Delcam to Preview PowerMILL Rib-Machining Module at Euromold

delcamlogoBIRMINGHAM, UK, Nov 17, 2014 – Delcam will preview a new rib-machining module for its PowerMILL CAM system on stand H57 in Hall 8 at the Euromold exhibition to be held in Frankfurt, Germany, from November 25 to 28. The new module, which will be available as part of the PowerMILL 2015 R2 release scheduled for January 2015, will speed up and simplify the machining into tooling of cavities to form ribs.

111714_PM rib machining

A new module for rib machining in Delcam’s PowerMILL will be previewed at Euromold

Reinforcing ribs are required in many types of plastic moldings, from electrical housings to containers to furniture. They are typically much deeper than they are wide, which poses special challenges when machining the cavities needed to form them. In many cases, these challenges prompt companies to use EDM to form the features rather than machining.

The new PowerMILL module makes it much easier and safer to program the machining of cavities for narrow ribs, even when the cutter’s length is much greater than its diameter. Using a dedicated rib-machining strategy gives a better surface finish than using a standard finish machining option and also improves efficiency by limiting the number of air moves.

The first stage of the process is to create a pattern for a single rib, by sketching a line along its length. PowerMILL uses this line to identify automatically all the surfaces needed to form the rib. The machining sequence is then calculated. Usually, the machining will either be undertaken by cutting progressively deeper along the centreline of the cavity using a form tool matching the rib profile or by profiling along either side of the rib with a standard tool.

In many cases, most, if not all, of the ribs in a part will have similar depth and width profiles. Thus, once the user is happy with the sequence developed for the first rib, the same machining strategies with the same tooling can be applied across the complete network of ribs so minimizing programming times.

About Delcam

Delcam is one of the world’s leading suppliers of CAM software and associated services, and also supplies systems for product design, tooling design, reverse engineering and inspection. The company has grown steadily since being founded formally in 1977, after initial development work at Cambridge University led by the late Donald Welbourn. It is now among the largest developers of product design and manufacturing software in the UK, with subsidiaries in America, Europe and Asia. Over 330 people are employed at Delcam’s Birmingham headquarters, with almost 400 staff working in the company’s overseas subsidiaries and around 200 more in its international joint ventures.

Delcam’s software and services help manufacturing companies to increase productivity, improve quality and reduce lead times. The company’s software is used in over 90 countries by more than 45,000 organizations. These customers range from multi-national corporations to independent designers, toolmakers and sub-contractors, and come from a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, automotive, electrical appliances, footwear, healthcare, motor sport, packaging, toys, sports equipment, jewellery and signmaking. On February 6, 2014, Delcam was acquired by Autodesk and now operates as a wholly-owned, independently-operated subsidiary.

For further information, please visit www.delcam.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *