Blending Modern & Traditional Skills

Thursday, 23 August 2012

With decades of experience in traditional pattern making, increasingly they found their customers were demanding CNC machined moulds from supplied models rather than hand-made from drawings.  We were able to step in and provide a solution by producing split moulds and cores from the models using Solidworks.  Below, we document the first four stages of the process.

Supplied Model

One Half of Split Mould

Split Mould and Core

Finished Product

Next we imported the various components into Delcam’s world leading CAM software Powermill to produce the code for our CNC . When it comes to dealing with complex surface CNC machining there are almost no other CAM packages that can come close to the level of versatility that Powermill offers.

 Roughing Pass Simulation

Finishing Simulation

Once imported into Powermill we used the model as a reference to create the required toolpath. Due to the powerful machining strategies available we did not need to be concerned by complex geometry.

Final Mould

Knowing that Redox offers a complete range of services including CAD, CAM, 3D modelling, 3D laser scanning, CNC machining, programming, 2D to 3D file conversion and more, which is always at their fingertips, has given our client real peace of mind. They now have all the confidence they need to take on a much wider variety of work.

It is, of course, not always easy to predict exactly what your customers will demand in the future which is why access to such an additional resource of services which can be turned on and off whenever needed is vital. If you’re looking to grow your business without making costly investments in new hardware, CNC equipment, CAD/CAM software, extra personnel, or additional training we can help - why not contact us today?