Schaublin Machine Tools has supplied a medical tool manufacturer with a Schaublin 48V CNC mill & Renishaw probe system to produce high-accuracy parts.

Schaublin engineers helped train Clada Medical’s Raphael Blowick, to use the equipment.

Blowick said: ‘I’ve always liked designing parts in Solidworks.

Blowick, not a production engineer, faced a steep learning curve when it came to machining.

they then took the decision to go further, purchasing GibbsCAM, to turn his 3D designs into machining programs, Renishaw’s Productivity and software, to automate the programming of probe routines, & Renishaw’s CNC reporter, an SPC package used to analyse & control the production technique.

‘The problem for me has been turning those designs into physical parts.’ Starting with the premise that for the medical parts they intends to make, accuracy & method consistency are more important than complexity, Blowick took advice & invested in a Schaublin 48V mill fitted with a Renishaw OMP 40 probe.

they said: ‘Frank Boston from Schaublin Machine Tools supplied the Schaublin 48V milling machine, together with the probe system from Renishaw.

‘He introduced me to Guy Brown from GSPS, to set up the purchased software packages configured for the Schaublin 48V.’ Brown installed Renishaw’s Productivity and plug-in for GibbsCAM to integrate the creation of probing cycles with the creation of metal cutting tool paths within the Virtual Gibbs package.

Simulation provides graphical identification of the work piece & shows any potential fixture collision with cutting tools.

A complete metal cutting method can be defined & simulated prior to machine prove-out.

The net result for Blowick is short & reliable prove-out times.

Productivity and seamlessly adds the probe moves into the simulation, so that the whole method is developed off-line.

‘The great thing about it is the way it updates the tool offset – I know I can get a precision part every time, with the system automatically controlling itself.

they said: ‘The probe measures the part as part of the production cycle, with the measured data recorded by CNC Reporter, providing feedback to fine-tune the method & keep it within control limits.

‘I know exactly what i have to do & the tools are all set up in the library, so I use it & do not want to mess around with it or change it.

‘Brown & Boston helped me make a calibration part, incorporating most of the features I would be likely to machine.

‘The probing moves are in there to control the method but also to verify the finished parts – if there is any variation that can be fed back to the CNC control.

‘I can also get a printout for the Q & A people or for my own records.’.