FEATURE ON CNC & CAM

IML cracks the code with HyperMill software

From one-off components to high-volume production, IML UK Ltd is a subcontract machining company that specialises in giving its customers exactly what they want, when they want it. With more than 25 CNC machine tools running 24/7, 365 days a year, the Weymouth-based company has invested in the latest five-axis machine tools, pallet automation technology and HyperMill CADCAM software from Open Mind Technologies.

IML director David Zollo says: “The work on the machining side of our business is predominantly aluminium, with our turning department being mainly stainless steel. We entered the CADCAM system market back in the early days and we’ve had our original system for probably around 25 years. However, things have evolved and jobs are getting more complex. The software systems have changed too.”

The company recently introduced HyperMill to run alongside its original system and is witnessing a number of notable differences.

“HyperMill is better on our complex parts, but we’re also applying it to simple components,” says Zollo.“For parts where there are endless lines of code, it’s all about the re-generation. Previously, regenerating a complex component that is millions of lines long would take forever, but with HyperMill it regenerates just the bit we need. This saves us a lot of time.”

He adds: “As a company that has two software systems, we know what we’re talking about. We can give an honest opinion of where we are with the two systems. We’re now leaning increasingly towards HyperMill when it comes to our complex parts.”

More information www.openmind-tech.com

Lantek software proves indispensable at A13

Worcester-based A13 Engineering moved from plasma cutting to laser cutting in October 2023 with the installation of a Bodor 12kW laser profiling machine and Lantek Expert CADCAM nesting software.

Harry Hodgetts, managing director at A13 Engineering, says: “We found that high-definition plasma wasn’t suitable for about 10% of our production, driving us to invest in a laser cutter that would give higher accuracy and automatic part etching for easy component identification.”

He continues: “We were already aware of Lantek and chose it without hesitation because it met all our needs. Laser cutting allows us to handle a variety of materials and, with Lantek Expertsoftware, we can seamlessly import customer CAD files. The majority of our work is cutting mild steel between 2 and 30mm thick, and stainless steel between 1 and 10mm. The machine has a shuttle table so we can unload parts while cutting the next sheet. With Lantek’s nesting we can tag parts in the sheet and nest parts in larger holes [which would otherwise be scrap], add the odd part in a spare area, and have the flexibility to use up material remnants.”

The subcontract side of the business requires A13 Engineering to generate a large volume of quotations. Using spreadsheets previously took over 20 minutes for each quotation. In contrast, the company can generate quotes in just 5 minutes with Lantek iQuoting. The software holds material prices and allocations of material, and simulatesnesting and machining times.

“In our fast-paced industry, Lantek Expert and iQuoting have become indispensable to our business,” concludes Hodgetts.

More information www.lantek.com

Vericut provides boost for major machining company

EMGE AŞ, a major machining company in Türkiye with more than 40 CNC machines on site, is now benefiting from the introduction of Vericut verification, simulation and optimisation software. This astute investment is helping the company to drive higher levels of efficiency and reliability in its extensive machining operations, which see the manufacture of around 1.5 million parts per annum from materials that include aluminium, steel, titanium and composites.

“After introducing 5S, Kaizen and lean production strategies, we decided to invest in Vericut as a means of reducing set-up times in our production processes,” explains Emre Uluhan, a mechanical engineer with responsibility for EMGE’s NC Programming Department. “This decision enables us to detect potential machining errors beforehand, simulate multiple operations in a single file, and execute them swiftly and reliably. Additionally, we can create specific simulation templates for new machines added to our inventory.”

Before Vericut, the process of simulating and verifying operations at EMGE was vastly different.

“We previously had to create separate simulation files for each operation, which led to inefficiencies due to the time required,” he says. “In contrast, using Vericut means we need just a single session to simulate programs of parts produced using multiple set-ups. Vericut operates so quickly and reliably that we observed an increase in our production efficiency from the very first moment of using it.”

EMGE reports a reduction in processing times for first article inspection (FAI) parts of 50% thanks to the confidence provided by Vericut simulations.

“I would recommend Vericut to any manufacturer that wants to prioritise machine efficiency, reduce part processing costs and avoid material wastage due to high material costs,” concludes Uluhan.

More information www.vericut.com

CAMIO 2024 promotes safety and productivity

British CMM manufacturer LK Metrology has released the latest version of its measurement, programming, simulation, analysis and reporting software. CAMIO 2024 features upgraded performance in several key areas to enhance safety, increase productivity in the quality control department and shorten the leadtime from component production to completion of inspection.

‘Clearance box’ is a new path planning aid that simplifies and speeds programming by automatically adding clearance moves to prevent the sensor, whether a tactile probe or laser scanner, colliding with the workpiece when moving between measured features or during head repositioning. Working alongside this feature is ‘auto sensor selection’, which raises the efficiency of an inspection program by minimising the total number of probe positions required to measure a part without the programmer having to work out the optimum sequence.

To enhance the user experience, displayed CAD features automatically become semi-transparent, allowing easy access to the drag-and-drop tools when configuring the measurement strategy. A further improvement is a new design of manual measurement window incorporating large counter displays to make each contact more noticeable when manually measuring features. This is particularly advantageous when operating CAMIO remotely or at a distance from the PC screen, such as when inspecting large workpieces.

Finally, a new stand-alone utility enables users to copy settings from one CMM running CAMIO 2024 to another. This capability is useful to users with multiple CMM installations, whether in the same location or spread across different sites, where settings require duplication to harmonise quality processes. Copying CAMIO settings also creates a valuable back-up for data security.

More information www.lkmetrology.com

Access to Sinumerik 840D via Data FEED OPC

Softing Industrial Automation is releasing the latest version (V5.35) of its dataFEED OPC
Suite, which offers comprehensive support for machine tools controlled by Sinumerik 840D
CNC systems as well as the integration of web services.

The dataFEED OPC Suite combines software solutions for OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA)
and OPC Classic communication, alongside IoT cloud connection in a single product. With
the new Sinumerik 840D support in the dataFEED OPC Suite V5.35, users can read axis, tool
and program data as well as alarms from the NC section. Furthermore, it is possible to read
status, program sections and alarms from the PLC section. Users can also read the drive
data. Data is recorded without affecting the machine configuration.


The suite enables the provision of production data via the MQTT or REST protocols and their
transfer to IoT cloud or big data applications on platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon
AWS and Siemens MindSphere. The data is subsequently available for various applications
such as condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and evaluation.
Another new feature of version 5.35 is the web services functionality, which enables direct
access to production data via web client applications such as Web Browser, Postman or
Client for URL (cURL) and its integration into IT solutions.


“The new support for Sinumerik 840D CNC systems and the web services feature add two
important features to our dataFEED OPC Suite,” explains Andreas Röck, product manager at
Softing Industrial Automation. “We see great potential to make the suite accessible to a
wider range of users, especially concerning the support of Sinumerik 840D. With this
development, we’ve reached another milestone in fulfilling our claim of providing an all-in-
one solution for secure and robust OPC communication and IoT cloud integration.”
For more information www.bit.ly/451HzBc