Spindles Support Precision Machining at High Speeds

Transcription

Spindles Support Precision Machining at High Speeds
VOLUME XI NUMBER 4
■
MAY 2009
AN ACCESS COMMUNICATIONS INC. PUBLICATION
30
After trying out
Renishaw touch probes
in CNC milling, one shop
swears it’ll never operate
without them again.
Spindles Support Precision
Machining at High Speeds
High-frequency-spindle specialist Alfred Jäger
now offers the Schunk Tribos-RM polygon
chuck adapted to its toolholding interfaces.
38
IN THIS ISSUE
• Preview: Plastpol 2009 in Poland
• Interview: Using a Tool Performance
Index to Justify Switching Cutters
• Sourcing: Tool & Mould Components
For more product information visit www.tool-moldmaking.com
Mould makers find they
can save time and
money using a
clamping system
from Meusburger.
28
www.etmm.info/2009/05/001
Editor’s Message
Start Planning to Acquire
Customers in New Industries
The idea of getting into new industry
sectors can be intimidating to some tool
and mould makers. And during economic times like these, entering an untried
market can be challenging. However,
developing a presence in growth industries will pay off, if done right.
The industry sectors you choose to
supply make all the difference for your company’s future.
Even before the financial crisis, I was urging mould makers
to identify growth industries and go after them aggressively.
Now, those industries that are growing look more attractive
than ever. One of the most attractive industries all along has
been the medical device manufacturing sector.
If the last three trade shows I attended are any indication, this is truly an industry that can be expected to continue growing even during hard times. The shows I’m referring to were COMPAMED in Düsseldorf, MEDTEC Europe in
Stuttgart, and MEDTEC France in Besançon. Back in November, COMPAMED had the best attendance in the event’s history. The Stuttgart show in March had over 20% more visitors than in the previous year. And the first-time MEDTEC
event in France was a big success, too, attracting more than
2,900 visitors.
The governments of Germany and France have identified medical technology as a future growth industry, and
each is helping develop its national sector. One reason the
European medtech shows are enjoying such positive attendance trends is that many supply companies are looking to
gain a foothold in what they see as growth markets. Medical
device manufacturers are big consumers of production tooling, so the outlook for mould makers involved with that
industry is good.
Sources of information on the medical technology
industry include industry trade associations, national and
EU-level government organizations, and individual companies active there. A good place to start is www.devicemed.de,
a website that provides links to many of these information
sources.
It may take a while to establish your company in a new
sector, so there’s no better time than now to get started.
Douglas Sellers
MANAGING DIRECTOR/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
www.etmm.info/2009/05/002
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 3
Table of Contents
May 2009
Drei-S-Werk
An economical production alternative enables
operating lifetimes of cutting punches to be
maximized.
25 32
Faro Europe GmbH & Co. KG
New-generation phase-shift 3D laser scanners
and software accelerate scanning and
scan-data registration.
Haas Automation Europe N.V.
This large-capacity horizontal machining centre offers
powerful metal-removal capability and efficiency.
36 Sodick Eurpe Ltd.
The Japanese-headquartered EDM
technology firm creates a new presidential
post for European Operations, and then fills
it with a seasoned expert.
10 Industry News
7
With Nine Openings Scheduled This
Spring, Haas Automation Europe’s
HTEC Programme Continues to Grow
As Planned
8 EdgeCAM NC Part Programming
Software Receives Full Certification for
Use with Autodesk Inventor 2010
8 Standard Moulds Company
Meusburger Georg GmbH Presents
Mould Makers with New Catalogue on
Compact Disc
10 New Demo Centre in Turin Shows
Automated Solutions
10 Sodick Appoints a
President over All
European Operations
12 New Planit Manufacturing Controls
Division Created to Help Customers
Maximize Production Efficiency
13 £1-Million Project to Streamline
Remanufacturing of High-Value
Components to Be Led by Delcam
14 EuroMold 2009 Organizer Announces
Plan to Offer Special Feature Focused
on Blow Moulding and Mould Making
15 Surfware Opens Multimedia Training
and Demonstration Centre in
California
15 EMO Already Attracting Many
Exhibitors; Smaller Firms Offered
Special Rates
16 JetCAM Italia Opens as Dedicated
Software Distributor in Italy
16 Italy’s Mec-Spe 2009 Show Is Called
Successful; Organizer Promises
Another ‘Model of Intelligent Synergy’
in 2010
17 Leader CNC’s Success Shows That a
Forward-Looking Firm Can Position
Itself for Growth
Interview
20 Using a Tool Performance Index
to Justify Switching Cutters:
The Developer Explains
Innovations
22 Two-Stage Process Based on
Slide-Table Mould Allows Precise
Placement of Soft-Touch Foam Layer
in Multicomponent Part
Technology
ISTMA News
19 Successful GTMA Metrology
Exhibition Draws Some of
UK’s Premier Companies
4 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
24 Specialized hot runner moulds for
producing thin-sectioned parts, and
tough cutting punches made via an
economical new production method
wide product range
Volume XI Number 4
large repertory of stock types
14 customer-specific executions
EuroMold 2009
The organizer announces plans to
offer a special feature focused on
blow moulding and mould making.
modern, rational manufacturing methods
over 30.000 heating elements daily
certified according to DIN ISO 9001:2000
EdgeCAM - A Planit Company
NC part programming software receives
full certification for use with
Autodesk Inventor 2010.
high life span
8 500 qualified employees
over 240 patent applications
43 Walter AG
made in Germany
An indexable insert for
turning applications
features two geometries in
one roughing plate for
perfect chip breaking.
we are your
best choice for
heating elements
Case Studies
Company Index
26 Reports from the field: a detailed look
at how different shops resolved their
real-world problems
50
NEXT ISSUE
Products & Services
32 Recently introduced equipment and
services from all over
Plastpol 2009
44 Key products to watch for at this trade
fair, the
biggest
plastics
show in
Eastern
Europe,
being
held May
26–29 in
Poland
Quick Sourcing Grid:
Tool & Mould
Components
46 A handy table of companies supplying
components to the tool and mould
making industry, cross-indexed by
more than 40 categories
ETMM June 2009:
The NPE Issue
Preview coverage of NPE 2009,
“The World’s Plastics Showcase”
held once every 3 years, coming up
June 22–26 in Chicago. Plus:
• The Summer 2009 issue of
EDM Europe, our popular
quarterly magazine for
electrical discharge machining
• Special report: Die-Casting
• Sourcing: Hot Runners
www.etmm.info/2009/05/003 Türk+Hillinger GmbH
78532 Tuttlingen Germany
Tel. +49 74 61 70 14 0
Fax +49 74 61 70 1410
[email protected]
www.tuerk-hillinger.de
since 1963
VOLUME XI NUMBER 4
M AY 2 0 0 9
EUROPEAN TOOL & MOULD MAKING
An Access Communications Inc. publication
Contract-published 9 times per year by Sellers Media
PUBLISHER
Clay Camburn
[email protected]
EUROPEAN AGENCY
SELLERS MEDIA*
Otto-von-Guericke-Ring 3A, 65205 Wiesbaden, Germany
Tel: +49 6122 95590 • Fax: +49 6122 51090
[email protected]
www.tool-moldmaking.com
MANAGING DIRECTOR/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Douglas Sellers*
[email protected]
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EUROPE
Jörg Braun-Himmerich*
[email protected]
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Robert Bonds*
[email protected]
PRODUCTION, CIRCULATION & INFORMATION SER VICES MANAGER
Sylvia Zwick*
[email protected]
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Jason Sellers*
[email protected]
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST
Markus Müller*
[email protected]
SALES MANAGER EUROPE
Britta Solloway*
[email protected]
ADVER TISING SALES FRANCE
Evelyne Gisselbrecht
33 Rue du Puy-de-Dôme, 63370 Lempdes, France
Tel: +33 473 619557 • Fax: +33 473 619661
[email protected]
REPRESENTATIVE AGENT FOR TAIWAN, CHINA & HONG KONG
Robert Yu, Worldwide Services Co. Ltd.
11F-B, No. 540 Wen Hsin Road, Section 1, Taichung 408, Taiwan
Tel: +886 4 23251784 • Fax: +886 4 23252967
[email protected]
NOR TH AMERICA CORPORATE HEADQUAR TERS
30765 Pacific Coast Highway, PMB 351
Malibu, CA 90265-3643 USA
Tel: +1 310 589-0066 • Fax: +1 310 457-7658
[email protected]
BUSINESS MANAGER
MiSook Musselman
[email protected]
EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Product/service information bulletins and press releases should be
submitted in English and should be accompanied by a colour photograph or transparency. The
publishers assume no responsibility for return of artwork, photographs, or manuscripts. NOTICE:
Every precaution is taken to ensure accuracy of contents; however, the publishers cannot accept
responsibility for the correctness of the information supplied or advertised or for any opinion
expressed herein.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: European Tool & Mould Making is published 9 times per year, plus the supplemental
EDM Europe Buyer’s Guide, and is distributed free of charge to qualified readers in Europe.
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Copyright © 2009 ACCESS COMMUNICATIONS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
왗
www.etmm.info/2009/05/004
Industry News
With Nine Openings Scheduled This Spring, Haas Automation
Europe’s HTEC Programme Continues to Grow As Planned
vide aspiring student engineers with
the optimal start to their careers. The
new facilities are additionally supported by HTEC partner companies from
the precision engineering technology
sector.
Haas is planning to open some 200
HTECs across Europe within a period
of five years, including a total of 25 by
the end of 2009.
Haas Automation Europe N.V.
ZAVENTEM, BELGIUM
www.etmm.info/2009/05/005
Through April and May this year, Haas
Automation Europe was scheduled to
open nine new Haas Technical Education Centres (HTECs) in Portugal, Sweden, and Russia. Each of the HTECs is
a precision-engineering teaching facility at a technical-learning establishment, which is equipped with Haas
machines installed for demonstration
and instruction purposes. This spring
marks one of the busiest and most
exciting periods yet for the fast-growing HTEC programme, which now
extends all the way across the European continent.
Bert Maes, HTEC coordinator at Haas
Automation Europe, says that, despite
the steady stream of negative news
being reported in the industrial press
and the general business media, “we
have good news: Haas Automation
and its partners are still investing in
the young engineers Europe needs for
a competitive future.”
In April, the Portugal Haas Factory
Outlet (HFO) presided over the opening of the first two HTECs in that
country. The HFO in Sweden coordinates the first two HTEC grand openings in Scandinavia in mid-May. Then,
toward the end of May, the Russian
HFO Abamet is scheduled to open five
more HTECs, including one in the capital city of Moscow. Abamet, one of
Haas’s longest-established HFOs, has
already founded four HTECs in Russia
and Belarus.
In keeping with the principle of the
programme, all the new HTECs will be
closely affiliated with, and supported
by, the local HFO, working in partnership with the school or college at
which they are located in order to pro-
www.etmm.info/2009/05/006
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 7
Industry News
EdgeCAM NC Part Programming Software Receives
Full Certification for Use with Autodesk Inventor 2010
Supporting the growing
industrial trend toward
digital prototypes and
total digital manufacturing, the EdgeCAM brand
of Planit has received full
certification from Autodesk for the use of EdgeCAM 2009 R2 CAM software for NC part programming with its widely employed Inventor
2010 CAD software.
This kind of full certification under the Autodesk Inventor Certified
Applications Programme
is granted only after a product has
been thoroughly tested by internal
staff at Autodesk. Certified applications are required to meet predetermined implementation guidelines and
must demonstrate the highest levels of
robustness, quality, and interoperability when working with Autodesk Inventor software.
With the latest release of EdgeCAM
being thus certified by Autodesk, designers and other users of Inventor can
confidently take full advantage of the
most recent enhancements made to
EdgeCAM.
“EdgeCAM’s ability to seamlessly
load and machine Inventor models, to
provide global network licensing, and
to support a corporation’s ‘design anywhere, build anywhere’
initiative makes it an
essential business system for many Inventor
users,” explains Russell
Franks, Planit’s chief
technology officer. “So
this certification is significant to our mutual
customers.”
EdgeCAM can directly read native Autodesk
Inventor digital prototype models and assemblies for process planning and NC tool-path generation; no
file translation is needed. Modifications to part geometry and process
parameters are accommodated by
EdgeCAM's full associativity across
geometry, processes, and tool paths.
EdgeCAM - A Planit Company
READING, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/007
Standard Moulds Company Meusburger Georg GmbH
Presents Mould Makers with New Catalogue on Compact Disc
The Austrian standard
moulds specialist Meusburger Georg GmbH &
Co. KG has completely
revised the electronic version of its parts catalogue,
adding features designed
to simplify the user’s job.
Its managing director,
Guntram Meusburger, sees
CD Catalogue 4.0 as a
milestone in the company’s history. The CD catalogue was developed by
mould makers for use by
mould makers.
As Franz Kohler, the
head of product planning, explains,
“customers appreciate the intuitive
handling and the reliability of the programme, the very same qualities they
know to expect from our products.”
The user interface was developed in
partnership with respected usability
8 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
experts at the Vorarlberg University of
Applied Sciences.
The range of improvements incorporated into Version 4.0 includes a
new standard mould assistant that allows the user to assemble a complete
standard mould with just a few mouse
clicks, and add all
the necessary ancillaries to the parts
list. The fully automatic importation
of parts lists via
Microsoft Excel, regardless of the CAD
system installed on
the user’s computer,
and the CAD export
of all 36,400 catalogue items make
the programme a
highly useful tool
for design technicians, mould makers, and purchasing agents. A convenient full-text search feature and an
automatic update function round off
the electronic offering.
Meusburger Georg GmbH & Co. KG
WOLFURT, AUSTRIA
www.etmm.info/2009/05/008
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know about the best choice among our plates specialities.
www.etmm.info/2009/05/009
Industry News
New Demo Centre in Turin
Shows Automated Solutions
Sodick Appoints a President
over All European Operations
CogniTens Ltd., an Israel-based provider of 3D optical measurement solutions and a part of Hexagon Metrology, has
opened a dedicated European demonstration centre for
OptiCell, its fully automated 3D optical measurement system designed for supporting off-line recurring measurements of parts and assemblies in production environments.
The centre in Turin, Italy, is a response to increased industrial demand for, and expressed customer interest in, robotdriven metrology systems in the shop-floor environment.
The main board of Sodick Co. Ltd. in Japan has appointed
Peter Capp to the newly created post of president of European Operations. In this position, Capp will have responsibility for sales of all Sodick products in Europe, including
machines, parts, and consumables, as well as services. The
region includes Russia.
The OptiCell demonstration cell in Turin showcases the
outcome of CogniTens’ recently formed cooperation with
Comau Robotics. Comau’s latest Smart NJ industrial robot
and its new C4G controller unit are integrated with the
OptiCell technology to drive fast, safe, and easily operated
3D inspection programmes.
The Hexagon Metrology demo centre in Turin was
opened in 2003 to demonstrate large DEA coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). In 2005, a section was created for
high-accuracy inspection equipment. Today, additional
exhibits include new noncontact products, such as laser
scanners, laser trackers, and portable CMMs, and technologies for the inspection of car body details. The centre has
showcased the portable Optigo™ measurement and digitizing system since early 2008, and from now on, it will
demonstrate the OptiCell system in its special area.
Hexagon Metrology
Peter Capp, Sodick’s new president of European operations (left), with Toshihiko
Furukawa, founder and president of Sodick.
Meanwhile, Capp will continue to perform in his current role as managing director of Sodi-Tech EDM Ltd. This
branch of Sodick is the exclusive distributor of Sodick wirecut and die-sinking electrical discharge machining (EDM)
products in the UK.
Sodick, an international leader in EDM technology, is the
only company in the world to develop its EDM machines
from scratch in its own research departments and then
build them in its own production plants. The company follows this philosophy in order to ensure that the technology
it delivers to clients is consistently and reliably of the highest quality.
Sodick Europe Ltd.
UNTERENTFELDEN, SWITZERLAND
COVENTRY, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/010
www.etmm.info/2009/05/011
www.etmm.info/2009/05/012
10 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
Who knocks PET
bottles into shape?
CorroPlast®
– the ultimate steel for
all-stainless mould sets.
DEUTSCHE EDELSTAHLWERKE, Obere Kaiserstr., D-57078 Siegen / Auestr. 4, D-58452 Witten
www.etmm.info/2009/05/013
Industry News
New Planit Manufacturing Controls Division Created
to Help Customers Maximize Production Efficiency
The specialist CAD/CAM and CAE software group Planit Software Ltd. has
consolidated its manufacturing solutions through the creation of a new
divisional brand, Manufacturing Control Solutions (MCS).
Headed by commercial manager
Phillip Gill, the new Planit division
has the objective of helping manufacturing companies maximize the total
effectiveness and efficiency of their
production resources and increase their
profits through improved machine
tool communications and monitoring,
as well as through run-time-driven
maintenance. Core MCS products are
a two-tier distributed numerical control (DNC) solution, DNC Pro, and the
advanced Machine Tool Monitoring
(MTM) system.
DNC within Manufacturing Control Solutions makes use of modern
Ethernet-based communication and
data management tools to deliver upto-the-minute information on the part
production process, along with fast
and reliable CNC file management
and storage. The MTM system, meanwhile, is a real-time application for
capturing machine data that runs on
the Microsoft Windows operating system. This application makes it possible
for users to monitor information on
machine tool activity for retention
and analysis.
MCS solutions integrate with Planit’s AlphaCAM, EdgeCAM, and Radan
CAD/CAM applications and with jobshop manufacturing software. They
are equally suitable for use with
CAD/CAM systems supplied by third
parties, and are compatible with all
types of CNC machine tools.
“The creation of Manufacturing
Control Solutions within the Planit
Group offers customers a one-stop
shop for all their manufacturing data
and machine tool monitoring requirements,” explains Gill. “It also means
we can supply them with true end-toend solutions and a single point of
contact for all their manufacturing
applications.”
Phillip Gill brings a wealth of engineering and manufacturing sector experience to his new Planit Group position. For more than 17 years, he has
worked in the area of CAD/CAM solutions. Prior to taking on the leadership
of MCS, he had served for three years
as business development manager at
the Reading-based engineering software house EdgeCAM.
Planit Software Ltd.
ASHFORD, KENT, UK
Phillip Gill heads the new division.
www.etmm.info/2009/05/014
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phone +49/23 51/43 02-0
fax +49/23 51/43 02-25
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www.etmm.info/2009/05/015
£1-Million Project to Streamline
Remanufacturing of High-Value
Components to Be Led by Delcam
Delcam plc has been chosen to manage the £1-million RECLAIM project
designed to develop better methods
for remanufacturing high-value engineering components and give the UK
a vital technological advantage over
other countries. The RECLAIM project
is being undertaken by a consortium
of eight organizations that includes
also Renishaw, Electrox, TWI, Precision Engineering Technologies, Cummins Turbo Technologies, Airfoils
Technology International, and De
Montfort University.
dom becomes a world-leading nation
for remanufacturing.
Most remanufacturing now involves a series of operations on different pieces of equipment, perhaps at
different companies. Further, each
process is labour-intensive and dependent upon the skill of the operator. This makes the overall process
inefficient, expensive, and difficult to
manage.
The new RECLAIM system will integrate laser cladding, machining, and
in-process scanning, with Delcam-
RECLAIM project coordinator Jan Willem Gunnink (9th from right) is joined by members of the RECLAIM
consortium at the official launch of the project last September at the Marriott Breadsall Priory Hotel and Country
Club near Derby, UK.
The principal aim of the project,
which is receiving a large investment
from the government-funded Technology Strategy Board, is to create a
single-stage production system incorporating all of the processes necessary
for cost-effective, rapid, and reliable
remanufacturing.
“This project is extremely timely, as
the remanufacturing sector is entering
a period of sustained growth that will
see it double in size in the next 10
years,” explains Delcam’s Jan Willem
Gunnink, who will be serving as the
project’s coordinator. He adds that it
will help ensure that the United King-
developed CAM software to control
them all seamlessly, in a single machining cell. (The RECLAIM acronym
derives from “remanufacture of highvalue products using a combined laser
cladding, inspection, and machining
system.”) While the main focus is on
repairing damaged parts, the new
equipment could also be used to manufacture new metal parts, to upgrade
obsolete parts, and to reconfigure
standard parts for specialist, low-volume applications.
Delcam plc
BIRMINGHAM, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/016
www.etmm.info/2009/05/017 쑺
Industry News
KIEFER WERKZEUGBAU
EuroMold 2009 Organizer Announces Plan to Offer Special
Feature Focused on Blow Moulding and Mould Making
The trade fair organizer DEMAT GmbH has announced that EuroMold 2009 in Frankfurt next
December will present a new special topic through
its feature show “Blow Moulding Technology and
Mould Making.” This first-time feature will bring
together specialists and decision makers from all
fields that use blow moulding.
In today’s industrial world, manufacturers employ that innovative polymer-processing technology to make an extensive range of products, including PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, hard
protective cases, automobile fuel tanks, and much
else, meaning that material, process, and tool requirements are quite varied. The next EuroMold fair
is planning to put together a network of vendors
that will make the entire blow moulding process
chain transparent for all show visitors.
The new EuroMold special feature show will
cover the latest developments in blow moulding, including the making of blow moulds. The exhibitors’
displays will present all essential aspects of the technology, from heat treatment to materials, and from
tools and moulds to surface treatment and postprocessing. In addition, state-of-the-art technologies
will be explained and discussed at a special lecture
forum where exhibitors representing the blow
moulding field will be highlighted.
EuroMold 2009 is scheduled to take place December 2–5 at the Frankfurt Exhibition Centre.
EuroMold 2009
FRANKFURT/MAIN, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/018
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www.etmm.info/2009/05/019
14 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
HOT RUNNER SYSTEMS
Surfware Opens Multimedia Training
and Demonstration Centre in California
The Surfware Demo and Training Center is now open in Camarillo, California, at the headquarters of Surfware
Inc. The US company develops SurfCAM Velocity CAD/CAM systems powered by patented and award-winning
TrueMill® technology. Its products are
designed to be cost-effective and productivity-enhancing solutions to today’s manufacturing challenges.
At the state-of-the-art facility, live
demonstrations of TrueMill and SurfCAM will be filmed and then made
available through the Surfware website, YouTube, and other outlets. The
multimedia centre will host live web-
casts that enable people worldwide to
watch real-time demonstrations of the
high-speed cutting of titanium on a
Haas machine using TrueMill.
The bright, well-appointed, and
comfortable training and demonstration centre serves also as an R&D site.
Surfware will be conducting ongoing
research into TrueMill’s considerable
potential for benefiting the global
machining industry.
Surfware Inc.
CAMARILLO, CA, USA
www.etmm.info/2009/05/020
EMO Already Attracting Many Exhibitors;
Calendar of Events Smaller Firms Offered Special Rates
JUNE 2009 HIGHLIGHTS
June 3–5: RosMould 2009, Moscow, Russia
International Mould Making and Technologies
Exhibition · www.rosmould.com
June 16–19: FIP 2009, Lyon, France
International Plastics Industry Forum
www.f-i-p.com
June 16–19: Canton Machine Tool Fair 2009
Guangzhou, China · 10th China (Guangzhou)
International Machine Tool Exhibition
www.canton-machinetool.com
At more than seven months out from
the opening of EMO Milano 2009, the
world exhibition of metalworking that
is scheduled for October 5–10 in Milan,
some 1,200 companies had already
formalized their applications to participate, and they accounted for a net
exhibition area exceeding 100,000 m2.
Of these, 65% were from 31 countries
other than Italy.
tives to enable smaller Italian and international organizations to grasp the
opportunities offered by exhibiting at
EMO Milano 2009.
They offer a special EMO “All Inclusive” package that covers the display
space, promotional material, handling, services, and numerous other
aspects of exhibiting. Agreements with
Mediocredito Italiano S.p.A. and Cen-
The organizers are still receiving
many exhibitor applications. The top
brands in all production tool sectors,
from metal forming to metal cutting,
auxiliary technologies to robotics, and
automation to tools, are already in the
lineup. Alfredo Mariotti, director of
the event, says that this clearly shows
that large companies see participation
in EMO Milano 2009 as vital.
But the difficulties the global financial crisis has caused for the “real”
economy are especially affecting small
and medium-sized companies, observes Mariotti. Thus, the EMO organizers are implementing special initia-
tro Leasing S.p.A. additionally allow
Italian exhibitors to benefit from special financing plans to cover the
expenses of attending EMO Milano.
EMO Milano 2009 is being promoted by CECIMO, the European Committee for Cooperation of the Machine
Tool Industries, and organized by
EFIM-Ente Fiere Italiane Macchine, a
subsidiary of UCIMU-Sistemi per Produrre, which is the Italian association
of machine tool, robot, and automation manufacturers.
June 18–21: ISTMA Die and Mould
Conference 2009, Kusadasi, Turkey
www.diemold.org
June 22–26: NPE 2009, Chicago, IL, USA
The World’s Plastics Showcase
www.npe.org
June 22–26: MoldMaking Expo 2009
Chicago, IL, USA · Design, Build, Manage
www.moldmakingexpo.com
June 28–30: InterMold Thailand 2009
Bangkok, Thailand · ASEAN’s Largest
Machinery and Technology Trade Exhibition &
Conference · www.intermoldthailand.com
JULY 2009 HIGHLIGHTS
July 8–11: MTA Vietnam 2009
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam · Vietnam’s Largest
Series of Manufacturing Solutions Events
www.mtavietnam.com/hcmc
July 15–18: Eastpo 2009, Shanghai, China
11th Shanghai International Machine Tool Fair
www.en.eastpo.net
EMO Milano 2009
MILAN, ITALY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/021
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 15
Industry News
JetCAM Italia Opens as Dedicated Software Distributor in Italy
The CAD/CAM software developer JetCAM International now has a distributor in Italy. The opening of JetCAM
Italia S.r.l. is a response to continued
strong business in the region. At the
same time, the opening is also a response to increased interest that has
been shown recently by Italian aerospace companies, as well as the customer base in the sheet metal industry.
All of these JetCAM customers and
prospective clients, the company believes, are looking to realize savings
through investments in software.
Situated in Milan, JetCAM Italia will
provide both pre- and post-sales services, including training and technical
support. The branch will be managed
by Maurizio Zinetti. JetCAM Italia will
offer the complete range of JetCAM
products, including the recently announced JetCAM MRP system.
“Despite the economic downturn,
we are still finding many companies
that see the value in software to reduce
their overheads,” says Mike Weber,
managing director of JetCAM International SARL. “The Italian market is one
of the largest in Europe and therefore
demands a more focused approach.”
Adds Maurizio Zinetti, JetCAM Italia
managing director, “Smart innovation
and improved efficiency will drive Italian companies through this challenging time. What we offer is the industry
experience and ability to demonstrate
real-world savings and a return on
investment that allows companies to
make informed decisions based on
known certainties.”
JetCAM International
FONTVEILLE, MONACO
www.etmm.info/2009/05/022
Italy’s Mec-Spe 2009 Show Is Called Successful; Organizer
Promises Another ‘Model of Intelligent Synergy’ in 2010
Mec-Spe 2009, the eighth
edition of the international
exhibition for specialized
mechanics, drew large numbers of exhibitors and visitors to the Parma (Italy) Fairground throughout its three
days in March. The “City of
Mechanics,” as usual, highlighted topical themes such
as innovation and technology transfer, and again consisted of a collection of related exhibitions, including
Eurostampi for the mould
making industry, Control
Italy, PlastixExpo, Subfornitura, and Motek Italy.
“This year, more than
ever, the event wanted to
highlight the importance of
the synergy between end
producer and third-party
suppliers,” notes Gianfranco
Ferilli, the vice president of
Senaf S.r.l., which organizes
Mec-Spe. “The ninth Mec-Spe edition
intends to continue with this intelligent model that moves away from the
prevailing trade fair arrangement,
which often prevents the end producers from revealing the names of the
third parties they make use of.”
16 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
This year’s Mec-Spe event showcased more than a thousand exhibiting companies representing some 15
countries. The participation of delegations of buyers from Russia and India
added to the international dimension
of the exhibition.
Senaf S.r.l. has confirmed that MecSpe and its five annual co-located fairs
will next return to Parma on March
25–27, 2010.
Mec-Spe 2009
PARMA, ITALY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/023
Leader CNC’s Success Shows
That a Forward-Looking Firm
Can Position Itself for Growth
Despite a cloud of pessimism hanging over some areas of
the UK manufacturing sector, Leader CNC Technologies
Ltd. is a company that is looking only forward toward
future sales. It is set to install, in France and Russia, three
new machining centres worth £1.6 million (about €1.8 million) as part of its strategy to work within Europe and further afield. Leader CNC considers its strengths to be a strong
engineering skills base, high-quality products, and the
vision to go where the work is. It feels that it is well positioned for successful growth.
The company will be delivering two large Toshiba
BP130.R22 horizontal borers to a customer in France, while
the third machine, a Kitamura HX300iF horizontal machining centre, is going to an aerospace manufacturer in Russia
that already has two such machines, installed by Leader
CNC last year.
The Toshiba borers are being supplied as a full turnkey
package, with prove-out of the customer’s parts being completed at the factory prior to commissioning on-site.
As the main dealer for Toshiba Machine within central
Europe, Leader CNC will put its engineers to work with
locally appointed agents to ensure satisfactory installation
and application prove-out. The company oversees installation of the Kitamura machines in Russia, as well, and its
application and service engineers provide comprehensive
on-site training.
Leader CNC Technologies Ltd.
NUNEATON, WARKS, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/024
www.etmm.info/2009/05/025
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 17
ISTMA
Listing of ISTMA Europe Member Associations
The International Special Tooling &
Machining Association (ISTMA) is a
well-established international organization representing some two dozen
nations’ special tooling and machining organizations on three continents:
North America, Europe, and Asia.
ISTMA Europe represents the industry in matters concerning industrial
relations in the European Union.
Among its many activities, it conducts
CZECH REPUBLIC
ITALY
Tool Factories Association
Mr. Vaclav Klicka · [email protected]
Svaz Nastrojaren
Ceskoslovenske Armady 1181
56215 Usti nad Orlici
Tel. +420 465 557101 · Fax +420 465 525128
www.svaz-nastrojaren.cz
ESTONIA
UCISAP (Unione Costruttori Italiani
Stampi & Attrezzature Precisione)
Mrs. Fausta Antinori · [email protected]
Viale Fulvio Testi, 128
20092 Cinisello Balsamo (MI)
Tel. +39 02 26255392 · Fax +39 02 26255214
www.ucisap.it
LATVIA
Estonian Special Tooling Association
Mr. Aleksander Kuzin
[email protected]
Ampri tee 1 · 74001 Viimsi vald, Harjumaa
Tel. +372 620 5902 · Fax +372 620 5901
www.emliit.ee
FINLAND
Latvian Tool and Prototype Producer
Association
Mrs. Natãlija Ivanova · [email protected]
Kurzes str. 2c · Riga 1046
Tel. +371 678 07794 · Fax +371 678 07780
www.lipra.lv
PORTUGAL
Technology Industries of Finland
Mr. Pekka Tuunanen
[email protected]
Eteläranta 10 · 00130 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 1923373 · Fax +358 9 624462
www.techind.fi
FRANCE
AFIM (Association Française des
Industries du Moule, Modèle et Maquette)
Mrs. Catherine Larroque
[email protected]
39/41 Rue Louis Blanc · 92400 Courbevoie
Tel. +33 1 47176412 · Fax +33 1 47176360
www.afim-france.com
GERMANY
VDMA Die and Mold
Dr. Wolfgang Sengebusch
[email protected]
Lyoner Strasse 18 · 60528 Frankfurt/Main
Tel. +49 69 66031251 · Fax +49 69 66032251
www.vdma.org
HUNGARY
SZMSZ (Hungarian Toolmakers Association)
Dr. Sándor Markos · [email protected]
Lomb u. 31/C · 1139 Budapest
Tel. +36 1 3402972 · Fax +36 1 3295425
www.szmsz.hu
18 European Tool & Mould Making
a dynamic schedule of exchanges on
technical subjects in the special tooling and machining sector; promotes
communication among its members
on a wide variety of industry concerns;
maintains an information pool on
technical investigation subjects; transfers performing management actions
among its member associations; and
supports European fairs and exhibitions focusing on special tooling.
■
May 2009
Cefamol
(Associaçao Nacional da Industria de Moldes)
Mr. Manuel Oliveira
[email protected]
Av. D. Dinis 17, Aptdo. 257
2430-263 Marinha Grande
Tel. +351 244 575150 · Fax +351 244 575159
www.cefamol.pt
SLOVENIA
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of
Slovenia (Metal Processing Association)
Ms. Milena Vidmar · [email protected]
Dimiceva 9 · 1504 Ljubljana
Tel. +386 158 98308 · Fax +386 158 98100
www.posvet-orodjarstvo.com
SWEDEN
Svensk Industriförening (SINF)
Mr. Niklas Eidersjo · [email protected]
Fleminggatan 14, P.O. Box 22307
104 22 Stockholm
Tel. +46 8 4401170 · Fax +46 8 4401171
www.sinf.se
SWITZERLAND
Swissmem
(Swiss Mechanical and Electrical
Engineering Industries)
Mr. Peter Vogel · [email protected]
Kirchenweg 4, 8032 Zürich
Tel. +41 44 3844811 · Fax +41 44 3844846
www.swissmem.ch
TURKEY
Tool Manufacturers’ Association of
Turkey (UKUB)
Mrs. Solmaz Ugurlar Yildirim
[email protected]
Mustafa Karaer Cad. Cigdem 2 Sok.
PK:41 DOSAB, Bursa
Tel. +90 224 2615892 · Fax +90 224 2615893
www.ukub.org.tr
UNITED KINGDOM
GTMA (Gauge and Tool Makers Association)
Mrs. Julia Moore · [email protected]
3 Forge House, Summerleys Road
Princes Risborough, Bucks HP27 9DT
Tel. +44 1844 274222 · Fax +44 1844 274227
www.gtma.co.uk
SOUTH AFRICA
Toolmaking Association of South Africa
(TASA)
Mrs. Alet Balaam · [email protected]
22 Alexander Road, 3610 Westmead
P.O. Box 661 · 3600 Pinetown
Tel. +27 31 7005563 · Fax +27 31 7005562
www.tasaweb.co.za
SPAIN
FEAMM
(Federación Española de Asociaciones
Empresariales de Moldistas y Matriceros)
Mr. Josep Font · [email protected]
Parc Tecnològic del Vallès, Ceramistes 2
08290 Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona)
Tel. +34 93 5944747 · Fax +34 93 5944737
www.feamm.com
For information, contact:
Mr. Fausto Romagnani
Secretariat, ISTMA Europe
c/o Cefamol
Av. D. Dinis 17, Aptdo. 257
2430-263 Marinha Grande, Portugal
Tel. +351 244 575150
Fax +351 244 575159
[email protected]
www.istma-europe.com
Visit ISTMA’s website:
www.istma-europe.com
Successful GTMA Metrology
Exhibition Draws Some of
UK’s Premier Companies
The Gauge and Tool Makers Association (GTMA) reports
that its latest Make Measurement Matter exhibition was
a roaring success—an appropriate characterization of an
event that was held on an air force base and featured a presentation on the importance of precision metrology to competitors in the challenging cutting-edge automotive field of
Formula 1 racing. The exhibition, held March 19 at RAF
Cosford in Shropshire, UK, provided metrology professionals from all over Great Britain with an opportunity to discuss their measurement requirements with specialists representing the leading metrology suppliers in the UK.
“We were delighted to welcome visitors from some of the
UK’s premier companies, including Rolls Royce Submarines,
Bentley Motor Cars, and Airbus, to our exhibition,” commented Julia Moore, the GTMA CEO. She added that their
attendance proved the association’s assertion that measurement really does matter.
The GTMA represents leading UK companies in metrology, precision machining, rapid product development, toolmaking, and tooling technologies and is committed to promoting excellence in the national engineering supply
chain. One of its key roles is to create opportunities for UK
engineering buyers and suppliers to work together to develop partnerships and business arrangements.
Gauge and Tool Makers Association
PRINCES RISBOROUGH, BUCKS, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/026
www.etmm.info/2009/05/027
Industry Interview
Using a Tool Performance Index to Justify
Switching Cutters: The Developer Explains
Editor’s note: In our June 2008 issue,
ETMM reported on the tool performance indicator (TPI), an index created
for LMT to determine a cutting tool’s
ultimate value—its total benefit of
ownership. Following is an edited
exchange with the manufacturing
technology professor Michael Kaufeld,
who developed the TPI at Germany’s
Ulm University of Applied Sciences.
orientation toward a sustainable-value
orientation in which tool performance
is central. That’s where users’ interest
lies: they want to buy performance.
Which parameters are crucial for determining overall performance?
The main parameters are the tool’s
cost and life span, material removal
rate, and machine-hour rate. However,
many parameters have to be examined
Prof. Michael Kaufeld.
even though everyone involved in
production knows it makes sense to
produce an overall picture. A standard
What concerns users most in
optimizing production processes?
Everything centres on costs.
Because tools are considered
consumables, they are primarily seen as a cost item, and the
tool budget is viewed negatively. But people in manufacturing know there’s money to
be made from swarf. So, tools
play a key role in value creation. The commercial and
engineering outlooks clash.
What can an index like the TPI
achieve in this context?
The TPI brings together the
outlooks of the engineer and
the economist by considering
the machining job holistically.
It takes into account all the
main parameters of the machine tool system, not just
such individual values as a
tool’s maximum potential feed rate.
The indicator clearly shows to what
extent a process can be improved by
using a new tool.
Does the TPI only apply to LMT tools?
No, it’s a universal standard. This
moves the focus in procurement and
marketing away from a short-term cost
in order to achieve a comprehensive
and meaningful analysis.
Isn’t this data available anyway?
Yes and no. Theoretically it’s available,
but during production there usually
isn’t enough time to use it systematically or to record the interrelationships between machine and tool—
Measuring performance: it’s becoming popular
It’s said that you can manage only what
you can measure. Unsurprisingly, analytical models for monitoring overall costs
are becoming increasingly important to
capital goods manufacturers.
Forty percent of companies surveyed
by the European Business School now use
methods such as LLC and TCO to measure process performance, and another
20 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
third say they are planning to do so. The
German industry group VDMA says this is
a near doubling from 2005.
The TPI is calculated by dividing the
increased benefit derived from introducing a new tool by the tool’s costs. If the
index is above 1, the tool is an improvement. If less than 1, then changing tools
would not be worthwhile.
for collecting and analyzing relevant
data used to be absent, but the TPI
now provides that kind of yardstick.
What advantage does that offer users?
In addition to determining the potential for optimization, the TPI improves
documentation and interpretation of
test results. It supplies an accessible log
of trials that makes comparing 10 different tools easy. It provides a highly
accurate reflection of production practice. And, because it translates tool performance into an understandable and
verifiable index, it facilitates integrating tools into analytical models such
as life cycle costing (LCC) and total
cost of ownership (TCO).
LMT Deutschland GmbH
OBERKOCHEN, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/028
www.etmm.info/2009/05/029
Innovations
Two-Stage Process Based on Slide-Table Mould Allows Precise
Placement of Soft-Touch Foam Layer in Multicomponent Part
The innovative Varysoft® slide-table
mould developed by Georg Kaufmann Formenbau AG enables users
to injection-mould particularly comfortable parts for the automotive passenger compartment. The technology
advance makes it possible, now for the
first time, to vary the thickness of a
layer of soft-touch foam by means of
the mould geometry.
The Varysoft foam layer is produced
exactly where it is required in the part
design, and also in the thickness the
manufacturer desires. To this end, the
slide-table mould is equipped with two
cavities that have different geometries.
One is for moulding the supporting
structure using the conventional injection moulding technique, and the
other is for preforming the decorative
material, whether film, fabric, or imitation leather, and then later moulding the Varysoft layer of foam.
Suitable for TPE and PUR
Kaufmann’s Varysoft mould necessitates the use of an injection moulding
machine that is equipped with a sliding table and two injection units. A
standard injection unit injects the
material for the supporting structure,
which is usually a polypropylene. To
produce the layer of foam, the machine may be equipped either with an
additional injection unit for expand-
able thermoplastic elastomer
(TPE) or with a polyurethane
(PUR) processing unit with a
PUR-mixing head.
Operation of the Mould
In the two-stage Varysoft
process, the precut decorative material is placed in the
second cavity of the open
mould and fixed in place.
The mould then closes and
the decorative material is
preformed. Meanwhile, in
the first cavity, the polypropylene supporting structure—for a door trim, perhaps—is moulded by means
of a conventional injection
moulding process and then
cooled. When the mould
opens, the polypropylene
supporting structure remains
The two cavities of the Varysoft slide-table mould feature different
in the moving mould half geometries, allowing a soft-touch-foam layer of specified thickness to
and the preformed decora- be placed exactly where the part design requires it, as the cross
tive material remains in the section indicates.
stationary mould half.
The two halves of the open mould rative material. The size of the gap corare then repositioned by means of the responds to the desired thickness of
sliding table in such a way that the the Varysoft layer of foam. This thickpolypropylene supporting structure ness is determined by the geometry of
and the preformed decorative material the second cavity of the stationary
are opposite one another. When the mould half; that geometry is deeper
mould closes, a gap remains between than the geometry of the first cavity
the supporting structure and the deco- by a distance equal to the desired
thickness of the foam.
Next, through the second injection
process, the gap is filled with foam.
When expandable TPE is employed,
the material is injected into the gap via
a special gating system and diverter
mounted on top of the mould. In an
application involving PUR foam, on
the other hand, the mixing head is
brought up to dock against the underside of the mould. Upon completion
of the foaming process, the finished
Varysoft door trim—in this example—
can be removed from the mould. Any
surplus decorative material is then
trimmed either manually or automatically with a punching tool.
The Varysoft slide-table mould is used on an injection moulding machine equipped with two injection units. When the
mould closes for the second time, the gap between the decorative material in the right-hand stationary half and the
polypropylene supporting structure in the left-hand moving half is filled with foam.
22 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
Georg Kaufmann Formenbau AG
BUSSLINGEN, SWITZERLAND
www.etmm.info/2009/05/030
www.etmm.info/2009/05/031
Technology
Hot Runner Moulds with Hydromechanical Needle Shutoff
Are Advantageous for Producing Thin-Sectioned Parts
these, the oil-free stationary mould half
offers real advantages
over conventional hydraulic systems.
The hot runner system is driven either by
a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder or by a
servomotor mounted
to the outside of the
mould, depending on
the customer’s needs.
Mechanical drives are A detailed view of Zahoransky’s hydromechanical needle shutoff.
particularly advantageous for thin-sectioned applications, is integrated for additional safety.
as all gates open and close simulZahoransky markets the highly
taneously. This guarantees an even developed needle shutoff system also
and regular injection behaviour with as a hot half, meeting with the cusrespect to all mould cavities and re- tomer to jointly develop and build the
sults in plastic com- optimal solution for fulfilling applicaponents exhibiting tion requirements. Purchasers of a hot
a consistent quality half, the supplier would say, get to take
that is highly desir- full advantage of the expertise the
able. Experience in mould manufacturer has acquired and
the field has shown reinforced with the completion of the
that thin-sectioned 500 moulds with hydromechanical
components with needle drives it has built over the past
wall thicknesses of dozen years.
as little as 0.6 mm
For servo-driven systems, Zahorancan be moulded reli- sky also supplies its own statistical
ably and safely.
process controls.
Zahoransky ForEmploying 160 people, Zahoransky
menbau has solved Formenbau GmbH makes high-speed
the issue of needle multicomponent injection moulds for
change in a user- the pharmaceutical industry, for medfriendly way. The ical engineering, and for the houseexchange is effected hold goods, hygiene, and packaging
without the mould industries. Besides moulds and tools,
having to be dis- the company provides complex assemmantled. For shutoff bly and packaging solutions.
needles with conical
Zahoransky Formenbau GmbH
FREIBURG, GERMANY
gates,
a
pressureA 128-cavity hot half for a medical technology application, with a
www.etmm.info/2009/05/032
relieving mechanism
hydromechanical needle shutoff drive.
Making moulds with hydromechanical needle shutoff systems is one of
the strengths of Zahoransky Formenbau GmbH. The company developed
its first hot runner moulds with hydromechanical drives back in 1996, to
manufacture toothbrushes. At the end
of 2008, just 12 years later, Zahoransky
Formenbau delivered the 500th mould
incorporating this system to one of its
customers, a medical device manufacturer. The mould runs with a cycling
time of 6 seconds.
The company’s mould makers saw
the benefits of hydromechanical-drive
needle shutoff systems very early on.
The drive can also be constructed
pneumatically or with a servomotor,
to suit applications in the pharmaceutical industry. For applications such as
www.etmm.info/2009/05/033
24 European Tool & Mould Making
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May 2009
An Economical Production Alternative Enables
Operating Lifetimes of Cutting Punches to Be Maximized
Cutting punches in use are
grinding image with nital
subjected to bending, cometching on the edges of
pressive, and tensile forces.
the head shows a structure
Their operational lifetime
of martensite with fine
and ultimate cost-efficiency
carbides, and the Snyderdepend on how well they
Graff index remains at 17.
resist breakage. Commonly,
The centre of the punch’s
the punch’s head breaks off
head exhibits an extremebecause the shaft’s tensile
ly fine grain structure of
strength is exceeded at a
indeterminable Snyderpoint near the head. Now,
Graff measure.
Drei-S-Werk is offering a
All of this means that
technically and economithe advantages of both
cally attractive production
processes can be fully premethod for standard cutserved. Grinding does not
ting punches that minialter the material characmizes the likelihood of this
teristics, and the fibre patsort of cutting punch failtern remains continuous
ure through optimization
after compression. As a reof the punch material and
sult, the punch is capable
the production process.
of withstanding higher
The two main methods
tensile and compressive
of manufacturing cutting
loads, both as independpunches are milling from a
ent stresses and when the
block and hot deformation
two are combined.
with subsequent plunge Cutting punches from Drei-S-Werk and some of the products they’ve helped produce.
The required contours
grinding. Either of these
of the hot-deformed head
may be the better choice for a particu- visible the grain boundaries, the better —shaft, transition section, and cone—
lar manufacturer, depending on the the ductility.
are achieved by means of final grindproduction volume and other circumIn critical aerospace and energy ing that provides the exact tolerances
stances; Drei-S-Werk has now brought applications, specifications for hot required in each instance. The reits manufacturing know-how to bear deformation processes in bolt produc- quired hardness of the head can be
on hot deformation technology. The tion require that an uninterrupted attained by suitably dosed annealing.
company fully understands how, for
hot-deformable steel materials ranging
from tool steel to powder-metallurgical high-speed steel (HSS), the most
important factors in deflecting tensile
and compression forces away from the
head of the cutting punch are the
tool’s structure, hardness, tolerances,
and fibre pattern in that zone.
Through a special process, Drei-SWerk performs hot deformation with- Homogeneous shaft structure (left) and fine-grained head structure (right) after hot deformation.
out much changing the material’s
physical characteristics and, signifi- fibre pattern exist between the shaft The standard DIN 9861 prescribes
cantly, while maintaining a continu- and the head.
head hardnesses for various alloy
ous fibre pattern. This improves the
A standard cutting punch manufac- groups, which can be altered for cergrain size of the structure and avoids tured to these specifications using tain specific purposes.
the problem of disadvantageous large powder-metallurgical HSS displays a
Drei-S-Werk works to customer regrain boundaries.
number of advantageous results. For quirements, adapting the cutting
In addition, through the Drei-S- example, the raw material is a homo- punch to match specifications to the
Werk process, the structure is densified geneous structure of annealed marten- extent possible.
such that it becomes extremely fine; it site and fine carbides. The SnyderDrei-S-Werk
SCHWABACH, GERMANY
can almost be considered structureless. Graff grain index amounts to 17. After
www.etmm.info/2009/05/034
The finer the granularity and the less a special hot deformation process, the
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 25
Case Studies
Mould Making Becomes More Straightforward When
Standard Components Are Substituted for Custom
The Belgian switch and socket outlet
manufacturer Niko N.V. has always
kept its eyes open for innovative
mould parts to use instead of conventionally tooled systems. For more than
six years, the company has been using
standard mould components from
Cumsa in its injection tools.
Niko designs and manufactures
advanced solutions for electrical
switching, lighting control, automation of home electronic systems, intercom systems, and videophones. Today,
telemedicine is a hot new area of application. The company manufactures
more than 5,000 products in volumes
ranging from 10 items to series in the
millions. Annually, it now processes
some 27,000 orders and has a product
output that amounts to more than
2,000 tons. Niko operates more than
200 pieces of machinery in a variety of
different production processes.
Cumsa parts help the Belgian innovator design more-straightforward
tools in cases where undercuts are
unavoidable. This is an important factor in the company’s effort to minimize design and manufacturing costs
and, ultimately, the cost of its products. The use of standard parts also
reduces the time needed for tool
design and manufacture; thus, new
products can be brought to market
sooner. Because Cumsa tests its parts
extensively, Niko can put them to use
straightaway.
Designing and manufacturing the
components for undercuts—such as
slides—in-house would require taking
into account several factors that are
already conveniently rendered advantageous by Cumsa. The Spanish supplier’s parts are made from tried and tested steel grades that are compatible
with each other. They are coated; thus,
frictional resistance in movement is
considerably reduced, and the components’ toughness and hardness makes
them more resistant to wear. The
mould parts are dependably interchangeable owing to their close tolerances, and they are designed to minimize overall mould dimensions.
In some cases, Cumsa parts can be
delivered with built-in cooling capabil26 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
ity. And finally, providing a convenient service for its customers, the Spanish supplier has made the drawings for
its standard parts downloadable from
its website.
Niko N.V. once had an opportunity
to compare a tool that it made for
itself from parts constructed inhouse—an eight-cavity mould for a
linear movement. Also, because all the
holes in the Cumsa-part mould were
perpendicular, they proved to be easier
to make. In addition to the time saved,
this simplified mould assembly and
disassembly.
At the conclusion of the test, Niko
found that it could see a clear bottomline advantage to using standard parts
product with two undercuts—with a
tool for the identical purpose that was
built using parts provided by Cumsa.
The conventional tool that Niko
manufactured on its own required
more maintenance, mainly because of
friction caused by the forced oblique
movement of the shim. But this was
not a problem with Cumsa’s PS standard lifter, which completely avoided
the issue through its distinctive recti-
from Cumsa instead of building injection moulding tools from its own
parts. By its own calculations, the
company discovered that, by relying
on Cumsa products, it could reduce its
mould design and manufacturing
costs by 12% and also save 15% in its
maintenance costs.
Cumsa
SANT JUST/BARCELONA, SPAIN
www.etmm.info/2009/05/035
Switch to Strategy-Rich CAM
System Helps Mould Maker
Optimize Potential of 5-Axis
SAFETY IS THE
FOCAL POINT!
+
Gelre Rijn Tools, a Dutch manufacturer of injection moulding tools for plastic and rubber and of technical components for machine construction, swapped its previous CAM
system for PowerMill machining software from Delcam
plc after it acquired its first 5-axis machine tool, a Hermle
C40U milling machine. The company soon found that the
change of software yielded other benefits as well.
Gelre Rijn Tools specializes in tooling for thin-wall plastic
components, particularly packaging for salads, ice cream,
ready-to-eat meals, household utensils, and paints. To
remain successful, it has to meet customer demands for
high-quality parts, efficient tool performance, and rapid
mould delivery.
RUD Ketten Rieger & Dietz GmbH u. Co. KG
Friedensinsel · 73432 Aalen/Germany
Tel. +49 7361 504-1371-1527 · Fax +49 7361 504-1460
[email protected] · www.rud.com
www.etmm.info/2009/05/037
After experiencing problems with its existing software,
the company searched for a CAM system that could drive
the 5-axis Hermle without difficulty. It also sought improved surface quality, so that polishing could be minimized, and ease of use, so that the software could be fully
implemented quickly.
Richard Adams, a manufacturing engineer and model
maker at the company, was impressed with PowerMill from
the start. Besides providing the necessary 5-axis functionality, PowerMill’s tool paths produced much smoother and
better-looking results. The desired reduction in polishing
requirements was realized. In addition, the fast and easy-tolearn graphical user interface, coupled with the professional
support from Delcam’s reseller Bemet International, made
the switch to PowerMill smooth, too.
“We have been working with PowerMill since 2007,”
Adams notes. “We have been very impressed by the possibilities of this CAM system, especially by the range of milling
strategies. We look forward to working with PowerMill for
many years.”
Delcam plc
BIRMINGHAM, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/036
www.etmm.info/2009/05/038
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 27
Case Studies
Clamping System for Machining Moulding Plates
Saves Costs by Maximizing Setup Speed, Repeatability
Production economies are essential to and makes possible unimpeded five- alignment and determining all the apthe survival of tool and mould making side machining of the plate. Also avail- propriate clamping options.
These advantages are fully applicacompanies in Western and Central able are accessories for multifunctional
Europe. Therefore, mould makers clamping; these make vises and elec- ble to electrode manufacture, as well.
should take advantage of potential trode holders, as well as mould plates, The electrode supports are clamped
onto an adapter plate so that they can
cost-reduction measures. Meusburger easy to clamp quickly.
Small and medium-sized mould be quickly and precisely aligned on
Georg GmbH & Co. KG suggests
that—in addition to consistently using making businesses often have to re- the machine. If the size of the clampstandard mould parts, of course—they spond quickly to the needs of firms ing system and of the electrodes warrants, several supports can
deploy a clamping system
be positioned on one adapto shorten setup times. The
ter plate at the same time.
mould makers at Geobra
This approach makes possiBrandstätter, the German
ble unattended machining
company behind the Playfor long periods, particularmobil brand, save time and
ly fine-machining.
money this way, by making
use of Meusburger’s H 1000
clamping system.
The H 1000 system can
How does such a clamping
clamp moulding plates that
system save time? Say a
range in size from 96 x 126
standard mould comprises
mm up to 596 x 796 mm.
eight plates that have to be
The plates are aligned and
machined from both sides.
clamped where it is imporRoughing and fine-machintant for the tool: namely,
ing are carried out on both
in the guide holes. Besides
moulding plates. The result
saving time, this gives the
is 18 clamping operations.
user the assurance that all
Experience shows that each
standard mould plates will
alignment and clamping
be clamped and machined
operation takes around 12
with repeatable accuracy.
minutes. Thus, the total
Defects caused by misaligntime required is 216 minment are avoided. In addiutes—not taking into action, the exactly repeating
count possible extra time
position in the coordinate
The H 1000 system can be adapted to users’ particular needs. Here, the clamping cube
system simplifies program- for a machining centre is adapted to include the standard holes of the clamping system. required for corrections and
reworking, or for interrupming, since the machine’s
using their plates. This means a con- tions to production to accommodate
zero point is always the same.
At Geobra Brandstätter, the clamp- stant alternation between plate ma- urgent repairs. Although such distracing system is not only used in standard chining, electrode manufacture, and tions can never be avoided entirely,
applications but also integrated into the machining of workpieces that the clamping system reduces their
the clamping elements of the process- have to be clamped in a vise. In con- consequence.
The H 1000 system helps the maing machines. Thus, a clamping cube ventional transfers between plate and
for a machining centre was adapted to vise machining, a great deal of time is chine operator by removing the need
include the standard holes of the lost as, first, clamping accessories are to search for the correct clamping supclamping system. The machining was detached for removal of the finished ports, to fit clamping claws (frequently
adopted from the standard part pro- moulding plate from the table and, troublesome), and to decide on a suitducer. Geobra installs the clamping next, the vise is aligned and clamped able position for the clamping medisystem on all of its milling and erosion in place. This is the approach that um. Of course, aids to alignment such
Meusburger wanted to simplify by as measuring probes will become ever
machines.
means of a clamping system.
more intelligent, and many new funcWith the H 1000 system, after the tions will be implemented in the CNC
plate is removed, the vise—which is controls of machines. But the clampThe system allows all moulding plates uniquely mounted on an adapter ing system’s workpiece position comto be clamped without collision con- plate—is clamped into place without pensation capability lets the workpiece
tours. This minimizes collision risk the time-consuming requirements of be clamped without alignment—a
Time Savings
Multifunctionality
28 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
technological advance of great benefit
to the tool or mould maker.
Rapid Tool Amendment
Mould makers who use Meusburger’s
H 1000 clamping system can perform
tool amendment without significant
loss of time during the inspection
process. Ordinarily, while a mould is
being inspected, the mould maker—
whether internal or external to the
company—is already working on the
next order. Amendments or repairs
have to wait, or can be accomplished
only with additional setup time.
But with the H 1000, manufacturing personnel can carry out these
processes themselves, quickly and easily. The plate to be machined is swiftly
clamped and reworked. It is not necessary to mark reference sides, because
all plates are always aligned and
clamped in the guide holes.
Meusburger Georg GmbH & Co. KG
WOLFURT, AUSTRIA
The H 1000 clamping system allows moulding plates to be clamped and machined with repeatable accuracy.
www.etmm.info/2009/05/039
www.etmm.info/2009/05/040
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 29
Case Studies
Industry Supplier Praises Use of Touch Probes in CNC Milling,
Says He Would Never Operate Again without Using Them
Mekall has standardized on Haas machine tools, with 10 VMCs and 2 turning centres.
Mekall, a Scottish manufacturing services group with manufacturing facilities throughout the UK, uses Haas
machine tools exclusively, each of
them fitted with touch probes supplied by Renishaw plc, to service
clients in the defense, aerospace, medical technology, and telecommunications markets. Tom Forsyth, managing
director of Mekall’s machining division, says he cannot understand why
anyone would buy a CNC machine
tool without Renishaw probes. He has
12 Haas machines, all equipped with
spindle-mounted probes for part setting, and feels well prepared to expand
Mekall’s subcontract workload.
When touch probes were first introduced at the company, machining
cycles became shorter. Setting times
were cut dramatically, and the whole
process was made highly repeatable.
Simultaneously, process development
times were significantly reduced. As
Forsyth comments, “We’ve brought in
time-served skilled engineers who’ve
never seen probing before and left
them goggle-eyed!”
Mekall employs Renishaw’s touch
probes on its Haas machines to control
the process. “It gives us consistency
and takes out the chance of human
error,” explains Forsyth. “Scrap reduc30 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
with the probe. The
thin walls of the casting
tion is not even an issue
meant having to pick
we have to consider.”
up on each of 50 datum
When parts are loaded
features, which would
for machining, the operahave been a huge task if
tor uses the probe to measperformed manually.
ure the position of datum
The data the touch
features in a matter of secprobe provides can also
onds. Machining can start Mekall managing director Tom Forsyth. be utilized to provide
immediately, without the
feedback so that the
need for manual settings.
machine makes intelligent decisions.
How important probing-process re- Mekall uses routines that check for
peatability can be is well known to misloading by finding the position of
Mekall. Before fitting the first touch certain features. The programme will
probe systems to its machine tools, the not run if it detects a surface in the
company had big problems on a very wrong place or cannot find a feature.
accurate job it had undertaken for an
Having the probe shortens developimportant client. The position of ma- ment time considerably. It removes
chined features might vary by as much the need to design and develop fixas 0.1 mm over the course of a shift, all tures, because the part doesn’t have to
of that movement being attributable be positioned accurately. Clamping
to operator error.
can be simple. An approximate locaSo, the main benefit of using Ren- tion is sufficient for the probe to find
ishaw touch proves is the certainty. and set the part. “We’ve been able to
Added to that are time savings and the standardize the work-holding system
ability to automate manual tasks.
across all the machines,” says Forsyth.
“Probes are critical when machining
He adds, “The probe moves are very
castings,” says Forsyth, observing that quick and easy to programme. We add
some jobs would have required a day’s single lines of NC macro commands
extra work if set manually. He cites the into the programmes produced by our
casting for a BAe Systems Challenger CAM system.”
tank that required a skewing function
Renishaw plc
WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE, GLOS, UK
to rotate the whole coordinate system
www.etmm.info/2009/05/041
based on positioning data gathered
www.etmm.info/2009/05/042
Products & Services
New-Generation Phase-Shift 3D Laser Scanners and
Software Accelerate Scanning and Scan-Data Registration
The portable measurement
and imaging system supplier Faro has launched the
Photon line of phase-shift
3D laser scanners. The latest-generation Photon 120
and Photon 20 models that
are now available feature
measuring rates of up to
976,000 points per second.
The 120 offers an unprecedented operating range
of 153 m, making it the
longest-range phase-shift
laser scanner on the market
to date, while the Photon
20 is designed for scanning
objects within a range of 20
m. Both models provide
eight times the speed and
double the distance scanning capacity of Faro’s previous-generation offerings. An upgrade
path is offered to users of legacy Faro
laser scanners.
software. This software automates registration of the data captured by the
scanner—that is, its target recognition,
naming, and matching. This accelerates the process of scan registration by
90% compared with manual methods
of completion.
The new technology from Faro
enables users to carry out large imaging assignments—such as 3D documentation of shop floors or buildings,
which typically require hundreds of
individual scans—quickly and costeffectively without sacrificing output
quality. The Photon 120’s long range
eliminates the need to reposition the
device in most applications, and Faro
Scene V4.6 replaces time-consuming
manual registration of scans back at
the office with either automatic onthe-spot performance of the task or
overnight batch processing.
The company has also announced
the introduction of Faro Scene V4.6,
the latest version of its scan processing
Faro Europe GmbH & Co. KG
KORNTAL-MÜNCHINGEN, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/043
Touch-Screen Data Collection Capability in ERP Software
Makes It Possible for Manufacturing Shops to Go Paperless
The business software developer MIE
Solutions offers shop-floor data collection software running on Microsoft
Windows that utilizes production
scheduling to enable a manufacturing
shop to go paperless. A development
of MIE Trak enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, MIE Trak Kiosk
data collection software is an alternative to using bar code technology to
capture employee activity.
MIE Trak Kiosk has an easy-to-use
touch-screen interface with large buttons by means of which employees
clock in and out for the day, clock in
and out of jobs, and issue bills of materials for job costing. It integrates with
scheduling software and so can highlight all the jobs a particular employee
is to work on. Dragging and dropping
jobs onto the scheduling whiteboard
will immediately change the jobs
employees see as they clock into their
32 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
machines and
associated jobs.
Eliminating
keystrokes is a
help in managing data collection, and that is
what MIE Kiosk
does, showing
recently viewed
items plainly on
the computer
screen. The software enables employees to display
drawings, blueprints, and models on
the screen, cutting the volume of
paper flowing through a lean shop.
MIE Solutions provides an integrated environment for all of its production control software, including document management with MIE Docs and
integration into the MIE Exchange
B2B (business-to-business) supply
chain software application. Customers
can enter purchase orders on-line
through MIE Exchange. Those orders
are then securely transmitted directly
into the MIE Trak production control
and tracking system to eliminate data
entry errors.
MIE Solutions
GARDEN GROVE, CA, USA
www.etmm.info/2009/05/044
Sandwich Plate for Measuring and Transporting Fixtures
and Workpieces Can Turn on the Spot and Go Sideways
Sandwich plates used as a base for
measuring fixtures and structures increasingly serve as a means of transport between the measuring centre
and assembly area. To move sandwich
plates loaded with large fixtures and
workpieces, hovercraft commonly are
employed. But hovercraft require a
good-quality flat, nonporous floor surface and the availability of compressed
air. Horst Witte Gerätebau Barskamp
KG has overcome these limitations by
developing the MDD roller-driven
sandwich plate.
Named for its multidirectional
drive, the new sandwich plate is easy
to move, steer, and position, owing to
the distinctive character of its rollers.
Its movement and positioning are
remote-controlled via joystick. The
controls automatically align the rollers
in the desired direction of turn, after
which the plate is easily rotated on the
spot or driven sideways. The rollers’
special outer surface is designed to
ensure careful treatment of the floor.
The top-surface plate is machined
in high-tensile aluminium with the
grid the customer requires for secure,
accurate positioning of measuring fixtures. Once in its final position for use,
the MDD is secured to the floor
hydraulically. The battery-powered
plate can run for 120 minutes at a
maximum speed of 5 km/hr without
mains supply. Measuring 300 x 2,000
x 5,000 mm, it accommodates loads
weighing up to about 2,000 kg.
Horst Witte Gerätebau Barskamp KG
BLECKEDE, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/045
Rapid Prototyping Material for 3D Printers Provides
High Dimensional Stability for Engineering Simulation
The 3D printing technology specialist
Objet Geometries Ltd. has recently
added the FullCure®850 VeroGray
opaque model material to its FullCure Vero family of rapid prototyping
materials. The new material provides
outstanding dimensional stability, detail visualization, and surface quality.
It offers all the benefits of the Vero
product family, including long shelf
life. VeroGray is supported by all of
Objet’s Eden™-family printers and by
the Connex500™ printer. Mechanical
engineers and designers in various
industries can use it to create functional prototypes requiring the simulation
of plastic.
Because of VeroGray’s low water
absorption value and heat-deflection
temperature, models made from the
material maintain their dimensional
stability through changes in environmental conditions. This makes it an
attractive choice, for example, for fabricating prototypes that must spend
time in transit.
VeroGray additionally offers a flexural strength of 95 MPa, good flexural
modulus, and a tensile strength of 60
MPa, making it particularly well suited
for engineering simulation and structural testing. The surface-quality and
detail-presentation capabilities of the
opaque, rigid material can result in
models for fit and form testing that
have all the look and feel of moulded
plastic parts.
FullCure850 VeroGray is available
in 3.6- and 2-kg cartridges.
Objet Geometries Ltd.
REHOVOT, ISRAEL
www.etmm.info/2009/05/046
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 33
Products & Services
Machining Subcontractor’s Self-Built Centre Performs
Deep-Hole Drilling and 5-Axis Machining in One Setup
The subcontract-machining shop floor
at Mollart Machine Tools Ltd. now
includes an innovative machine tool,
developed and built in-house, that
provides 5-axis positioning capability
for the deep-hole drilling of compound-angle holes 6 to 80 mm in
diameter and as much as 2,000 mm
deep in combination with conventional machining—with one setup
serving for both operations in five-side
machining. Contract services performed with the Mollart Centeplex
drilling and milling centre include
producing holes inclined up to +15°
and 2,750 mm deep by means of a programmable tilting spindle axis.
Normally, to machine features inclined to a centreline, such as compound-angle holes, would involve relocating and resetting the workpiece,
with all of the fixturing, positioning,
additional programming, handling,
inspection, and measurement require-
ments that can easily
compound the possibility of error. The
Centeplex drilling and
milling centre eliminates these problems
and adds the welcome
bonus of shorter lead
times for delivery.
With its 2,000 x
2,740-mm table and
16-tonne load capacity, along with a full
CNC rotary positioning axis, the Mollart
Centeplex is designed for medium to
large workpieces. The table has strokes
of 1,800 mm in the x-axis and 1,325
mm in the y-axis. A novel combined
over-and-under spindle axis features a
22-kW, ISO 50–taper upper deep-holedrilling spindle that can penetrate to
2,000 mm and a lower milling spindle
with a 60-tool magazine that can carry
out routine production processes in
the same setting.
The flexible and cost-effective Centeplex has already been used for
machining oil and gas industry components and mould plates.
Mollart Machine Tools Ltd.
CHESSINGTON, SURREY, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/047
CAM Software Components Upgraded to Improve
3- to-5-Axis Tool-Path Generation, Machine Simulation
ModuleWorks GmbH has released Version 2009.3 of its
CAM software components
for tool-path generation and
simulation. The release offers
new features across the product
range, further expanding capabilities in the various areas of 3to 5-axis tool-path creation and
machine simulation. The productivity improvements are
largely based on feedback from
the developer’s partners, many
of which are already incorporating the new features in their
own CAD/CAM products.
The 3-Axis machining component adds new options for
tool-path control in roughing,
aimed at maintaining a smooth
motion and constant feed rates.
Smoothing is an option for the final
pass, but separate control is provided
for maximum flexibility. Also, a “remove corner peg” control is used to
34 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
ensure complete material removal.
ModuleWorks has further refined its
4- and 5-Axis machining components
through improvements focused on
tool-path control, particularly during
linking and collision-avoidance motion. Link control
now is able to follow stock
when connecting larger
gaps. This offers the benefit
of being safe while also minimizing motion during the
link move.
Finally, the ModuleWorks
Simulation software includes
new backplot control to help
visualize and optimize toolpath motion. Lead and link
moves may be switched off,
and control is provided to
allow a limited number of
tool-path segments to be displayed at any one time.
Working together, these features are designed to enable
users to better understand tool motion
in the virtual world.
ModuleWorks GmbH
AACHEN, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/048
New Version of CAM Package Simplifies
Programming, Reduces Cycle Times
Missler Software is introducing the
new version of its CAM software TopSolid’Cam this season. The package
can manage all machining processes,
making it the rare CAM solution able
to machine any part by offering the
most suitable machining process. TopSolid’Cam is capable of piloting turning, 2-axis milling, 3-axis milling, 4and 5-axis continuous milling, 4- and
5-axis continuous turning, synchronization, and complex simulation. The
latest release of the software package,
TopSolid’Cam 2009, provides ways to
simplify machine programming, reduce cycle times, improve quality, and
reduce manufacturing costs—achieving the last of these by prolonging the
life span of tools.
complete geometry redesign.
Automatic 4-axis roughing is a new
function in TopSolid’Cam 2009 that
manages collisions, underdrafts, cutting conditions, and more in the
course of managing 4-axis roughing as
easily as though it were a 3-axis operation. Also, TopSolid’Cam 2009 allows
paraxial roughing to be carried out on
a milling machine rather than a turning machine. Removing all material in
one operation by means of a particular
helicoidal cycle leads to significant
time savings.
The other three advances are drilling automation of cooling circuits for
mould makers, 5-axis machining of
composite materials, and customized
approach and retract movements. For
TopSolid’Cam 2009 features six
major improvements. Parts designed
using Missler Software’s TopSolid’Design or some other CAD software are
often modelled to the nominal dimensions. Providing tolerance management of imported parts, TopSolid 2009
does for other CAD files the same thing
TopSolid’Design’s advanced modeller
does: it makes it possible for the user
to transform nominal dimensions to
average dimensions so that the part
can be machined easily without a
machining such composites as carbonfibre aircraft parts, which requires expensive cutters, TopSolid’Cam 2009
now allows tools to move sinusoidally.
The result is even wear along the
entire length of the tool. When the
tool is longer than the machining
depth, the rest of the tool can then be
used. Longer-term tool use saves production costs, of course.
Missler Software
EVRY, FRANCE
www.etmm.info/2009/05/049
www.etmm.info/2009/05/050
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 35
Products & Services
High-Productivity, Large-Capacity Horizontal Machining Centre
Offers Powerful Metal-Removal Capability and Efficiency
The EC-630 horizontal machining
centre (HMC) from Haas Automation
is a large-capacity machine with a 40 x
33 x 35-in. (1,016 x 838 x 889-mm)
work envelope, 50-taper geared-head
spindle, dual pallet changer with 630mm pallets, 50-pocket side-mount tool
changer, and built-in 1° pallet indexer
(a full 4th axis is available). The USbuilt EC-630 represents the latest
expansion of the company’s line of
rugged high-productivity HMCs.
The geared head couples the motor
directly to the spindle through a highprecision gearbox. This system is very
efficient and smooth-running, and it
offers very good thermal stability. The
two-speed gearbox provides torque
sufficient for heavy material removal
and speeds as high as 6,000 rpm for
finish cuts. To simplify servicing, the
EC-630’s spindle, gearbox, and motor
are assembled as a single easily removed and installed modular unit.
Each of the machine’s pallets handles a 2,645-lb (1,202-kg) load, and the
servo-driven pallet-changer operates
quickly. A separate, protected load station lets the operator safely load and
unload parts or change fixtures on one
pallet while parts are being machined
on the other. The machine’s enclosure
accommodates parts with diameters
and heights as great as 39.37 in. (1 m).
For long-cycle production with only
minimal downtime, this HMC is
equipped with a large-volume coolant
tank and a high-capacity belt conveyor for efficient chip removal. Also standard are rapid traverses of 710 in./min
(18 m/min), a 15-in. (38-cm) colour
LCD monitor with USB port, 1 MB of
programme memory, a flood and
washdown coolant system, and a programmable coolant nozzle.
Haas Automation Europe N.V.
ZAVENTEM, BELGIUM
www.etmm.info/2009/05/051
Quick-Dissolving Support Material Accelerates Process
of Thermoplastic Part Production via Additive Fabrication
Fortus 3D Production Systems, a brand
of Stratasys, now offers SR-30 soluble
support material for use with ABSM30 and ABS-M30i thermoplastics in
its fused-deposition-modelling (FDM®)
machines. The material provides faster
dissolve times for the FDM additive
fabrication process. Compared with its
predecessor, SR-20, new SR-30 on average delivers a 69% reduction in dissolve time in an agitation tank and a
46% reduction in an ultrasonic tank.
SR-30 is compatible with the company’s Fortus 360mc™ and Fortus 400mc™
additive fabrication machines (formerly the FDM 360mc and FDM 400mc).
By offering a significant improvement in postprocessing speed, the
SR-30 formulation represents Fortus’s
strategy of providing technologies to
improve throughput in all stages of
the additive fabrication process, from
36 European Tool & Mould Making
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May 2009
loading the STL file to postprocessing.
The saved time translates to lower production costs. Using FDM with the SR30 material enables engineers to create
prototypes, manufacturing tools, and
production parts quickly.
Direct digital manufacturing (DDM)
is the process of producing parts
directly from CAD data using additive
fabrication. Performing DDM with
Fortus 3D production systems makes
the production of manufacturing
tools, such as jigs and fixtures, and the
low-volume manufacturing of end-use
parts fast and efficient.
Stratasys GmbH
FRANKFURT/MAIN, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/052
Thermal-Shrinking Chuck Suitable for All Common Spindles
Provides 3-μm True Running between Tool and Toolholder
Capable of runout accuracy better
than 3 μm, an addition to the thermalshrinking tool chuck range of LMT
also supports optimization of the tool
shank’s clamping forces and can cater
to tools having a wider tolerance on
the location diameter of the shank.
The Bilz AllGrip thermal-shrinking
system is so flexible that tools assembled to holders using LMT’s shrink
equipment can perform roughing operations as well as high-precision and
demanding finishing cycles.
AllGrip can be used with tools having shank diameters of 3 to 25 mm. It
consists of a base holder that accepts a
series of specially designed collets able
to hold shank diameters with a tolerance band of h9—this, as compared
with normal collet tolerances of h5
or h6. The holder also accepts highspeed-steel tools 3 to 6 mm in shank
diameter, providing in this case greater
cushioning and higher clamping
forces between the tool and spindle of
the machine. The Bilz AllGrip system
uses just three base sizes for holders
covering shank sizes of 3–6 mm, 3–12
mm, and 6–20 mm, with dimensions
to suit all common tool spindles.
To ensure a quick mating of tool to
holder, LMT’s ThermoGrip® shrinking
machine clamps tools by inductionheating the holder and then watercooling it directly once the tool is inserted. The automated tool assembly
system can change tools in 30 seconds.
LMT Deutschland GmbH
OBERKOCHEN, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/053
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May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 37
Products & Services
High-Frequency Spindles with an Adapted Tool-Clamping
Chuck Support Precision Machining at High Speeds
Through a partnership with Schunk
GmbH, the supplier of clamping and
gripping technology, Alfred Jäger
GmbH, which specializes in high-frequency spindles, can offer the Schunk
Tribos-RM polygon chuck adapted to
its toolholding WK 16 and WK 19
interfaces. The compatibility of the
Tribos polygon clamping technology
for holding shank-type tools with the
WK 16 and WK 19 toolholding cones
of the Jäger high-frequency spindles
creates a high-performance pairing.
These optimally matched components open up application possibilities
and provide opportunities for mould
manufacturers and companies in other
high-tech industries to increase productivity through
high-speed machining at the
limit of a processing centre’s
capability. The radial rigidity
and the precise runout of the
Tribos-based system enable
quick processing times and
brilliant surface results.
The high-frequency spindles from Jäger feature aggressive motors, outstanding
bearing rigidity, maximum
rotational accuracy, vibration-free running, and extreme reliability—exactly the
characteristics that are called
for in such modern machining processes as high-speed cutting and dry
processing. This progressive spindle
technology meets its complement in
the powerful, rigid, precise, and reliable Tribos-RM, which allows spindle
speeds of 80,000 rpm to be achieved.
The chuck’s runout accuracy of better than 0.003 mm, supported by a
projection length 2.5 times diameter
and a balancing 2.5 g up to 25,000
rpm, ensures maximum precision.
With its framework-like design, the
polygon chuck dampens vibrations
and guarantees long tool service while
preserving the machine spindle.
The system is virtually maintenance
and wear free. In addition, because the
steel of the toolholder is unaffected by
heat during tool clamping, precision is
not lost. Besides supporting high-level
machine performance and maximum
speeds, the Tribos-RM can clamp, reliably and precisely, tools with diameters as small as 0.3 mm.
Alfred Jäger GmbH
OBER-MÖRLEN, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/055
Mould Tooling Alloy in Tube Form
Can Cut Scrap, Machining Time
The latest addition to the MoldMax
family of mould and tooling alloys
available from Brush Wellman Inc. is
MoldMax V® copper-nickel-siliconchromium alloy in tube form for
manufacturing injection and blow
mould cores and cavities. Responding
to customer desires to reduce both
material scrap and machining time,
Brush Wellman offers MoldMax V in
sizes up to 7 in. (17.7 mm) OD and
with walls as thin as 0.200 in. (0.5
mm). Other forms now available in
this line are rounds, plates, and parts
finish-machined according to customer drawings.
MoldMax V features an average
hardness of 28 HRc and thermal con38 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
ductivity four to five
times greater than
that of P20 tool steel.
While the alloy typically has been marketed to the plastics
processing industry,
primarily for the production of mould
cores and cavities
owing to its high conductivity and
fairly high strength, it also performs
well in high-performance racing engines, industrial heat sinks, and other
industrial applications that call for
good conductivity and strength.
Other MoldMax alloys being offered by Brush Wellman Inc. that have
utility in the mould making business
are the copper-and-beryllium formulations HH®, LH®, and SC and MoldMax
XL®, which is an alloy of copper, nickel, and tin.
Brush Wellman Inc.
MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, OH, USA
www.etmm.info/2009/05/056
international
competition
produced by
www.etmm.info/2009/05/057
Products & Services
Noncontact Video Measuring Microscope Is Highly Accurate
on the Shop Floor As Well As in the Inspection Laboratory
Vision Engineering Ltd. has loaded
technical capabilities into its new Falcon 3-axis noncontact video measuring system that belie its affordability.
Designed to be simple yet powerful,
and accurate despite a modest price,
the Falcon microscope is suitable for
both multiuser shop-floor and advanced manufacturing inspection applications. Emphasizing accuracy, it
employs high-resolution zoom optics
indexed up to 100X magnification to
provide enhanced component-edge
definition. An indexed camera iris
control reduces depth of field, which
maximizes the accuracy and repeatability of z-axis results and thus neutralizes a complaint that is sometimes
voiced about video systems.
Even though a compact, small-footprint unit, the Falcon incorporates
advanced features designed to simplify
operation and boost accuracy. These
include controllable quadrant LED
illumination and motorized z-axis
control. Vision’s precision measuring
stages provide x-y-z measurement envelopes up to 150 x 150 x 125 mm and
come with factory-completed NLEC
calibration.
An intuitive touch-screen colour
display offers built-in control simplicity that helps minimize training costs,
while automatic video edge detection
ensures reproducible measurement results irrespective of the operator.
Vision Engineering Ltd.
WOKING, SURREY, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/058
SLS Prototypes and Production Components Are Given a
Smooth Machine Finish That Can Save Costs of Hand Work
3T RPD Ltd. now can offer
selective laser sintering (SLS)
with vibratory finishing as a
low-cost batch process. This
means that the rapid prototyping and manufacturing
bureau can generate smooth
parts with minimal additional time and cost and thus
provide full service capability
from project start to finish.
The company’s new vibratory finishing machine enables complex and durable
prototype parts and production components created via SLS to be
given a smoother-than-natural finish
when customers need such refinement
for end-use parts and for models that
are to be coloured, painted, or vacuum-metallized.
The new finishing machine greatly
reduces the number of labour- and
cost-intensive hours 3T’s skilled model
makers spend hand-finishing models,
40 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
enabling these workers to focus on the
finer finishing requirements. The gently acting vibratory process smoothes
the surface of multiple parts simultaneously and much more quickly than
is possible with manual finishing.
The degree of smoothing depends
on the amount of time spent in the
machine. A two-hour cycle generally is
sufficient for quite large batches of
small to medium-sized parts.
If it is deemed necessary,
machine-finished models can
be given further specialist
finishing by hand for use in
functional testing, assembly
trials, product demonstrations and launches, or marketing photography.
Unlike a more aggressive
tumbling machine, the vibratory process is able to finish some internal component features, such as holes
and voids, depending on the
geometry of the object being worked
on. The only process limitations are
that the largest part size the machine
can accommodate is about 500 x 300 x
300 mm and that very small features
or delicate geometries may not tolerate
the vibration.
3T RPD Ltd.
NEWBURY, BERKS, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/059
Patented Flexible Coupling Design Makes End Mill with
Exchangeable Carbide Head a Reliable Performer
millimetre. In combination with the
new-generation insert grade GC1030,
this high-performance cutting tool is
suited for all material groups in ISO P,
ISO M, ISO K, and ISO S.
Combining the flexibility of indexable inserts with the productivity and
precision of solid carbide, the end mill
can be used for face, slot, shoulder,
edging, profile, and chamfer milling in
many industrial sectors.
be very reliable and accurate. Tool performance, security, and machining
results depend directly on the performance of the coupling. Sandvik’s
EH head-to-shank interface is based on
a self-centring screw-thread that keeps
the head tight against both the vital
axial support face and the tapered radial support.
CoroMill 316 is available in diameters of 10 to 20 mm. It features
both axial tool-length repeatability and radial runout that
is within a few hundredths of a
Sandvik Coromant is offering the
CoroMill 316 exchangeable-head
(EH) end mill, which features a
patented design based on a unique
interface between the carbide head
and tool shank. This is the first Coromant product to be introduced in the
new EH system format.
Various carbide heads can be attached to the tool shank, thereby providing enhanced operational versatility. The strong coupling can deliver
Sandvik Coromant Europe
ZAVENTEM, BELGIUM
www.etmm.info/2009/05/060
SOFTWARE & TECHNOLOGY FOR PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT & MANUFACTURING
20–21 October 2009, Ricoh Arena, Coventry, UK.
EXPERIENCEE
Over 150 Exhibitors
EDUCATEE
LIV
75 Speakers
LIV
Business Critical Technologies for
Product Development & Manufacturing
Register online today for your FREE ticket & Visitor Preview Pack
(free parking and access to both shows)
www.tctshow.com
sufficient stability for applications
ranging from full-slot roughing to
high-precision finishing.
For the concept of exchangeablehead end mills to work well, the coupling between head and shank has to
ORGANISED BY:
Rapid News Publications plc, 2 Chowley Court, Tattenhall, Cheshire. CH3 9GA, UK
t: +44 (0)1829 770037 e: [email protected] w: www.micro-show.com
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www.etmm.info/2009/05/061
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 41
Products & Services
Innovative Automated Feature Identification Facilitates
CAM Programming of Milling and Drilling Operations
Feature Based Machining
(FBM) in Mastercam® X3 is
an innovation CNC Software
Inc. introduced with the
third-generation release of its
flagship CAD/CAM software.
FBM automates the processes
involved in identifying features for programming the
milling and drilling of solid
components.
By analyzing the part for
specific types of features—
shapes, size and location of
holes, and so on—FBM can
automatically create the tool
paths needed to machine the selected
features and intelligently design an
effective machining strategy.
Mastercam X3 includes two types of
FBM tool paths: FBM Mill and FBM
Drill. Both use information derived
from the part’s features in combination with a stock definition in order to
detect all features for the type of FBM
tool path chosen, select the appropriate tools from a preferred-tools list or
from specified libraries, create and
assign the boundaries necessary to
drive or constrain tools, and automatically generate all of the tool paths
needed to machine the features. Feature selection criteria are defined by
the user, who can then review all the
machining features identified
and selectively modify or remove them before generating
tool paths.
FBM Mill analyzes a solid
part, detects all machining features in a specified plane, and
automatically generates all of
the 2D milling tool paths necessary to machine the selected
features completely. It can machine closed, open, nested, and
through pockets.
FBM Drill detects holes in a
solid according to specified criteria, reviews the detected-features list and edits or deletes features,
previews tool-path operations and
makes additional changes before their
final generation, and then automatically generates a complete series of drill
operations for the selected features.
CNC Software Inc.
TOLLAND, CT, USA
www.etmm.info/2009/05/062
Heat-Shrink Toolholding System for High-Speed
Machining Offers Good Accuracy, Repeatability
The EZ Heat Shrink toolholding
product range from YMT Technologies Ltd. offers engineering companies the
benefits of fast tool
changeovers, very high
runout accuracy, and
extended tool life. The
range consists of the
EZ3200 heat-shrink machine, the EZ99 cooling
station, and EZshrink
chucks. Shrink-fitting
cutting tools in toolholders is a simple, reliable, and economical choice for
high-speed
machining
(HSM) operations. In
milling, tapping, drilling, and
42 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
reaming, EZshrink toolholders can extend cutting-tool life by 50 to 400%.
Also, the toolholders’ slim profile aids in reaching difficult-tomachine areas common in aerospace and 5-axis applications.
The EZ3200 machine can
shrink and release carbideshank tools 3–20 mm in
diameter. The powerful
yet energy-efficient 4-kW
induction heating coils
with which it is fitted allow a tool change to be
completed within 30 seconds,
while, using water-based soluble
coolant, the EZ99 cooling station
can return the holder’s temperature from 600°C to the starting
point in another 30 seconds.
Available in various diameters, the
EZshrink chucks feature BT30, BT40,
HSK-A63, or DIN 69871 No. 40 tapers.
Runout is 2
μm at the nose
and just 3 μm at three times diameter.
The chucks have been tested to 5,000
cycles with no loss of gripping force,
runout accuracy, or repeatability.
YMT Technologies Ltd.
YEOVIL, SOMERSET, UK
www.etmm.info/2009/05/063
Indexable Insert for Turning Applications Features Two
Geometries in One Roughing Plate for Perfect Chip Breaking
The new NRF indexable insert with
various Tiger.tec® coatings from Walter AG is designed to optimize chip
breaking and tool-edge life in turning
applications. An indexable insert that
offers two different geometries in one
insert, the NRF provides the advantage
of reducing the number of geometries
needed in production.
The R and F in “NRF” stand for
roughing and finishing. Not only is the
insert suitable for heavy-duty roughing work; it can also be used perfectly
well for turning the finished contour
and for machining forged parts of very
unequal stock removal. Walter developed the tool primarily for roughing
work on forged parts.
A strengthened double groove at
the main cutting edge of the insert
doubles chip compression to ensure
soft swarf flow. This edge has been
reinforced for roughing jobs where the
chip depth is large and the feed rate
high. With a V-shaped chip-forming
element at the cutting radius, the
insert breaks chips perfectly even
when chip depth is small and stock
removal is fluctuating. Chip-breaking
problems are minimized even
when contours and forged parts
are being machined.
By giving the insert a curved
cutting edge, Walter has been
able to reduce the cutting force
considerably, with the swarf flow
being soft even when the chip
depth is great. Thus, the NRF can be
used with low-performance lathes.
This new insert is available in five
basic shapes. Tools fitted with the NRF
coated in any of several Tiger.tec materials can achieve outstanding performance values with both low- and highalloy steels.
Walter AG
TÜBINGEN, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/064
Quality Assurance Radio System Provides Wireless
Data Transmission from Measuring Instruments to a PC
The new U-Wave radio
transmission system for
transferring data from
small tool measuring instruments to a personal
computer is designed for
high operational reliability
and cost-efficiency. Within
the lifetime of a single battery, the system allows for
about 400,000 data transmissions at an operating
distance of 20 m maximum.
As many as 100 measuring
instruments may be connected to a single receiver,
and a total of 16 U-Wave
receivers may be linked to
the PC via a commercial
USB hub. The wireless data
transmission system is now
available from the measuring instrument manufacturer Mitutoyo Messgeräte GmbH.
The 2.4-GHz band that is used as
the U-Wave’s frequency range can be
set anywhere between 2.405 and 2.475
GHz by the operator to avoid radio
interference if it happens that multiple
receivers or other nearby components
are operated simultaneously. Visual
confirmation of the data transfer is
output via red and green LEDs on the
transmitter to enhance process reliability. The system can include additional
audible confirmation through a buzzer
signal. A transmitter offering visual
confirmation only is equipped with
IP67 protection against dirt and moisture ingress when used in rough working environments.
With the U-Wave radio transmission system, measurement data from
Mitutoyo instruments equipped with
digimatic data output can be imported
into standard programmes such as
Microsoft Excel or WordPad or to such
statistical software as Mitutoyo’s MeasurLink. A virtual COM driver is provided to load measured data into programmes supporting serial RS-232-C
communication.
Because the cable and transmitter
are separate components, one transmitter can be employed with multiple
measuring instruments quickly and
simply by means of exchanging the
connecting cable.
Mitutoyo Messgeräte GmbH
NEUSS, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/065
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 43
Plastpol 2009
Energy-Efficient, Cleanroom-Compatible Electric-Drive
Valve Gate Combines Precision, Power, and Adjustability
Ewikon Heißkanalsysteme GmbH &
Co. KG offers a hot runner system suitable for both standard and cleanroom
applications. The electric-drive valve
gate system with step-motor technology, available in three sizes, can be
combined with nozzles having flowchannel diameters of 3 to 12 mm. Installing the drive units in the mould
requires no complex installation geometry, just the machining of simple
cable ducts in the clamping plate for
the input leads. The largest of the systems consumes only 30 W of power.
The external operating unit with
specialized setup software manages as
many as eight valve pins, and allows
full control of valve pin movement.
Because the pin can be positioned precisely in steps of 0.01 mm, mechanical
adjustment of the valve pin length is
unnecessary. Also, process parameters
such as valve pin stroke length, valve
pin speed, and opening and closing
times can be varied to suit application
requirements.
Valve pin closing force remains constant regardless of stroke length. Gen-
erally higher than that generated by
electromagnetic drives, it can be increased by varying the valve pin speed.
An advantage of step-motor technology is that, the slower the movement,
the higher the force generated. Beginning the closing movement with high
speed and then decreasing speed just
before closing the gate almost doubles
the closing force, making this drive
suitable for processing materials such
as polycarbonate that require high
closing forces for proper gate sealing.
Uniquely, the Ewikon electric drive
can access multiple valve pin positions
within one moulding cycle, allowing
additional functions to be integrated
into the mould and broadening the
application range.
Ewikon Heißkanalsysteme GmbH & Co. KG
FRANKENBERG, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/066
Gating Insert’s Contourability Expands Mould Design Options
Extending its range of gating inserts,
Hasco Hasenclever GmbH + Co. KG
now offers greater design scope for
tunnel-type (submarine) gates with its
new Z10650-series contourable gating insert. Each insert is provided
with an added stock and is thus individually contourable, allowing it to be
directly adapted to the contours of the
mould. This introduces new possibilities for designing the moulded part.
No evidence of the gate can be seen on
the upper side of the part as a result of
gate quality improvement.
Produced by metal-injection moulding and made of highly wear-resistant
1.3343 hot-work steel, Z10650 inserts
are available in three sizes. The mould
maker can save considerable time by
using them, and can count on a clean
separation of the sprue.
Hasco Hasenclever GmbH + Co. KG
LÜDENSCHEID, GERMANY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/067
44 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
Hot Runner System
for Injection-Moulding
Large-Dimensioned Parts
Thermoplay S.p.A. has developed a hot runner system for
moulding large-dimensioned parts such as auto and truck
bumpers and spoilers, components for household and electrical appliances, and pallets for packaging applications. In
applications like these, it offers controlled sequential injection that optimizes both the aesthetic and the mechanical
characteristics of the moulded parts by regulating the
material flow so as to minimize visible welding lines.
The system is supplied prewired in a variety of configurations to
meet specific customer
demands, and it comes
equipped with
both conditioning and electrical circuits and
a pneumatic or
hydraulic system. This simplifies transport
of the system
and its installation in the mould.
Large-part applications usually demand a system with very long nozzles in
order to compensate for the effects of expansion of the hot runner. The new injection system
from Thermoplay removes this
requirement. Its nozzles and
shutoff group, which can be
mounted at a variety of inclinations, are assembled to the manifold. This approach makes sure
that perfect perpendicularity to
the injection plane is achieved.
An innovative system of joints
that distributes expansion tendencies within the manifold allows the
use of nozzles much shorter than the screwed nozzles normally employed in such applications.
Another important aspect of this Thermoplay solution is
its economic advantage. It reduces the necessary thickness
of the nozzle plate and improves capacity for the melt plastic moving from the hot runner to the mould cavity.
Thermoplay specializes in developing hot runner system
innovations. It carries out its manufacturing in a 5,500-m2
site in Italy staffed by a workforce of more than 150 people.
Thermoplay S.p.A.
PONT SAINT MARTIN (AO), ITALY
www.etmm.info/2009/05/068
www.etmm.info/2009/05/069
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 45
Quick Sourcing Grid:
Tool & Mould Components
COMPANY Advertisers are listed in bold type
ACB International, Helmond, Netherlands, +31 492 544433
ACIM Jouanin, Evreux, France, +33 232 623420
Acot Deutschland GmbH, Stockheim, Germany, +49 9261 964310
Agathon Ltd., Solothurn, Switzerland, +41 32 6174502
AHP Merkle GmbH, March, Germany, +49 7665 42080
Alphatech CAD/CAM Services Ltd., Newton Abbot, Devon, UK, +44 1626 835059
Ampco Metal S.A., Marly, Switzerland, +41 26 4399300
Amtek Precision Engineers Ltd., Totnes, Devon, UK, +44 1803 865665
Apfel Metallverarbeitung GmbH, Dossenheim, Germany, +49 6221 87610
AW Precision Ltd., Rugby, Warks, UK, +44 1788 542271
Berger Tools Ltd., Sevenoaks, Kent, UK, +44 1732 763377
Buchem Chemie + Technik GmbH, Wermelskirchen, Germany, +49 2196 72770
CENI S.r.l., Aglie (TO), Italy, +39 0124 330562
Circor Instrumentation Ltd., Harrow, Middx, UK, +44 20 84230113
Codipro S.A., Wiltz, Luxembourg, +352 2681541
Cumsa, Sant Just/Barcelona, Spain, +34 93 4732552
Dalton Electric Heating Co. Inc., Ipswich, MA, USA, +1 978 356-9844
Dekton Components (Leic) Ltd., Leicester, UK, +44 116 2518387
Deutsche Edelstahlwerke GmbH, Witten, Germany, +49 2302 290
Dimension, Eden Prairie, MN, USA, +1 952 906-2258
D-M-E Europe C.V.B.A., Mechelen, Belgium, +32 15 215021
DMS Diemould Service Co. Ltd., High Wycombe, Bucks, UK, +44 1494 523811
Drei-S-Werk, Schwabach, Germany, +49 9122 15050
E.N.S. International S.r.l., Villanuova sul Clisi (BS), Italy, +39 0365 373367
EAS Europe B.V., Renswoude, Netherlands, +31 318 477010
Eberhard GmbH & Co. KG, Nordheim, Germany, +49 7133 1000
Eldracher S.L., Badalona, Spain, +34 93 2842054
Exaflow GmbH & Co. KG, Gross-Umstadt, Germany, +49 6078 78910
Fast Heat Ltd., Eastbourne, E Sussex, UK, +44 1323 647375
FCPK Bytow Sp. z.o.o., Bytow, Poland, +48 59 8222026
Fine Cut Graphic Imaging Ltd., Lancing, W Sussex, UK, +44 1903 751666
Fitsco Industries Ltd., Bidford-on-Avon, Warks, UK, +44 1789 490090
Fluid Conditioning Systems Ltd., Warwick, UK, +44 1926 623170
Fostag Mould Engineering Inc., Stein am Rhein, Switzerland, +41 52 7422555
Gebrüder Recknagel Präzisionsstahl GmbH, Christes, Germany, +49 36844 4800
Global Components and Tooling Corp., Norwich, UK, +44 1603 757778
Hasco Hasenclever GmbH + Co. KG, Lüdenscheid, Germany, +49 2351 9570
HEB Hydraulik Elementebau GmbH, Freiburg, Germany, +49 761 130990
Hommer Tool & Mfg. Inc., Arlington Heights, IL, USA, +1 847 394-3355
Hon Hamn Group Corp., Taipei, Taiwan, +886 2 29956783
Hotset Heizpatronen und Zubehör GmbH, Lüdenscheid, Germany, +49 2351 43020
HP Systems S.A., Ennery, France, +33 1 34353838
HSB Lambert GmbH, Untereisesheim, Germany, +49 7132 4904
i-mold GmbH & Co. KG, Brensbach, Germany, +49 6161 80700
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www.etmm.info/2009/05/070
46 European Tool & Mould Making
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May 2009
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WEBSITE
www.acbtools.nl
www.acim-jouanin.fr
www.acotgroup.com
www.agathon.ch
www.ahp.de
www.alphatech-web.com
www.ampcometal.com
www.amtek-precision.com
www.apfel-gmbh.de
www.awprecision.com
www.berger-tools.co.uk
www.buchem.de
www.ceni.it
www.circor.co.uk
www.codipro.net
www.cumsa.com
www.daltonelectric.com
www.dekton.co.uk
www.dew-stahl.com
www.dimensionprinting.com
www.dme.net
www.dms-diemould.co.uk
www.drei-s-werk.com
www.ensint.com
www.easchangesystems.com
www.eberhard.de
www.eldrachersl.es
www.exaflow.de
www.fastheatuk.com
www.fcpk.pl
www.fcadvancedengineering.co.uk
www.fitscoindustries.com
www.fluidcs.com
www.fostag.com
www.stahlnetz.de
www.gctcledt.com
www.hasco.com
www.heb-zyl.de
www.hommer.com
www.honhamn.com.tw
www.hotset.de
www.hp-systems.fr
www.hsb-lambert.de
www.i-mold.com
European Tool & Mould Making 47
Quick Sourcing Grid:
Tool & Mould Components
COMPANY Advertisers are listed in bold type
Intercom S.r.l., Gorgonzola (MI), Italy, +39 02 95300202
Irumold S.L., Pamplona, Spain, +34 94 8286006
Kantemir, Auray, France, +33 297 566521
Kern Normalije, Izola, Slovenia, +386 5 6165000
Kiefer Werkzeugbau GmbH, Schwaigern, Germany, +49 7138 97320
Mastip Technology Ltd., Auckland, New Zealand, +64 9 9702100
Meusburger Georg GmbH & Co. KG, Wolfurt, Austria, +43 5574 67060
Millutensil S.r.l., Milan, Italy, +39 02 29404390
Misumi UK Ltd., Staines, Middx, UK, +44 1784 465530
Moliporex Moldes Portugueses S.A., Marinha Grande, Portugal, +351 244 573000
MTS Sensor Technologie GmbH & Co. KG, Lüdenscheid, Germany, +49 2351 95870
Nonnenmann GmbH, Winterbach, Germany, +49 7181 40870
Normatec S.r.l., Peschiera Borromeo (MI), Italy, +39 02 55302618
Nuova Ret S.r.l., Cinisello Balsamo (MI), Italy, +39 02 66049481
Oerlikon Balzers Coating AG, Balzers, Liechtenstein, +423 388 4785
Pedrotti Normalizzati Italia S.p.A., Gavardo (BS), Italy, +39 036 5330111
Progressive Components Europe Ltd., Middleton, Manchester, UK, +44 161 6534422
Promotech Werkzeugbau, Schalchen, Austria, +43 7742 4490
Quiri Hydromecanique, Duttlenheim, France, +33 388 048418
R&D Tool & Engineering Ltd., Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts, UK, +44 1623 556287
Rabourdin Groupe, Marne-la-Vallée, France, +33 1 64764101
Richard Barrett Moulds Ltd., Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, +353 1 2829842
RJG Inc., Traverse City, MI, USA, +1 231 947-3111
Roehr Tool Corp., Hudson, MA, USA, +1 978 562-4488
Roemheld (UK) Ltd., Northampton, UK, +44 1604 497665
Saglam Metal A.S., Istanbul, Turkey, +90 212 6712331
Sawi Mess- und Regeltechnik AG, Winterthur, Switzerland, +41 52 3205050
Schöttli AG Mould Technology, Diessenhofen, Switzerland, +41 52 6462222
Schumag AG, Aachen, Germany, +49 2408 120
Sideco S.p.A., Grumolo delle Abbadesse (VI), Italy, +39 0444 263838
Simotics Kft., Kaposvar, Hungary, +36 82 511447
Simtech Systems Inc. Oy, Säderkulla, Finland, +358 987 76005
Stäubli, Faverges, France, +33 450 656060
Steinel Normalien AG, Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, +49 7720 69280
Strack Norma GmbH & Co. KG, Lüdenscheid, Germany, +49 2351 87010
Sulzer Metaplas GmbH, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, +49 2204 2990
Syndal S.p.A., Trezzano sul Naviglio (MI), Italy, +39 02 4842051
Thermacore Europe Ltd., Ashington, Northd, UK, +44 1670 859500
Tribo Hartstoff GmbH, Immelborn, Germany, +49 3695 68110
UPM Unidade de Produção de Moldes Lda., Marinha Grande, Portugal, +351 244 575800
Vega S.r.l., Castellanza (VA), Italy, +39 0331 481077
Watlow GmbH, Kronau, Germany, +49 7253 94000
Wema GmbH, Lüdenscheid, Germany, +49 2351 93950
Wika Instruments Ltd., Oakville, ON, Canada, +1 905 337-1611
See
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48 European Tool & Mould Making
www.etmm.info/2009/05/071
■
May 2009
Gas
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29
WEBSITE
www.intercomonline.it
www.irumold.com
www.kantemir.com
www.kern.si
www.kiefer-mold.de
www.mastip.com
www.meusburger.com
www.millutensil.com
www.misumi-europe.com
www.moliporex.pt
www.mtssensor.de
www.nonnenmann-gmbh.de
www.normatecsrl.com
www.nuovaret.it
www.oerlikon.com
www.pedrotti.it
www.procomps.com
www.promotech.at
www.quiri.com
www.rdtool.co.uk
www.rabourdin.fr
www.rbm.ie
www.rjginc.com
www.roehrtool.com
www.roemheld.co.uk
www.saglammetal.com
www.sawi.ch
www.schoettli.com
www.schumag.de
www.sideco-spa.it
www.simotics.hu
www.easysimulation.com
www.staubli.com
www.steinelnormalien.de
www.strack.de
www.sulzermetco.com
www.syndal.it
www.thermacore-europe.com
www.tribo.de
www.upm.pt
www.vegacylinder.com
www.watlow.de
www.wema-net.com
www.wika.ca
Standard moulds
T 0043 / 5574 / 6706-0
F 0043 / 5574 / 6706-11
[email protected]
www.meusburger.com
May 2009
■
European Tool & Mould Making 49
Company Index
COMPANY
PAGE NO.
PAGE NO.
COMPANY
PAGE NO.
JetCAM International
16
Surfware Inc.
15
Alcan Aerospace, Transportation and Industry 9
Leader CNC Technologies Ltd.
17
TCT Live 2009
41
Alfred Jäger GmbH
38
LMT Deutschland GmbH
20, 37
Tekis Teknik Erozyon Kalip
Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S.
35
Brush Wellman GmbH
38
MachineTools.com Inc.
37
CGTech Ltd.
10
Mec-Spe 2009
16
3T RPD Ltd.
40
CNC Software Inc.
Cumsa
7, 42
26, 31, 46
Delcam plc
3, 13, 27
Deutsche Edelstahlwerke GmbH
11
Drei-S-Werk
25
Eberhard GmbH & Co. KG
52
EdgeCAM - A Planit Company
8
EMO Milano 2009
15
Euro PM2009
23
EuroMold 2009
14
European Tool & Mould Making
13, 19, 51
Ewikon Heißkanalsysteme GmbH & Co. KG
44
Faro Europe GmbH & Co. KG
32
Gauge and Tool Makers Association
19
Georg Kaufmann Formenbau AG
22
Haas Automation Europe N.V.
7, 36
Hasco Hasenclever GmbH + Co. KG
44
Heitec Heisskanaltechnik GmbH
14
Hexagon Metrology
10
Horst Witte Gerätebau Barskamp KG
33
Hotset Heizpatronen und Zubehör GmbH
12
50 European Tool & Mould Making
■
May 2009
COMPANY
Meusburger Georg
GmbH & Co. KG
2, 8, 28, 48
Thermoplay S.p.A.
17, 45
Türk + Hillinger GmbH
5
Vision Engineering Ltd.
40
MIE Solutions
32
Walter AG
43
Missler Software
35
YMT Technologies Ltd.
42
Zahoransky Formenbau GmbH
24
Mitsubishi Carbide
6
Mitutoyo Messgeräte GmbH
43
ModuleWorks GmbH
34
Mollart Machine Tools Ltd.
34
NPE 2009
39
Objet Geometries Ltd.
33
Planit Software Ltd.
12
Plastukraina 2009
45
PMS Systems Ltd.
29
Progressive Components Europe Ltd.
21
Renishaw plc
30
RUD Ketten Rieger & Dietz GmbH u. Co. KG
27
Saglam Metal A.S.
24
Sandvik Coromant Europe
41
Sodick Europe Ltd.
10
Strack Norma GmbH & Co. KG
27
Stratasys GmbH
36
Advertisers/advertisements shown in colour
www.etmm.info/2009/05/072
www.etmm.info/2009/05/073