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Laser scanners expand Toolmaker's service and profits
RAM Tool – a manufacturer of aluminum die casting tools, injection molds and prototype tooling – devotes part of its business to emergency work and turns repair jobs around quickly. Two new CMMs equipped with Metris LC50 laser scanners efficiently generate digital 3D copies of specimens with metrology level accuracy, providing detailed geometric feedback regarding the entire specimen surface. Using Metris laser scanning technology, RAM Tool succeeds in finishing rush jobs multiple times faster than before.
RAM Tool is a 100 employee and 60,000 square feet tool and die shop situated in Grafton, Wisconsin, USA. Because rapid turnarounds are the bread and butter of the business, Roy Kannenberg, the company’s Founder and President, has significantly invested in high technology to shave hours – and sometimes even days – from each step of the process. Besides CAD/CAM systems in the engineering department, dozens of CNC machine tools fill a shop that expanded twice over the last decade to fit them all. Among his most recent acquisitions are two Metris LC50 laser scanners, one for each of his two coordinate measuring machines (CMMs).
The Metris scanner heads and the supporting Focus software suite have become an important part of the services mix RAM has been able to offer. “Laser scanning brings in more work,” explains Kannenberg. The technology allows RAM to expand the number of services it offers customers, and in the process, become more competitive. Laser scanning played a central role in helping customer find and repair specific problems. RAM engineers compare the scanned data to the CAD model to investigate specific problems. After acquiring approval to execute their recommended solution, craftsmen on the shop floor execute repairs and ship a better tool back to the customer.
Scanning expedites rush jobs by eliminating most of the programming that would otherwise be necessary. When collecting data by touch probe measurement, the programmer would have to develop the CMM program
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The Metris LC50 laser scanner collects thousands of points at a time as the CMM moves the scanner in a smooth, continuous path over the workpiece
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point by point. “Probe inspection locations and transportation paths are difficult to define, especially for jobs without a CAD model,” says Tim Nichols, CMM programmer. “Altogether, it would take two to three days to program and collect the points with a touch trigger probe.” Then he would need another day or so to generate the surfaces that the CAD department needs to begin its work.
A laser scanner eliminates most programming and measurement time because it collects thousands of points at a time as the CMM moves the scanner in a smooth, continuous path over the workpiece. The CMM stops only to change direction. “We can scan a whole cavity in a matter of two to three hours,” says Nichols. “In another 10 hours or so, we have surfaces for the CAD department.” Moreover, the quality of those surfaces is much better because they contain orders of magnitude more data. Scanning saves additional time by streamlining the report generation process. Nichols estimates that generating inspection reports would add a day on top of the two or three days that it would take to program the CMM and run the measurements. “In the past, reporting bogged everything down,” he says. “And now, reporting represents just a small fraction of the entire project.”
On a job that previously took 30 hours with a touch trigger probe, Nichols reports that laser scanning takes only eight hours. The Metris scanner helps him cut job execution time with approximately 70%, while the software organizes measurement results into an intuitive and easy-to-read color map that puts each measurement into the context of the entire surface.
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Metris laser scanning allowed RAM to expand its services to include contract inspection of first production articles
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The solution provide another value-added service. Metris’ Focus Reverse Engineering software module offers RAM staff the ability to generate CAD models quickly for tools that do not already have one. “This really accelerates our operations because we often work on prototypes that do not yet exist in CAD,” explains Mike Kannenberg, Roy’s son and Vice President of Manufacturing Operations.
Scanning additionally enables RAM to generate accurate CAD files for tools that were either made too long ago to have a CAD file or tweaked without having recorded modifications in the original file. Mike Kannenberg estimates that laser scanning eliminates over 60% of the time required to generate an up-to-date file. Besides being a highly efficient tool for helping customers troubleshoot their problems, Metris scanner hardware and software timely provide the shop with the detailed geometric feedback it needs to control its operations and ensure quality. For example, toolmakers now regularly request to scan a freshly hardened cavity if they suspect that heat treatment may cause twisting or bending. “We now follow the strategy to scan the semi-finished product, compare it to the CAD model, and ensure that we have sufficient material in areas where specific problems may arise,” says Mike Kannenberg.
In other cases, scanning is a necessity, rather than an option. A scanner, for example, checks all of the electrodes before releasing them to electrical discharge machines. The scanner additionally inspects each of the components that go into the finished tools. “ Not a single die component goes out of the shop without being inspected,” says Roy Kannenberg.
| Besides streamlining the manufacture of new tools and the repair of old ones, laser scanning allowed RAM to expand its services to include contract inspection. Various manufacturers send RAM final production units for first article inspection and capability studies. They even send their molds and dies periodically to check for wear. “Sometimes, we can perform this kind of service within a single shift,” says Mike Kannenberg. “Within 10 hours, customers receive the data that they requested.” Overall, laser scanning boosted revenues by increasing the number of services RAM is able to offer. “We now combine the machining tools, inspection capability and toolmaking skills that are necessary to develop and service tools in record time. This attracts a lot of new business, and enables RAM to realize its ambitious expansion plans,” says Mike Kannenberg. |
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Download: Laser scanners expand Toolmaker´s service at RAM Tool (PDF file)
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