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You are here: Home / Topics / Controls and Software / Speeding Up Moldmaking Processes

Speeding Up Moldmaking Processes

April 27, 2016

With more reshoring of moldmaking, manufacturers turn to faster processes to boost

moldmaking productivity
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Moldmaking is making a comeback, with more reshoring to North America of mold-and-die manufacturing
that left for the Far East and other low-cost manufacturing centers. With faster metalcutting through
high-speed machining (HSM) and improved EDM techniques, mold-and-die shops are �nding innovative ways
to compete with manufacturing operations in traditionally low-cost labor markets.

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high-speed
milling of molds
on fast �ve-axis machines running between 42,000–60,000-rpm spindle speeds, today’s moldmakers can
achieve very high tolerances, enabling machinists to achieve nearly mirror-like �nishes on molds and dies,
noted Gisbert Ledvon, director of business development, GF Machining Solutions (Lincolnshire, IL), a builder
of both high-speed milling machine tools and EDM machinery.

Fast Milling Speeds Moldmaking

“More and more moldmakers are now utilizing �ve-axis high-speed milling for their mold work. They’re
�nishing a lot of parts even in the hardened stage without using EDM, or they try to avoid EDM where they
can because it’s a longer process where you have to make electrodes,” Ledvon said.

Today’s HSM capabilities have made moving to �ve-axis machining more attractive to many moldmakers, he
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“That really allows them to get, in some cases, almost polished �nishes off these high-speed milling
machines,” Ledvon said. GF Machining’s high-speed machines offer the company’s True Core spindle
technology that helps operators maintain these accuracies. “There’s our new Smart Machine modules, where
you have multiple sensors on the machine to compensate for any type of vibration or heat expansion, so you
can hold these types of tolerances,” he added.

At G.H. Tool & Mold (Washington, MO), aluminum die-cast molds are cut to high tolerances using GF
Machining Solutions’ Mikron high-speed milling machines. A design-to-order manufacturing company, G.H.
Tool & Mold uses its Mikron HSM 800 milling machines for producing die-cast mold and replacement parts.
Part machining cycle times vary anywhere from 30 minutes to eight hours, and tolerances typically run
between ±0.0005 and 0.002″ (0.0127–0.0508 mm). Service parts for molds usually take �ve weeks to �nish,
while a complete mold is done in as little as 10 weeks.

The shop does practically all of its really critical machining on the Mikrons, according to Danny Straatmann,
G.H. Tool & Mold programming manager. “They are the shop’s ‘fast movers,’” he said, for lighter smaller
components and for both soft and hard machining—typically around Rc 46–48. The machines’ speed, along
with accuracy and rigidity, result in far better surface �nishes, and hard machining capabilities allow the shop
to mill parts to �nished size from hardened materials, thus reducing the amount of die-sinking electrical
discharge machining time required.

Automation Pushes Moldmaking

Much of the reshoring of mold work has happened just in the last year or two, noted Ledvon, and a good
portion of it has gone to Mexico, due to the US shortage of skilled moldmakers for the automotive industry.
“It’s still a different type of moldmaking. The ones that survived the crisis are making 60, 100 and 200-cavity
molds, and they have highly sophisticated, high-end moldmaking,” Ledvon added. “That’s the way they can
compete. The US moldmaker has to differentiate themselves from the others, speci�cally the Asians, and the
way to bring it back is to automate.”

Automating moldmaking is key to improving mold machining

processes, agreed Clinton Perry, product marketing manager,
Delcam plc (Birmingham, UK). “Traditionally, industrial robots
have been used to perform a limited range of repetitive tasks,
mainly in handling materials and components. While this is
now well established on large-scale production lines, we’re
now at a point where robots are capable of so much more,”
Perry said. “In particular, we can connect robots to a broad
range of sensors, which capture information about the parts AA ccoommpplleexx mmuullttiiccaavviittyy m
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control system, and used to make decisions and adjustments
to the robot’s operation, driving greater e�ciencies during the process.”

A great example of where robotics can revolutionize manufacturing processes is by replacing laborious,
time-intensive tasks that require a manual worker’s eye for detail, such as polishing and �nishing, he added.
“Human beings are naturally good at the kind of feedback loop necessary for getting a smooth surface, but
we lack absolute accuracy and repeatability. Developments in software like PowerMill mean that robots can
be programmed to carry out many of these tasks,” Perry said.

Recent improvements in robot accuracies have made it possible for robotics to automate many new
processes. “Through its involvement with projects such as COMET [a European consortium working on a
plug-and-produce platform, COmponents and METhods, for adaptive control of industrial robots], Delcam has
demonstrated levels of accuracy, meaning robots now represent a serious opportunity within the industry. By
combining robots with optical scanning technology, it is possible to detect blemishes and surface defects as
small as 0.001″ [0.025 mm], and accurately determine how much polishing the surface needs and where it is
required,” Perry said. “Thanks to the computing power and automated systems now available, the program
changes can be done on the �y, based on the feedback data being collected by the robot. This approach has
massive potential for improving the productivity of the robot and the quality and consistency of the parts
being produced.”

Enhancements to PowerMill 2016 include the ability to automatically mirror complete projects in one
operation while maintaining key machining characteristics, he added. PowerMill’s toolpath veri�cation checks
have been extended to work with complete NC programs. “This powerful feature checks for collisions and
near-misses as well as highlighting movements that could cause the machine to over-travel in one or more
 ADVANCEDMANUFACTURING.ORG - THE LEADER IN #MFG NEWS AND TECHNOLOGY

What Moldmakers Need

It’s important to start with what moldmakers are looking for,
noted Hari Sridharan, director of Application Engineering &
Training (Americas)—Software Business Unit, for Cimatron
Group (Novi, MI, and Givat Shmuel, Israel). “Demand is picking PPoow weerrM Miillll’’ss aauuttoommaattiicc m miirrrroorriinngg sshhoowwnn
up, but resources are still tight, somoldmakers are looking for wwiitthh tthhiiss aauuttoom moottiivvee m moolldd ssaavveess uusseerrss
different ways to increase productivity,” Sridharan said. “We are ccoonnssiiddeerraabbllee ttiim mee w whheenneevveerr rriigghhtt-- aanndd
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seeing a trend towards hardware and software that is built
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speci�cally for moldmaking to address these speci�c oobbjjeeccttss..
needs—CNC machines designed for moldmaking, cutting tools
that are speci�c for moldmaking, and of course software.”

From a software perspective, the big themes are automation, integration, and concurrency, he said.
“Automation is critical. In the past, mold machining was considered an art,” Sridharan said. “Today it’s
becoming more of a production process. Many of those working the machines today are not toolmakers by
trade, which means that they need better guidance from the software. For example, allowing the designer to
add machining attributes and color code the different surfaces so when the �le gets to the �oor the entire
machining process becomes automated.”

Closer collaboration between design and NC is just the beginning, he said. “What we are seeing today is
cohesive integration of the entire production process, with automated setup, in-process measurement and
inspection for greater end-to-end productivity. Concurrency enables moldmakers to work simultaneously on
multiple components of the job. Software companies are developing multicore, multithread and background
calculations capabilities that allow programmers to run multiple jobs at the same time to expedite delivery.”

Fast, accurate moldmaking CAD/CAM software is key for

users that need top design and manufacturing capabilities.
With the latest TopSolid 7 software, moldmakers get a system
that speeds up moldmaking design and is equally adept at the
CAM side, noted Bill Genc, technical director, TopSolid USA
(Addison, IL), a subsidiary of Missler Software Inc. (Evry,
France).

With TopSolid 7.9 Mold, moldmakers get a package that was

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fully rewritten in 2009 for native 64-bit multicore processors.
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The software, which Missler originally developed in the late
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1970s as a machine tool manufacturer, offers speed
advantages for moldmakers working with very large mold �les,
he added. “What we’ve learned is that to have good quality CAM, you have to have good quality CAD,” Genc
said.

A 300-component mold assembly can open in Top Solid in two seconds, he noted, while in other software it
may take several minutes. “In our point of view, we are a manufacturing-centric software. To us,
manufacturing is both design and machining,” Genc said. “TopSolid Mold software is a full manufacturing
package and it’s designed to let engineers design molds ridiculously fast.”

Automation in moldmaking often means focusing not just on �ve-axis machining, but on the 2D machining
that makes up the bulk of operations, it’s as much as 60%, he noted. “A lot of our competitors have focused
on the crazy �ve-axis stuff. Everybody forgets about 2D,” Genc said. Automated features in TopSolid let the
programmer pick a method they want, and the software analyzes the features, like feature recognition, he
said, only it’s much more interactive. “The system performs better than standard feature recognition,” he said.
“Mold-and-die features get complicated really fast.”

With 3D machining, one of the challenges is to get a tool ready to heat-treat as fast as possible. Moldmakers
are removing a lot of material, and with TopSolid’s methods tool that enables saving frequently used
machining method macros. “If you’re machining a core block out of H13, the user can program it once, and
then the software stores that knowledge and you can use it again. It’s a macro on steroids, with full
chocolatey goodness,” Genc said. “You can add interaction to it, you can add custom dialog boxes to
it—everything is drag and drop.”

The software auto-adapts itself, he added. “We’re literally taking out what’s hard to use in a CAM software out
of the software.”
 ADVANCEDMANUFACTURING.ORG - THE LEADER IN #MFG NEWS AND TECHNOLOGY

of Mastercam software. “It’s a technique that has roots going back decades to radial chip thinning, but
today’s computing power and algorithms have created an explosion in powerful new techniques. We’ve seen
amazing success with our optimized Dynamic Motion technology, and we continue to apply it to more shop
scenarios with every release,” Mund said.

There’s also a renewed focus on prep tools for moldmakers—CAD functions aimed squarely at assisting the
programmer, Mund added. “Tools that help prep models, tools that help correctly �ll in design gaps that might
be left in a model, tools that create additional models that programmers might need like �xtures, electrodes,
and molds—all of these are what we might call ‘CAD for CAM,’” he said. “Combined with powerful, general
creation tools and tight CAD/CAM integration, these tools can be a huge timesaver for shops.”

Reshoring moldmaking has made some inroads, Mund added. “While it’s anecdotal, we’ve been seeing
reshoring of moldmaking picking up for a few years. We’ve seen price increases in some areas like China
drive a portion of work back to the states, as well as quality concerns coming out of other areas,” Mund said.
“We’ve also seen mold work coming in from other areas that are temporarily seeing the demand outstrip
supply on moldmakers, such as Mexico.”

CNC Software has expanded its Mastercam Dynamic Motion toolpaths with re�ned strategies for better
control in speci�c cuts, he added. “Dynamic toolpaths are also extending into other areas such as turning
[Mastercam Lathe] and will continue to expand in the future. On a related note, our new radial chip thinning
feature lets you program to a tool’s specs, delivering e�cient speeds and feeds while maintaining your
targeted chip thickness.”

CAM requirements for toolmaking typically involve complex forms where machining is not necessarily about
cycle time, noted Marc Freebrey, group marketing director, Vero Software (Cheltenham, UK). “It is how to
achieve the highest possible surface quality and reduce EDM and manual �nishing time,” said Freebrey.

The fundamental requirements for CAM are numerous, but the most important include automatic feature
recognition of complex hole and pocket features from the CAD model. “Extraction of diameters and depths
from the model makes it easy to enter drilling parameters and eliminate the possibility of manual input
errors,” he said. “Intelligent toolpaths can be created for the most complex parts with toolpaths tailored
towards high-speed machining and designed to minimize the number of retracts, maintain a constant tool
load, minimize any sudden directional change and automatically smooth the CNC code.”

Multiaxis machining has become increasingly common and many complex molds contain deep cavity areas
and small radii that need to be machined with small-diameter tools, Freebrey said.

Another big area of focus for CAM software is the �nishing side, according to Shawn Schwartz, sales and
service director, Americas, for Vero Software’s WorkNC CAM software brand. “Finishing is such a big deal.
We’re adding a new �nishing feature in the WorkNC 2016 update due out at the end of May. A major thing is
the use of high-feed tooling. High-feed tooling is really the design of the tool itself, and high-speed roughing is
really different.”

The high-feed tooling uses a different radius on the tip of the

tool, he said, and for moldmaking it can be used to create very
precise �nishes that are Class A, which eliminate the need for
much of the benching, or hand polishing, required on various
parts or molds. “This �nishing allows us to get there 10–15%
faster,” Schwartz said. “That’s the largest portion of the
machining in the moldmaking area.”

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have fewer, but more complicated inserts that are wire-cut,
Freebrey added. “Wire EDM is extremely accurate, suitable for unmanned or overnight machining, and
enables the machine to cut internal corners with very small corner radii based on the wire diameter and spark
gap. It becomes easy to cut square apertures without the need to split the mold or produce accurate pin
holes in a plate after heat treatment.”

Many moldmaking operations involve machining smaller reinforced ribs that have features too small to
effectively mill, noted Brian P�uger, EDM product line manager, Makino Inc. (Mason, OH), and necessitate
taking an EDM approach. Last year, Makino added improvements to its Hyper Technologies suite for EDM
systems, which introduced a new Hyper-i control offering that signi�cantly boosts user-friendliness and
 ADVANCEDMANUFACTURING.ORG - THE LEADER IN #MFG NEWS AND TECHNOLOGY
toward the Hyper i,” he added. “Think of it as a giant iPad. It’s a very streamlined interface that breaks down
barriers, like a smartphone or Windows technology, with a tiled user interface.”

Training is a snap with this technology, he added. “It really is easy, and probably only takes a day or two to
train new operators,” P�uger said. Pickup cycles or a tooling probe, for instance, are all pre-programmed so a
novice can easily learn to use the system, which includes hyper-linked information and training tools
embedded in the machine control. “When they hit cycle start, they can have con�dence it’s going to do what
they need to do.”

Other improvements are the sinker EDM’s faster processing with a new generator, the engine of the machine,
that helps boost jump speed by roughly 10 times, P�uger said. “It creates a hydraulic effect and �ushes the
debris from the cut zone,” he said. “We’re actually jumping up to 20 m and at 1.5G acceleration. It’s the 0–60
time that’s critical for EDM.”

This article was �rst published in the May 2016 edition of Manufacturing Engineering magazine. Read
“Speeding Up Moldmaking Processes” as a PDF.

Filed Under: Controls and Software, Machine Tools

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