Archive for the ‘Mill’ Category

Producer of low volume reaction injection moulded parts and polyurethane castings uses five vertical machining centres to cut master pattern equipment from polyurethane tooling board

The Midas Pattern Company specialises in the production of low volume, high quality reaction injection moulded (RIM) parts and polyurethane castings (PuR). The company intends to dramatically shorten the time and cost for a designer to move from a CAD model to a fully functioning prototype/finished usable component.

The production material has to validate design and produce a saleable product.

Midas uses five Haas CNC vertical machining centres (VMC) – typically to cut the master pattern equipment from polyurethane tooling board.

Midas said that one of the main reasons for choosing Haas CNC machine tools was reliability and user-friendliness.

Based in Bedfordshire, UK, the Midas Pattern Company was established in 1989 as a precision foundry toolmaking company.

The company has developed into a substantial business integrating CADCAM and CNC toolmaking techniques with traditional pattern and mould making skills.

Managing director of Midas, Alan Rance, said: ‘We aim to dramatically shorten the time and cost for a designer to move from a CAD model to a fully functioning example of a new product – not just a prototype, but a finished part, made from production material that not only validates design but is truly saleable in the market place’.

Midas uses a novel composite tooling system, MRIM, which offers a production moulding technique that can produce quantities from 1 to 5000-off.

Midas said it is ideally suited for making large parts or components with multiple assemblies and complex features.

Rance said: ‘We make parts in the production intent polymers that enable our customers to produce low volume examples of new and prototype products without incurring the very high cost of metal tooling or the compromises in functionality and mechanical properties you expect with traditional RP techniques’.

Based on RIM and PuR, the company’s FASTrim service offers a competitive alternative to SLLS/Silicon and VAC casting.

FASTrim can provide finished parts in as little as 10-15 working days, using cast PuR and soft tooling CNC machined directly from 3D CAD data.

Typical customers include medical technology companies building low-volume, high value instrumentation – machines that can cost hundreds of thousands of Pounds each but are usually built in low numbers.

* About RIM – Rachel Collier, Midas’ technical sales manager, said that reaction injection moulding, utilising MRIM tooling is ideal for the instrumentation industry.

She said: ‘Customers may only want to produce between, say, 10 and 20 finished products a year.

For example, if a customer designs and builds a new mass spectrometry machine costing many thousands of Pounds, it wouldn’t make sense to lay down metal tooling suitable for thousands of parts when you only need a few’.

Many of today’s medical equipment manufacturing companies are relatively small – often founded by individuals departing larger organisations – and perhaps only aiming at niche markets.

As recently as 20 years ago, such companies probably wouldn’t have existed without the patronage of a corporate benefactor – a large, well-financed parent organisation, for example – or some other significant investor.

Developing a new product was hugely and prohibitively expensive.

These days, even small firms can use the services of companies like Midas Pattern to get their products to market at a fraction of the traditional cost and to compete head-on with the big, well-funded players.

‘We’re not a typical plastics company so we’re not obsessed with high-volumes,’ said Collier.

‘We’ve taken all of the techniques and the principles we’ve learnt in the very specialised foundry pattern-making sector and applied them to making high quality plastic parts in small numbers’.

The Midas process starts by building tooling models within CAD (Computer Aided Design).

From these CAD models complex CAM (Computer Aided Machining) software is used to generate cutter paths.

The code for these paths can then be downloaded to one of the company’s five Haas CNC VMCs.

The VMCs include a 12,000 rev/min spindle VF-4SS, a VF-6 with a 4th axis Haas rotary table.

There is a a large 2m x 1m VF9.

The machines typically cut master pattern equipment from polyurethane tooling board.

‘Once we have the master pattern equipment we then use it to produce a composite metallised resin injection mould tool – MRIM,’ said Collier.

‘That’s about as much as I can tell you.

The detail of the process is a closely guarded secret’.

She added that the skill – the ‘Midas touch’, one could say – is being able to make a good quality tool from the master pattern.

Each of the company’s CAD engineers is also a machine setter, programmer and operator, so when it came to choosing a CNC machine tool, said Haas to manufacturingtalk.com, top of the list of essential criteria were reliability and user-friendliness.

Thanks in part to the precision of the master pattern equipment, Midas MRIM Tooling is guaranteed to produce up to 5000 parts, which is usually far more than a customer needs but does allow them to be used for intermediate production volumes.

A typical mould is around a 1m3 in size, which in the world of mainstream injection moulding would be considered extremely large.

Collier made the point: ‘If you made a hard tool for a part of that size it would cost around 10 times more than one of our composite moulds.

We can also achieve the complexity but without having expensive mechanical movements’.

* Pattern making – pattern making is a labour intensive process, so Midas still relies on its own knowledge workers – skilled pattern and toolmakers – as well as its state-of-the-art machines.

To keep them all busy, the company supplements its core business with a range of other activities.

The Bedford factory, spread across two adjacent sites, is essentially a tool making facility, which produces foundry patterns, jigs and fixtures, rotational mould tools, inspection fixtures and exhibition models.

It also houses a number of Low Pressure RIM moulding machines producing low-runs of finished parts.

‘What all Midas products have in common,’ concluded Collier, ‘Is that they all start with CNC machining, which means that every time Midas delivers a tool or a finished part odds are it started life on a Haas CNC machine tool’.

* About Haas Automation – Haas said that CNC machine tool companies have led the ‘democratisation’ (or freeing up – Ed) of manufacturing production, perhaps none more so than Haas Automation itself, which claimed to be the original low-cost, high-specification machine tool builder.

Founded just twenty years ago in California, USA, but already with more than 85,000 of its products in operation around the world, Haas said it has certainly played an important part in getting affordable, reliable tools in the hands of the ‘industrious and the ingenious’, helping companies like Midas Pattern Company to ‘turn bright ideas into gold’.

Affordable CNCs and DROs will be demonstrated at MACH 2008 performing milling, machining centre and turning applications and show that price does not compromise performance

Anilam will be demonstrating the easy-to-use yet powerful functionality of its extensive range of CNC systems for milling, machining centre and turning applications (Series 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000) alongside its equally impressive Wizard 411 and Wizard 1000 digital read-outs (DRO). And it will show how price does not compromise performance.

The 2-/3-axis milling Anilam Series 3000M will sit side-by-side with the 3-/4-/5-axis 5000M Series and the multi-axis 6000 Series, as well as the 2-/3-axis 4200T turning system.

The aim, said Anilam, is to highlight their unbeatable cost-to-performance ratios.

Visitors to the stand will be able to learn that Anilam CNCs feature a minimum of 8 Mbytes of RAM (up to 64 Mbytes) and networking capability that boasts auto-sensing at 100Mbit/s for data transmission.

The result is that users can gain improvements of up to 50% in program verification, and performance improvements of 15% in the processing of 8,000-block programs featuring 0.003in step-over increments.

* probing functionality – probing functionality for all industry-standard probes is standard on the 6000 Series (optional on the 3000 and 5000 Series) and, as is usual with all Anilam control functions, probe cycles are easy to use through a graphical/conversational screen.

After a cycle is selected, the appropriate variables are input via simple question and answer routines.

Tool measurement cycles include the following.

* Tool probe calibration.

* Tool length and diameter offset preset.

* Manual tool length and diameter measurement (for special tools).

* Tool breakage, length and diameter wear detection.

Workpiece measurement cycles cover the following functions.

* Edge find – single surface measure/edge.

* Corner out/in – outside/inside part corner find.

* In/out boss – inside/outside hole or boss find.

* In/out web – inside/outside web or slot find.

* Probe move – protected positioning.

* Skew comp – skew error compensation or angle find.

The multi-axis 6000 Series CNC is increasingly gaining approval by original equipment manufacturers and importers of vertical machining centres.

The control combines Anilam’s conversational Machinist’s Language programming routines with G Code programming to create a CNC that has an unrivalled level of functionality and user-friendliness within a single system.

It is supplied as a complete OEM package with a range of nine axis motors rated from 3Nm to 20.5Nm and ten spindle motors covering the power range 4.5kW to 22kW.

These suit the high traverse speeds of up to 30m/min and the up to 10,000 rev/min spindle speeds common on such machines.

The CNC has a powerful 586 DX4 133 PC processor and 16Mbytes of RAM, plus a 12in TFT screen.

It has enhanced mould and die capability (scaling, mirror image, modal corner rounding/chamfering, for example), said Anilam to manufacturingtalk.com, as well as a host of canned cycles including mould rotation and draft angle.

It also features a cam programming mode for interactive programming using icons (moves shown as they are being programmed), menu-driven tooling, tool compensation and interference checking, as well as built-in post-processor.

Simulation graphic functions embrace rapid, feed and compensated moves (colour differentiated) isometric views, auto part fit, window zoom and static tool display, for instance.

Canned cycles include the following.

* Irregular pockets – a simple routine of prompts produces clearances of irregular shapes.

* Geometry – the geometry calculator, for determining points, lines and circles, automatically forms the program foundation.

* Bolt hole pattern and drill cycles are created by simple question and answer routines.

The 6000 Series CNC also features Anilam’s Integral Programmable Intelligence, so there is no need for a separate PLC unit and, compared to older CNC systems accompanied by a separate bank of drives, these are now housed in one compact module.

* Turning – for lathes, the 4200T turning control’s functionality includes create, delete/undelete, list, copy, rename and print, and the system also features constant surface speed as standard, to help guarantee consistent surface finish and extended tool life.

Also, the control can run in several operational modes – including teach mode achieved via single or dual handwheel operation with dual axis interpolation.

* Milling – the Anilam 3300 MK 3-axis milling CNC on show also features the Machinist’s Language coupled with a wide range of standard cycles such as peck drilling, bolt-hole patterns, pocket milling and face milling; advanced cycles including ellipse, spiral, helical, tapping, irregular pocket milling and profile milling, as well as special cycles that include counter boring.

* Borering machines – the stand at MACH 2008 will also highlight how the Anilam Commando CNC has for almost 30 years been synonymous with transforming the performance of manual borers, and in its latest guise harnesses the ease-of-use capabilities of Machinist’s Language in a Series 3000 CNC system.

In its new format driven by 8.1 Gbyte Intel hard drive, Commando complements its ability to automate machine positioning with the offer of on-screen editing and help graphics as well as DXF and G-code conversion to further save operator time and increase machine productivity.

* DROs – of the two Wizard DROs being shown, the 1-/2-/3-axis Anilam 411 (which complements the 4-axis Wizard 1000) is an ‘entry-level’ DRO.

It has powerful functionality, substantial technical service back-up and three-year warranty reassurances that belie its low-cost price tag making it incomparable with any other product available in the global low-cost DRO marketplace, said Anilam.

In addition to standard functionality embracing tool offsets, sub datums, linear patterns (row, frame, array), PCD calculations (full and partial) and vectoring, the ultra-reliable all diecast-constructed Wizard 411 sets itself apart from other systems courtesy of LCD screen (the only DRO available using this technology) plus sealed membrane keypad and powerful canned functions for incline, arc, rectangular frame and rectangular pocket routines.

Complemented by ENC 125 precision glass scales that boast a resolution of five microns and an accuracy rating of 10 micron/m, the Wizard 411’s ease of set-up and use is also signified by the fact that the system will be shopped with a two-page quick reference set-up guide rather than a handbook.

* Anilam at MACH 2008, NEC, Birmingham, UK, April 21- 25, Hall 5, Stand 5011.

Mill/turn centre has a lower turret equipped with a 60mm Y-axis traverse that increases capability for new processing applications and cutting tools

With a lower turret equipped with a 60 mm Y-axis, Yamazaki Mazak UK said that the versatility of its Integrex e-420H-ST II mill/turn centre is considerably expanded. It delivers increased capability for new processing applications and cutting tools. The ability to mount turning tools, tailstock, steady rest attachment or special fixtures on the lower turret opens up numerous machining possibilities for delivering maximum productivity from a single machine tool.

The Integrex e-420H-ST II has upper turret axis travels of 845mm and 420mm (X and Y) complemented by a lower turret with axis travels of 232mm and 60mm (X and Y) and upper and lower Z-axis movements of 2088mm and 1893mm respectively.

Yamazaki Mazak told manufacturingtalk.com that the machine can meet almost any kind of production requirements.

These large and multiple axis movements are combined with powerful main and second spindles (4000 rev/min, 30kW), both equipped with C-axis, which is capable of the smallest of incremental movements.

For rotary tool applications the upper B-axis spindle is a 12,000 rev/min, rated at 22kW, while the lower rotary tool spindle is a 6000 rev/min, 5.5kW unit.

* Reducing manufacturing costs – this combination of machining capacity and power makes the Integrex e-420H-ST II a complete fusion of machining centre and turning centre to provide a machining platform capable of reducing manufacturing costs through improved productivity.

The Mazak e-machines fully embrace the Information Technology age and bring the idea of the ‘intelligent machine tool’ to reality.

The Mazatrol Matrix control has been developed with a number of intelligent functions that assist the operation of the machine and allow communication between the machine tool, control and the manufacturing/production system in operation within a factory.

These functions also provide both management and operator with a wide range of relevant production information and feedback.

For example, the e-tower, which is integral with the e-machine, provides the operator with, for example, set-up support and access to operating and maintenance manuals and work schedules.

Management, in turn, can download programs, scheduling data and component drawings, while receiving real-time information relating to machine and job status.

** Yamazaki Mazak UK at MACH 2008, NEC, Birmingham, UK, April 21-25, Hall 5, Stand 5360. Request a free brochure from Yamazaki Mazak UK….

North Haven, CT – IBAG North America announces the addition of new 20 and 22mm diameter high speed milling & drilling spindles for Swiss turning applications. Utilizing synchronous, DC motor technology, the spindles operate up to 100,000 rpm with 260 Watts continuous power and high torque. Ideal for machining applications involving micro-milling and drilling tools, as well as engraving and fine milling, these new, more compact spindles feature high rigidity and ultra precision (less then 2 microns run-out) to dramatically enhance surface quality, machining accuracy, and reduce the need for secondary operations. Models are available in standard length,shorter length than competitor models to better suit compact tooling areas as well as 90 degree versions. In addition, for turning center users, IBAG offers a ready-to-install kit that includes the spindle and drive, all electrical and pneumatic lines, and optional spindle mounting blocks. The 20 and 22 mm spindles complement the existing line of 25 mm diameter spindles from IBAG, offering high-speed, precision milling and drilling capabilities for smaller Swiss turning equipment.

IBAG North America offers a full line of machine-tool high-speed spindles with complete repair and rebuilding services, as well as vacuum workholding systems to serve metalworking manufacturers and precision product and component applications.

SOURCE: IBAG North America

This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 11 February 2008 at 8.00am (UK)

The SpeedLine C-type 42mm and 65mm bar automatics, when launched in 2005, were the first in the world to replace conventional compound turret slides with two interconnected steel plates sliding directly over the machine bed.

The recent redesign of the range has seen these machines improved and two new models introduced with 30mm and 90mm bar capacities.

* Lathe build time reduced – at the same time, Index has reorganised C-type flow line assembly at its Esslingen factory, Germany, streamlining production and increasing throughput.

Whereas each machine used to spend one and a half days at each of 18 stations, this has been reduced to one day at each of 15 stations.

Said Richard Kingsbury, managing director of the sole UK agent, Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools, to manufacturingtalk.com: ‘The reorganisation has helped to keep machine cost down while maintaining top build quality’.

He added: ‘Further downward pressure on capital cost will result from economies of scale, as Index is planning to increase output of C-type machines by two-thirds in the second full year of production compared with the first’.

The defining characteristic of the lathes that provides such high RF and stiffness concerns the actuation of the turrets.

Each is mounted on a front plate while an interconnected rear retaining plate is driven kinematically from behind the machine bed.

The system is so novel and difficult to visualise without seeing the machine in action that Geo Kingsbury has made a video of the lathe that it will send on a memory stick to interested companies.

* Sliding plate system – the critical advantage of the sliding plate system, said Geo Kingsbury, is that the distance between the turret centreline and the point at which it is driven is much shorter than for a compound slide.

The turret and drive plates are fitted with ceramic-coated, hardened tool steel strips at top and bottom.

These slide over a third plate of surface-hardened cast iron fitted into the bed, the latter plate being effectively sandwiched between the other two.

The parallel kinematic drive to the rear plate is now effected by two (rather than the previous three) ballscrew-actuated rods at the back of the machine, one vertical and one horizontal.

Glass linear scales provide positional feedback.

* Three turrets – there has been another alteration to the C-type design whereby three separate turrets are provided instead of one single-sided and one double-sided turret.

This allows greater flexibility of machining, especially when three tools are in cut simultaneously, said Geo Kingsbury.

They work like as follows.

* Turret 1 moves in X,Y and Z above the spindle centreline and works at the main spindle.

* Turret 2 mounted below the spindles operates in X, Y and Z at either end.

* The motion of upper turret 3 is restricted to the X-axis and works only with the counter spindle, which moves in Z.

Up to 14 tools in each turret allows 42 VDI-20 tools to be used, although if a user wishes to continue working with VDI-25 toolholders, 10 stations are available per turret.

Repeatability of tool tip position is +/-8 micron, even with angled tools up to 100mm long.

Tool drive is up to 8,000 rev/min at all positions.

* Three machine frame sizes – there are two sizes of machine frame, designated C100 and C200.

The former is the host for the 30mm and 42mm bar capacity spindles.

The latter (to be shown at MACH 2008) is for the 65mm and 90mm spindles.

Distance between the main and counter spindles is 510mm and 710mm respectively.

All models are fast acting, with 1G acceleration in X and Z up to 60m/min for the smaller machines and 50m/min for the larger models.

Main spindle rating varies from 9,000 rev/min/20kW for the smallest machine to 3,500 rev/min/23kW for the largest.

C-axis resolution is 0.001 deg.

The patented spindles are manufactured in-house and are liquid-cooled.

The liquid passes continuously through a chiller unit and is used to keep the electrical cabinet cool also.

* Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools at MACH 2008, NEC, Birmingham, UK, April 21-25, Hall 5, Stand 5190.

Having acquired a large capacity VMC, and oil and gas industry components supplier can now cost-effectively machine 2.5m long workpieces in one set-up

Nexus Precision Engineering has acquired a large capacity Hartford Sumo vertical machining centre (VMC) from Ward CNC to cost-effectively machine 2.5m long workpieces in a single set-up. The 3m bed capacity VMC features an integrated fourth axis and right-angle machining head, as well as 60-tool auto toolchanger.

Project manager at Nexus’ Broxburn (Edinburgh) site, Paul Rafferty, said: ‘The whole concept of Nexus’ operation has been to identify niche requirements then source machines to satisfy them.

And the deal with Ward CNC of Sheffield was no different – we saw an opportunity and we invested appropriately in a machine that was fit for purpose’.

Nexus employs 40 to manufacture a wide range of components – including undertaking a certain amount of assembly – to satisfy a ‘blue chip’ customer base in the UK and Singapore.

Nexus supplies a variety of workpieces for oil and gas work, and in particular, downhole tooling to companies such as Baker Hughes ProductionQuest, FMC and Schlumberger with The Hartford Sumo was purchased primarily to satisfy the need for the one-hit machining of downhole gauge carriers for Baker Hughes ProductionQuest.

Required in batches of two-/12-off, currently on average 15/month are being supplied.

Made from 4140 or 420 stainless steel, these are received by Nexus as offset bored and honed ‘blanks’ in a variety of sizes from 100mm to 150mm diameter and from 1800 mm to 2.5m long.

Once the journals are turned (within the dedicated cell built around the Hartford machining centre and a lathe ) each carrier enters the Hartford Sumo for a series of milling and drilling routines.

Routines include component-length slot production, to tolerances of +/-0.05mm using bull nose cutters.

Nexus then completes premium (licensed) threading before pressure testing.

‘The key to the success of the Hartford Sumo, apart from its extra long bed capacity, is the integrated fourth axis and right-angle head,’ said Rafferty.

‘These features enable all prime machining operations to be performed in a single loading – there’s no second operations and therefore no inter-operation handling to extend lead times and overall costs.

The machine is the ideal solution’.

He continued: ‘When the opportunity came along to machine these parts, we obviously looked at other machines but quickly decided on the Ward CNC solution because of the capability it offered and the fact that it was a tremendous value-for-money package.

It was also supplied with Fanuc-based CNC, which offered a degree of uniformity across the shopfloor’.

* Open-fronted design VMC – of open-fronted design, the construction of the Sumo 3100 AG VMC is based around a cast iron frame with hardened and ground box slideways.

It has a table of 3100 by 1050mm able to accommodate 4,000kg workpieces, and X, Y and Z travels are 3050mm by 1016mm by 1070mm.

As standard, the 18.5/25kW spindle produces speeds of 50 to 6,000 (optionally 8,000) rev/min (pulley-style – 40 to 4,000/6,000 rev/min geared).

The BT 50 taper machine is supplied with a 20- (optional 32- or 40-) tool automatic toolchanger.

* Reduced programming times – running the Sumo ‘around the clock’ on a two-shift basis, product manager Mark McLellan said the Hartrol-Fanuc AI100/0iMC programming package is especially useful.

The Hartrol advanced functionality programming routines consist of a series of easy-to-use cycles designed to simplify and speed up programming times and therefore reduce downtime along with other useful setting and maintenance functions for ease of operator use.

These routines include, for example, the following.

* workpiece datum setting using edge setter.

* Manual tool setting using calibrated setting block.

* Tool magazine tracking (for arm-type ATC).

* Tool logging.

* Spindle load monitor.

* Full M Code listings.

* Comprehensive set of special canned cycles.

The Hartford Sumo is also allowing ISO 9001:2000 accredited Nexus to gain additional cycle time reductions by the use of new tooling, said Ward to manufacturingtalk.com.

The VMC also has the ability to run existing tooling at faster speeds.

McLellan said: ‘For example, we can now utilise carbide inserted FMR (fast metal removal) face mills of 50-63mm diameter at 3,000 rev/min spindle speeds compared to 1,000 revs/min, and at feed rates of 3000mm/min compared to 500mm/min.

This is making a massive contribution to shorter cycle times.’ Rafferty concluded: ‘Like all our investments, the new machine was justified on the basis of volume of orders, and the buoyancy of the market in terms of future projected loading.

We partner our customers in the true sense of the word – beginning with dedicated key project/account managers to offer a personal service with a single point of contact.

On this basis we are able to make calculated decisions regarding all machine installations, which have totalled around GBP 2 million during the past three years’.

With annual turnover forecast to reach GBP 6 million during the next four years, it is clear that since the company was established in 1997 Nexus continues to build a successful business in the oil and gas industry.

Ward CNc said that there’s also no doubt that investment in the appropriate machining technology is central to that success.

High-pressure, hydraulically balanced, coolant pumps for machine tools reduce maintenance costs because there are no packings, cups, or seals, said the manufacturer

High-pressure MP-B series coolant pumps use a Hydra-Cell diaphragm pump. This patented, hydraulically balanced design reduces maintenance costs because there are no packings, cups, or seals. This rugged, fixed or variable volume pump is built to handle the abrasive particles found in machine tool coolant that can wear out conventional centrifugal, screw, or piston pumps.

* Lathes and milling machines – In lathe and milling machine applications, this pump effectively removes chips from even deep and blind holes and reduces ‘cyclic cooling’ in milling applications, said Monster Swiss to manufacturingtalk.com.

Cyclic cooling occurs when steam is produced and creates a boundary layer, which interferes with coolant effectively reaching the tool/workpiece interface.

In grinding, the MP-B’s high-pressure (1,000 lb/in2) keeps the wheels free of swarf build-up and optimally cooled, again by breaking the boundary layer created by the wheels high speed, and giving the successful result of increased wheel life and metal removal rates.

* Positive displacement – the MP-B’s positive displacement design allows users to adjust the flow rate by changing the speed of the pump shaft.

This is a helpful feature when using tools with different coolant flow requirements.

The unit is portable on sturdy locking castors, so that operators can easily move it when necessary, even with the 50-gallon reservoir filled.

MP-B pumps have electrical components manufactured by Sprecher + Schuh, a Swiss company, and are certified to the highest standards including UL, CSA, and CE.

All of the machine components, including twin filters, are housed conveniently and neatly inside the cabinet assembly.

hyperMILL® receives ‘Certified Gold Product’ award from SolidWorks

Für den Inhalt der folgenden Meldung ist nicht die Verivox GmbH sondern der Autor Open Mind Technologies AG verantwortlich.

(pressebox) Wessling, 15.01.2008 – The new hyperMILL® V9.7 from OPEN MIND offers CAD integration with SolidWorks®. SolidWorks Corporation, developer of the popular Solidworks CAD product has certified the integration of OPEN MIND’s complete solution and has designated hyperMILL® as a ‘Certified Gold Product’. This is SolidWorks’ highest award based on outstanding integration, quality and interoperability.

To receive the ‘Certified Gold Product’ award, the partner product must go through a multilevel certification process. The requirements include full integration of the software user interface within SolidWorks® and associative database linking of the geometric data of SolidWorks®. In addition, SolidWorks® reference customers must be able to use the software product effectively. In-house product tests are also conducted at SolidWorks to determine whether its high requirements are fulfilled. OPEN MIND Technologies released hyperMILL® V9.7, including the SolidWorks® integration in October 2007. And now hyperMILL® has successfully completed and passed the certification process.

Integrated process chains for CAD users

"Our CAD-integrated CAM solution hyperMILL® has the advantage of allowing SolidWorks® users to implement integrated process chains on their existing user interface," explains Frank Eckstein, responsible for hyperMILL® in SolidWorks® in the Application Technology division at OPEN MIND. "In our software solution, the CAD and CAM systems both access the same database. A uniform data model is used for the entire process. This helps ensure transparency and accuracy in the production process and prevents errors."

Additional information is available upon request or from our website at www.openmind-tech.com.

OPEN MIND Technologies AG is a leading developer of CAD/CAM software and postprocessors for designing and manufacturing complex moulds and parts. OPEN MIND offers an extensive range of products, from 2D feature-oriented solutions for milling standard parts through to software for 5-axis simultaneous machining.

With their hyperMILL® software, which is used in the automotive, tool and mould manufacturing, mechanical engineering and aerospace industries, OPEN MIND Technologies AG is represented in all the important markets in Asia, Europe and North America.

OPEN MIND Technologies AG is a Men and Machine company (www.mum.de).