On the fast track to special tools

Time and quality advantages are the result. A prize was awarded at EMO 2013 for this commitment: The KOMET GROUP achieved second place thanks to outstanding performance in the category CAD/CAM at the first "Machining Expert" competition held by the machine tool manufacturer DMG Mori Seiki and the Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools at the Leibniz University of Hanover.

The KOMET GROUP, Besigheim, is one of the leading single-source suppliers of precision tools. Managing Director Dr. Christof B?nsch describes his company as follows: "Our core competencies lie in the solution-oriented development, manufacture and sale and distribution of metal cutting tools and forward-looking services. The KOMET GROUP is constantly striving to provide the best delivery service and binding adherence to delivery dates."

Short delivery deadlines are also crucial for the important area of KOMET^?  special tools which are usually developed and produced in a quantity of just one. In order to precisely implement the customer's requirements in a suitable tool with as little effort as possible, the KOMET GROUP has continuously expanded the CAx process chain and adapted it to fit particular needs. Thus, a separate CAD/CAM engineering team permanently looks after the automation of the CAx process chain with the aim of efficiently creating special tools. Oliver Gl?ckle, Team Leader in the area of CAD/CAM research and development, reports: "Integrated CAD/CAM processes have top priority with us. The Siemens NX CAD/CAM system, with its influence stretching from production development to machining, is therefore at the heart of our work."

In 1996, the KOMET GROUP had already introduced the Siemens NX CAD/CAM system, which is updated continuously by the employees and customised to fit requirements using self-developed tools. The CAD/CAM team looks after CAD modules as well as the fully automatic generation of relevant CAM processes. Post processors are also developed by the employees and adapted to the existing machine tools, for example, from the manufacturers DMG Mori Seiki, Stama, AXA and Chiron. Moreover, the simulation software Vericut from CGTech runs on the user interfaces of individual CAM workstations. "In order to achieve a realistic visualisation of the machining process including collision prevention, we have implemented the appropriate virtual machine models," explains Oliver Gl?ckle. "We then make the approved NC programs available on the KOMET network. They can be called up at any time from the machine."

Concept verification on the customer component

An essential task of the CAD/CAM team is to maintain an overview of the whole process which consists of various elements: Creating and verifying the tool concept, 3D designs using CAD modules and generating NC operations with individually extended CAM modules.

When customers enquire about a special tool, they expect the concept to be worked out quickly and flexibly. In order to overcome these challenges, KOMET has developed the capability to import complex customer drawings into the Siemens NX CAD/CAM system. This enables the component to be analysed in three-dimensional space, which allows interfering contours to be detected early on and taken into consideration. Using their own, standardised structural elements, which have been stored in CAD, the KOMET developers can put together the required special tools quickly and easily and test the concept. Geometries once created can always be used at a later ordering stage.

The standardised design of special tools using the CAD building block system is of great importance for achieving reduced throughput times and the associated lower costs. The basis for the CAD model is the workpiece to be machined. Theadidas