program and tooling information transfers automatically to Vericut. Design, stock and fixture models also transfer automatically in their proper orientation. Notably, the Vericut process runs external to NX so users can continue working in the CAM software while verifying the CNC program. “The interface between NX and
VERICUT is very impressive,” says James Peddle. “We know with confidence that we’re simulating exactly the same scenario as intended in our CAM session. Moreover, the simulation is quick. Even with a complex part like an axle, which has a run time of around 45 hours, it doesn’t take long to check for collisions, gouges and excess material.”
www.cgtech.co.uk
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