CASE STUDY - A mold maker reduced their man-hours "by 33%" by introducing CAM-TOOL 3 Axis, furthermore "by another 20%" by doing 5 Axis!!
Company: Gifuseiki Mold & Engineering Co.,Ltd.
Location: Gifu, Japan
Website:?https://www.gifuseiki.co.jp/en/
Gifuseiki Mold & Engineering Co.,Ltd. established in 1957, which mainly designs and manufactures Injection Molds for automotive such as bumpers, instrument panels, and door trims, as well as Die-Casting Molds for head cylinders, transaxles, and V6 cylinders, has succeeded in significantly improving man-hours by introducing CAM-TOOL.
< Transition Period from Stage 1 to Stage 2 >
They had been trying to work on increasing the direct cutting area and reducing EDM processes, but with the previous CAM system, they felt there was a limit to improvement in cutting conditions and cutting methods, and so on.
1) One of the CAM-TOOL's unique functions "Variable Feed Rate" function, which can control Feed Rate depending on the Cutting Volume, had them optimize their rough cutting. That also lead to the achievement of cutting without a CNC machine operator because they got to be able to cut the workpiece with the most suitable Feed Rate in all areas with the "Variable Feed Rate" function.?
2) CAM-TOOL's toolpaths that have nearly uniform component points can create the uniform finishing stock that stabilizes the cutting load during finishing, resulting in good surface quality after milling, even with a longer cutter protrusion.
The rate of direct cutting increased dramatically from 10% to 50% after the introduction of CAM-TOOL 3 Axis. Furthermore, the lead time for mold manufacturing was shortened due to the reduction of electrode creation and EDM processes, which lead to significant cost reduction.
< Stage 2 >
They had been trying to reduce their man-hours further.
The features they focused on were "Tooling DB" and "Templates" in CAM-TOOL.?In general, many die-casting dies are deep, and the important point in direct cutting is the combination of cutter and holder.?The longer cutter protrusion, the more deflection there is, and the milling conditions have to be reviewed.?So, they saved various tooling combinations and milling conditions in the "Tooling DB" and "Templates" as cutting results and gradually increased their own database.
领英推荐
They reduced not only their CAM operation time but also their man-hours by 20% in the whole mold-making process in the end.
< Stage 3 >
The challenge was mainly to reduce man-hours for core shapes. Many engine-related parts have slides, and many of them are deep. After considering effective cutting methods to reduce lead time, they decided to try 5 Axis machining.
In 5 Axis machining, cutter posture control must be smooth otherwise the cutting result will be rough, but with CAM-TOOL, the finished result is equivalent to 3 Axis machining. The most important point to be aware of in simultaneous 5 Axis data is cutter tool interference, and in CAM-TOOL, if interference occurs during 5 Axis data creation, there is an option to change the tilt angle as a collision avoidance measure.
After the introduction of 5 Axis of CAM-TOOL, their man-hours were further reduced by 20% in the whole mold-making process.
< Changes in their man-hours >
< Comments from Gifuseiki Mold & Engineering >
"CGS has provided us with numerous quick support services, and we hope CGS will continue to improve CAM-TOOL further. Gifuseiki Mold & Engineering is expanding its mold manufacturing globally and must keep growing. To this end, we'll continue our efforts for improvement."