September 2007 Edition

CAD/CAM

If at First You Don't Succeed . . . Get Better Software

"Try, try, try again" wasn't working for PSC Machining. Reprogramming parts was causing problems. It needed a way to download part programming to break a bottleneck.

Consistency in second, third, and fourth runs of parts caused a bottleneck at PSC Machining and Engineering, Inc., Portage, IN.

"We had employees who thought they could reprogram simple parts a lot faster than downloading them," Bill Stockwell, general manager, said. It turns out they couldn't without creating errors. The company found it needed a system for simple and easy storage and retrieval of CNC programs along with the capability of doing off-line programming. The goal was to get parts running without requiring a programmer on site.

Every time the company re-ran a job, it would have to be programmed, escalating costs.

"Fifteen hours of reprogramming at $50 an hour was $750 a week," Randy Schuster, shop superintendent, said, "and that was a conservative estimate."

PSC sought a solution that would work on its Mazatrol platforms. Stockwell found it at SolutionWare Corp., San Jose, CA.

"SolutionWare had unlimited licensing. Instead of buying a license for each machine in the shop, we could use the same software on all of our machines," Stockwell said.

SolutionWare provides users with the ability to program their machines with a CAD/CAM system that outputs not only traditional G-code, but also a fully interactive Mazatrol programming system. The software met PSC requirements for off-line programming — in both Mazatrol and G-code — while the machine worked.

PSC purchased Geopath and MazaCAM from SolutionWare. SolutionWare worked with PSC to retrofit the software to PSC's older Mazak T1 control.

"By sending from our shop to SolutionWare, they were able to get us the code to program the machines we had," Schuster said.

PSC's investment in Geopath and MazaCAM paid for itself in profits and productivity.

"Within a year we noticed a significant reduction in costs associated with programming," Schuster said. The software also allowed the company to expand the types of controls it used.

"Before the CAD/CAM system, it took up to six hours to get a job running," Stockwell said. "Now, with the ability to download proven programs, we've cut the time to about 90 minutes."

The Pleasure of the Unexpected

There were unexpected benefits as well.

"It opened a new window," Schuster said. "With experience we found another avenue of machining that would let us do a lot more, such as 3- and 4-axis G-code work. It helped us get into that field and then expand."

The bottleneck that existed with part inconsistency because operators thought reprogramming was faster than downloading is gone.

"We're probably saving from one to five hours on repeat setup time. That probably increased our profitability 15 to 20 percent per job. This makes us more competitive, especially when a customer asks for a cost reduction," Stockwell said.

"That increased our profitability probably 15 to 20 percent per job."

PSC has 22 employees on the floor and three in management. It has a 20,000 ft² plant with another 1,500 ft² of office space.

"We do parts for power plants, industrial manufacturers such as those that make overhead cranes, mobile equipment, farm equipment, or railroad equipment. We even made some harnesses for a supplier to Disneyworld," Stockwell said. It also does work for the nuclear power industry and the state highway department.

The addition of SolutionWare software let PSC add other machines. Today it has 14: most are Mazaks: an Integrex 100 and 400, a 655-80 with twin pallets, a SV 20, a VTC 300C, a Slant 50, and a QT 350, along with a Haas VF 8 and a Hyundai Kia HBN 135 boring mill.

"When we buy new equipment we don't have to buy a new software license to go along with it," Stockwell said.

Commonality

One system for all of the CNCs lets PSC create one program, then output to any CNC as needed by that day's workload.

Schuster said the software's user friendliness comes in handy. He can take an existing Mazatrol program, and, with a couple of mouse clicks, convert it into straight G-code for the Kia or Haas machines.

"Any program that we ran before, we can convert from Mazatrol to G-code," Schuster said.

PSC now has flexibility for its machines and can run them using the same program.

"We feel confident making parts that we didn't make before," Schuster said. "It's expanded our market."

Off-line programming was a must-have when PSC canvassed software companies. It wanted faster and easier programming.

"SolutionWare stays current with the latest controls," Schuster said. "Their post-processors are available so we can use the latest technology with their systems. It doesn't stick with just one type of controller," Schuster said.

"Another nice feature that helps us is that we can use the software to take customer drawings — AutoCAD, DXF, or IGES files — and put them into Geopath and create tool paths. It saves us having to redraw them and taking the chance on having an error," Schuster said.

New Horizons

"We've had jobs we wouldn't even have tackled without Geopath and MazaCAM. One job was a bore about 14" long and tapered from 3" to 2-1/2". We cut it using a helical pattern with a single-point tool," Schuster said. "It was drawn and programmed with Geopath. The job had 34 pages of code. We couldn't have written that by hand and would not have been able to do job. Geopath spit it out in 35 seconds."

PSC found the software accurate and reliable.

"We had one job that involved multiple parts and multiple part numbers," Schuster said. "The customer sent us the drawing; we picked the tool paths and downloaded them to the machine. The employees never had a dimensional sketch from which to work. In the end, only one hole out of 2,000 was off. It was off because the customer's drawing was wrong, not because of the software."

The people at PSC find Geopath and MazaCAM software easy to use. A PSC apprentice, running the boring mill, used Geopath to program a rock crusher component. The part was 6" thick with a 36" diameter. He cut it at 150 ipm with a 0.06" depth of cut. This required more than 100 linear moves for each pocket. Programming by hand would have wasted time. Geopath took about a minute to write the program. SolutionWare Corp.

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