In the current manufacturing climate we live in today we have become dependent on the use of CAD systems. This poses a problem when changes to legacy tooling become necessary and CAD data does not exist. The influx of foreign competition has also forced many tool making vendors to cease operations. In either circumstance, obtaining information for a pre-built tool is almost impossible. JP Pattern was asked to modify an existing tool made by a competitor. The tool was made without the assistance of a CAD system so no data was available.
Our customer's need was to remove material from the band between the
2nd
and 3rd rows of bosses. The amount of stock to be removed was to vary
from 0.0" to 0.030" top to bottom on entire circumference of the band.
|
Using our portable CMM JP Pattern digitized the affected area, brought the digitized data in our CAD system and developed the necessary CAD model for CNC machining. Once CAD modeled, the data was then brought back into the CMM software to verify the new model against the actual tool geometry prior to machining.
|
 |
 |
Special
tooling was constructed for the machining of the tool cavity to due the
depth and nature of the geometry. CNC machining of the area band was
then used to make the desired change to the cavity geometry. Click here to
view a short video of the actual machining.