Edgecam is helping a “toys for boys” manufacturer offer an important new service for model-making companies and private enthusiasts. And all within a few months of installing the software.

Matlock-based 17d Miniatures produces a range of scaled working models of locomotives, carriages and wagons, for three miniature railway gauge systems: 5”, 7¼” and 10¼”. The company’s locomotives for the 5” gauge are a scale of one-twelfth, at around 6 ft long, growing to approximately 12 ft for the 10¼” gauge. All trains are “sit-on”, with enthusiasts actually able to get inside some of the bigger ones.
“A large number of hobbyists have spent 20 or 30 years making working steam engines in their sheds, and are now finding that time is against them as they’re getting older,” explains partner Tristan Dengate. “As a result, they’re now looking for as many components as possible to be machined for them – and Edgecam has given us the opportunity to say: yes, we can machine that for you at a sensible cost.
“The ability to move away from castings is changing how we work,” he continues. “Due to the speed of Edgecam, products can be machined from a solid block, which is far quicker even though there’s more material to remove. With the Waveform Roughing Strategy we’ve been able to triple feed rates and have the cutter going in considerably deeper than we could with traditional roughing.”
And now, after switching to Edgecam in early 2017, 17d is looking to apply these techniques to manufacturing components for model cars, boats, lorries and aircraft. This will be a natural progression for the business, as it already offers a subcontract machining service for other companies.
For further information www.edgecam.com

As part of the Industry 4.0 area at last month’s EMO exhibition in Hanover, Heidenhain presented its ‘Connected Machining’ system of production in which all work steps are networked – from the design to the deliverable component – via the company’s TNC control. The system can access all order-related information in a company network, enabling efficient exchange of data. Partner companies in the areas of CADCAM, machine tools, tool measurement and tool management collaborated in the demonstration.

In the scenario presented, calibrated tools were present in the machine magazine – the operator having scanned a code on each tool holder upon loading – so the TNC 640 knew which cutters were available. Using the control’s Remote Desktop Manager software, the CAM system could be accessed directly, while for its part, the CAM software interrogated the tool database during program creation.
Using Batch Process Manager, the operator scheduled the execution of the production job on the machine. NC programs and the position of the clamped workpiece on the pallet were linked with respect to the order and sorted into a list according to priority (several production orders can be scheduled simultaneously). The control supported this by comparing the tools required to run the program with the cutters actually available in the machine, reporting any that were missing.
Newly introduced StateMonitor software supported the operator, capturing data from connected machines, presenting a real-time view of machine status and sending messages to computers and mobile devices. Finally, automatic workpiece measurement on the machine delivered important data for quality assurance.
For further information www.heidenhain.com

At last month’s EMO exhibition in Hanover, Germany, DP Technology unveiled its Additive Suite of solutions for the simplification of additive manufacturing processes from 3D CAD model to printed part. The Esprit Additive Suite offers programming, optimisation and simulation for direct metal deposition, 3D powder bed and subtractive manufacturing.

Features for direct metal deposition tools include: special trajectories for additive processes and full-spectrum toolpaths for subtractive processes; simulation and verification for both additive and subtractive processes; and universal post processing for any CNC machine tool.
The Esprit Additive app for 3D powder-bed fusion systems is a printer driver that supports the full process of additive manufacturing, from orienting the part and creating supports, through optimising the build, slicing and nesting, to generating a job file. Features include a new ‘Part-to-Build’ workflow whereby a 3D CAD file is combined with manufacturing information and converted into a job file containing all the information necessary to build a part on a specific machine.
Part-to-Build workflow is essentially a portable, reusable print driver that allows an intermediary Part-to-Build file to be created and reused in other job files without redefining the manufacturing information. This creates traceability, saves time and improves consistency, says DP.
An additive process control app allows information sharing among multiple users. The app stores information including original 3D CAD files, Part-to-Build files and job files, as well as post-build information such as user comments, build results and machine log files.
For further information www.espritcam.com