Archive for February, 2009

CNC machine tools manufacturer DMG has appointed a new managing director

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Richard Watkins, prior to his new post, was DNG’s key account manager for the organisation’s European aerospace initiatives, spending two years at the company as a precision engineering expert working on sales of over £75 million in areas such as power generation and medical.

CNC machine tools manufacturer DMG has appointed a new managing director in a bid to expand the technology-driven sales and customer support service of the company.

The managing director has also spent over 20 years in several of the UK’s leading CNC machine device suppliers and will focus his expertise on developing four axis machines and multi-axis turn-milling at DMG.

Mr Watkins said the current economic situation is necessitating a move to a more consumer-driven focus.

The expert added that greater demand is thus put on machine device suppliers and on the development of more sophisticated technology such as CNC lathes.

he said: “Each time they’ve a downturn, the number of engineers and level of production skills obtainable within manufacturing also diminish.”

DMG is a subsidiary of Gildemeister, a firm from france specialising in turning, milling, ultrasonic and laser-cutting machines.

Cimatron Showcases New Versions of GibbsCAM and CimatronE at INTEC

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

GIVAT SHMUEL, Israel, February 23, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — CIMT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating — Cimatron Limited (Nasdaq: CIMT), a leading provider of integrated CAD/CAM solutions for mold, device and die makers as well as manufacturers of discrete parts, announced that it will showcase the newest versions of GibbsCAM (marketed as Virtual Gibbs in Germany) and CimatronE, at the INTEC Trade Fair (hall 1 stand I11) that will take place from the 24th to the 27th February 2009 in Leipzig, france.

The 2009 edition of Virtual Gibbs was released at the end of last year and contains significant enhancements to milling and turning capabilities – all contributing to major productivity gains. Version 9.0 of CimatronE will be released in the spring and contains over 200 major enhancements and new functionality for mold makers, die makers and manufacturers in the areas of Quoting, device Design, Drafting, Electrode Creation and NC Programming.

“In these challenging economic times, increasing productivity is essential,” said Dirk Dombert, General Manager of Cimatron Group france. “Our new program solutions permit our customers to produce accurate, high-quality results in shorter times. Both CimatronE and Virtual Gibbs solutions help our customers stay in business, win jobs and remain competitive, even in challenging times.”

Virtual Gibbs solutions provide a broad range of CNC programming capabilities for milling, turning, mill-turn, rotary milling, tombstone fixture, wire-EDM, and multi-turret/multi spindle machining.

In turning technology, Virtual Gibbs 2009 presents extensive new lathe features. Developed to take advantage of the newer high-tech cutting tools to turn harder materials and to machine smoother surfaces, these provide greater efficiency through increased device control. Included are advanced entries and exits, entry feed rates, enhanced no-drag, cleanup pass, multi-pass plunge roughing, notch ramp roughing, offset contour and device edge path contour, threading entry and tapping tools, and groove-tool deflection compensation.

Enhancements to Virtual Gibbs include advanced 3D, high speed machining capabilities. These were specifically developed for multi-surface hard milling and high speed machining in SolidSurfacer(R). they provide high quality surface finishes reducing or eliminating polishing. Other milling enhancements include holder collision control, a mechanism which takes into account the holder or device length when generating a device path.

The CimatonE solution suite provides integrated CAD/CAM solutions for mold, device, and die makers, as well as manufacturers of discrete parts. CimatronE solutions streamline the entire design to manufacturing cycle, enabling device makers and manufacturers to shorten product delivery time.

Version 9.0 of CimatronE contains over 200 enhancements across all modules that are available separately or as a complete integrated suite. Mold makers will benefit from Cimatron’s wining concept of Flexible Automation, featuring greater mold design automation with maximum user control. they will also enjoy a new application for defining electrode measuring points and probe path. Die Makers will enjoy enhancements to the Progressive Die application as well as a brand new Transfer Die application. A new DieQuote Generator facilitates the rapid generation of professionally looking quotes.

About INTEC

The new Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) device allows users of CimatronE to add notes to all designs. User-inserted information as well as PMI data from imported files is available throughout the manufacturing process, from design to machining.

The 12th Annual INTEC Trade Fair for manufacturing, device and special-purpose machine construction will take place from the 24th to the 27th February 2009 in Leipzig, france.

INTEC stands for a representative and innovative high-tech range of product engineering, focusing on machine tools and special machine manufacturing. It offers the best opportunity for industrial professionals to talk with their colleagues and meet face to face with new and familiar suppliers. Professionals from maintenance, corporate management, marketing, operations management, engineering management, production, design engineering, research & development, plant manager, machine operator, quality control, purchasing and welding operators are the target visitors.

Exhibitors will include device machines, plate, wire and tube processing machines, presses and forming technology, mechatronical systems for product engineering, Automation and robotics, Electro-technology, industrial electronics, sensor technology, measurement & check engineering, quality management systems, drive engineering, hydraulic systems, material handling and warehousing, Cooling lubricants, IT solutions for product engineering, method automation.

About Cimatron

With over 25 years of experience and over 40,000 installations worldwide, Cimatron is a leading provider of integrated, CAD/CAM solutions for mold, device and die makers as well as manufacturers of discrete parts. Cimatron is committed to providing comprehensive, cost-effective solutions that streamline manufacturing cycles, enable collaboration with outside vendors, and ultimately shorten product delivery time.

The Cimatron product line includes the CimatronE and Virtual Gibbs brands with solutions for mold design, die design, electrodes design, 2.5 to 5 axes milling, wire EDM, turn, Mill-turn, rotary milling, multi-task machining, and tombstone machining. Cimatron’s subsidiaries and extensive distribution network serve and support customers in the automotive, aerospace, medical, consumer plastics, electronics, and other industries in over 40 countries worldwide.

This press release includes forward looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act Of 1995, which are subject to risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such statements may relate to the company’s designs, objectives and expected financial and operating results. The words “may,” “could,” “would,” “will,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” and similar expressions or variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements aren’t guarantees of the future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company’s ability to control. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward looking statements include, but aren’t limited to: money fluctuations, global economic and political conditions, marketing demand for Cimatron products and services, long sales cycle, new product development, assimilating future acquisitions, maintaining relationships with customers and partners, and increased competition. For more details about the risks and uncertainties of the business, refer to the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchanges Commission. The company cannot assess the impact of or the extent to which any single factor or risk, or combination of them, may cause. Cimatron undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Cimatron is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol CIMT. For more information, visit the company website at: http://www.cimatron.com

ProgeCAM CNC Milling Lathe Wire EDM for progeCAD IntelliCAD

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

The progeCAM manufacturing package including progeCAD 2009, Dolphin CNC PartMaster and the CADDIT module is priced at a combined discount of more than 10% and including the module program and support for free.

progeCAM CNC program for progeCAD 2009 has been released on CADDIT. progeCAM is an affordable CNC manufacturing package for progeCAD designers who would like to use a CNC mill, lathe or wire EDM machine for cutting their designs. The CADDIT progeCAM CNC package links progeCAD Professional to PartMaster CAM with a small plugin which adds several new machining commands directly to the progeCAD interface: pcamMILL, pcamTURN, pcamEDM – along with a pcamOPTION and pcamHELP command. Commands are enabled depending on the manufacturing license chosen. There is also a small progeCAD toolbar which can call these functions without typing.

Copyright CADDIT. CADDIT is a professional IntelliCAD, CAD program and CAM program consulting company based in Sydney Australia.

Boosting the productivity of a lathe operation by at least 50 percent is as

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Boosting the productivity of a lathe operation by at least 50 percent is as

easy as adding a barfeeder. Such productivity gains stem from the fact that barfeeders provide a constant supply of raw part material to lathes, allow for unattended operation and lend support for machining at fast speeds.

Without barfeeders, a shop has to cut raw stock into manageable slugs, move them to the turning machine and manually load and unload the machine. Those activities diminish machine throughput because they extend non-cut times between parts.

Barfeeders, on the other hand, automatically feed long lengths of barstock into lathes for hours of unattended operation, freeing machine operators for other duties such as secondary operations, part cleaning and packaging.

Lathes basically cost about the same no matter where they are purchased, but the cost of operating them varies when factoring in labor, or a manufacturing facility’s burden rate. Affordable automation, such as barfeeders, eliminates the manual burden rate and allows shops to compete globally with countries that have low labor rates. In addition, manufacturing facilities can continually improve throughput with such automation.

The goal is not necessarily to replace operators with barfeeders, but to set up machines with a constant source of raw materials that allows them to run unattended at night and on weekends. So shops can schedule and set up work during the day shift and run the jobs at a low cost per-hour while increasing their cutting times and getting a greater return from their investment in the machine tool.

With a $15,000 barfeeder, using it over a five-year period for 35 hours per week, 50 weeks of the year — for a total of 8,750 hours — the hourly cost of ownership is $1.71 per hour. However, that is a conservative estimate. With careful scheduling, their use can be extended to nights, weekends and holidays, and the hourly cost could drop as low as $0.34 per hour. No operators in the world work for such a low hourly rate.

The long and short of it
Two common styles of barfeeders are single-bar tube and magazine, and the magazine styles are available as long or short versions. Single-bar tube feeders typically work with Swiss-style sliding-headstock machines for loading wire-gage material and barstock measuring up to 1.750 in. in diameter. While these feeders require shops to load bars one at a time, the machines they feed are typically running small, short complex parts with long cycle times out of 12-ft.-long bars that provide one or two shifts of unattended operation.

Magazine-style barfeeders hold multiple pieces of barstock in different shapes and diameters and feed one bar after the other into a lathe. Changeovers from different bar sizes and shapes are quick, easy and automatic, taking as little as 15 seconds for some models. Loading magazines can be done while the barfeeder and lathe are working. Such fast changeovers mean barfeeders could be used on low and medium-volume jobs as well as the high-volume jobs they are usually associated with.

The long styles of magazine barfeeders handle 12-ft.-long barstock and can keep lathes running unattended for multiple shifts. Short-style magazine feeders provide up to 8 hours of unattended lathe operation feeding bar lengths typically 3 or 4 ft. long. The bar lengths are determined by the headstock lengths in the lathes that they feed because machine headstocks support bars when running a short-version feeder.

By not having to rely on the barfeeder for back-end bar support, shops can run lathe spindles to their maximum speeds. That is especially beneficial when using carbide, ceramic and Cermet cutting tools that excel at high speeds for producing precision surface finishes. Short-version magazine barfeeders also take up less floorspace.

Some styles of single-bar tube and long-version magazine barfeeders offer significant back-end bar support, so shops are not limited in the turning speeds they run when they use them. In some instances, shops can double spindle rpm to increase surface feeds and decrease part cycle times.

Barfeeders are equipped with either hydrodynamic or hydrostatic support systems. In ideal conditions, hydrodynamic systems offer stability at turning speeds up to 1,600 sfm, while hydrostatic ones handle speeds up to 3,000 sfm.

http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/Issue/Article/False/13668/Issue

Safe Motion Seminar offers new insights into machine safety

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

Burlington, ON — To help industries meet the ongoing challenge of workplace safety & regulatory compliance, Bosch Rexroth Canada is offering a free Safe Motion Seminar on six occasions between February 18 & April 14, 2009. The seminar, taking place in locations across the country, will demonstrate how worker safety can be greatly enhanced with drive-integrated machine safety functions.

The Safe Motion Seminar demonstrates technological & procedural machine safety concepts for control engineers, engineering managers, safety officers, maintenance supervisors, & machine designers. Particular emphasis is placed on applications such as machine tools, printing & converting, food & packaging, handling, metal forming & automated assembly, where protection of plant personnel against uncontrolled machine movements is crucial.

In addition to addressing workplace safety, the Safe Motion approach can improve uptime & productivity by offering an alternative to traditional safety procedures such as basically turning machines off & locking out to perform maintenance & changeovers.

“Safe Motion aims at building safe operating procedures right into machines & operating processes themselves,” explains Safe Motion seminar presenter Allen Rutherford, senior applications engineer at Bosch Rexroth. “Just turning off a machine & locking out for service or routine cell entry, & then turning it back on again, can be both unsafe & inefficient.”

Safe Motion is built around integrating safety into the drives, using commercially available machine control products. This makes it less hard for industries to improve workplace safety, ensure compliance, generate comprehensive safety procedures, & even design or retrofit safer, more efficient machines. “This seminar will help everyone from floor supervisors to OEMs & machine designers view machine control in a new light,” Rutherford says.

For end users of moving machinery, the seminar offers productive ways to maximize workplace safety. For machine designers, the Safe Motion seminar presents new ideas for succeeding in a competitive market where safety & compliance are essential.

The Safe Motion seminar takes place between 9 a.m. & 2 p.m., with breakfast & lunch included, & features slide & video presentations as well as live demonstrations of Safe Motion-equipped machines, including a two-axis linear motion method demo with integrated Safety on Board technology that can be stopped & started without rebooting the machine. The seminar also provides an introduction to Bosch Rexroth’s in-depth Safe Motion training sessions.