Highest technical solution for QDM specialist

A quick-delivery mould (QDM) specialist says the ‘Draft Analysis’ function in VISI software from Vero is an important time saver for its business, and has played a major contribution towards meeting customers’ increasing demands for rapid turnaround.

Based at Incheon in South Korea, Polyhitech uses VISI as its CAD system for designing a variety of plastic injection mould tools for medical, automotive and IT products, and says it has slashed surface editing time by up to half.
Polyhitech’s mould design manager Jisung Li says as well as fast delivery times, customers also demand high precision, and that is where VISI comes in.
“The main reason we invested in VISI was that our previous CAD system couldn’t fully deliver our customers’ needs for shorter delivery times,” he says. “When we received data from them, we used to edit the surface before starting the mould design process. However, we found it difficult to meet deadlines because we were spending a lot of time editing where surfaces were corrupt or missing, and working on complex geometry where a high graphic performance was required.”
Li says the Draft Analysis function in VISI is perhaps the most important tool for the company’s mould design and production process. “I often use Draft Analysis after finishing the design. It’s so easy to check if there are any undercut areas. Our previous CAD system didn’t fully support that function, so I had to enlarge each part and check them one by one. Now, using VISI, I can quickly find any undercut areas through the colour display by draft angle, and it’s possible to split the parting line according to that.”
For further information www.visicadcam.com

Maintaining control choice for XYZ heavy-duty VMCs

XYZ Machine Tools’ philosophy of offering ‘what the customer needs’ has led to its Heavy-Duty (HD) range of vertical machining centres being made available with the Heidenhain TNC 620 control.

“We offered Heidenhain as a control option many years ago, but found it a slow seller due in part to the additional cost and complexity of the system,” says Nigel Atherton, managing director at XYZ Machine Tools. “However, with recent changes to the Heidenhain control, such as the addition of touch-screen technology, along with a more modern and compact user interface, we see opportunities that fully justify adding it to our HD series of machines. Our independence as a machine tool supplier means that we are free to adapt our machine range to suit changes in customer demand, such as giving them a choice of control.”
The Heidenhain control option will initially be available on the XYZ 660HD, XYZ 800HD and XYZ 1100HD vertical machining centres. XYZ’s move will allow the company to access business from which it was previously excluded (where Heidenhain controls are popular), such as mould and die and aerospace, as well as in the education market.
“We recognise that control choice is important to customers, and that they tend to be loyal to a particular CNC due to their expertise and familiarity with it,” says Atherton. “Extending our use of Heidenhain controls to the HD series – we already offer Heidenhain on our flagship UMC-5X machine – was a logical step. It was encouraging that before the first machines arrived at our factory we had already received orders for machines with Heidenhain controls fitted, which fully justified our decision to pre-order 50 machines for stock.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Westwood joins Mollart

Anthony Westwood, 42, has been appointed technical sales engineer for Mollart Engineering covering England and Wales as the Chessington-based company further expands its subcontract and tooling operations.

In his new role he will also provide customer support to the deep-hole drilling and honing machine sales operations in the area.
For further information www.mollart.com

The benefits of magnesium

Birmingham City University’s annual Magnesium Symposium returns for its second year after a positive response from industry in 2017.

Magnesium Symposyum

Academics, engineers and industry leaders will be heading to Birmingham for a conference that will get participants thinking about magnesium differently. At 1.8 g/cm³, magnesium is the lightest of all structural materials, the eighth most abundant chemical element in the Earth’s crust and is 100% recyclable. On 23 October, Birmingham City University will showcase magnesium as an alternative material, especially for the automotive and aerospace industries in terms of light weighting, fuel efficiency and the circular economy.
For further information https://is.gd/nukusi

Pemamek to partner HGG

Pemamek Ltd, a global welding and production automation provider, and HGG Profiling Equipment BV, a specialist in developing and supplying 3D pipe and profile-cutting machines, have made a joint announcement to extend their strategic partnership to shipyard solutions.

With the partnership extension, both companies are now able to supply integrated cutting and welding technologies, including profile processing lines, pipe-cutting lines and T-beam manufacturing lines for ship part fabrication.
Both Pemamek and HGG will continue to operate as independent entities.
For further information www.pemamek.com