Page 37 - MetalForming December 2016

received from a wide variety of sources and CAD systems, and after all of the conversions we may encounter a poor quality surface here or there,” says Wright. “ProcessDesigner does a very good job producing good surfaces with lackluster data.”
Creating fillet radii is another area where the software shines. In one case, an Autodie engineer had to redraw a wall nearly two-thirds of the way around an automotive door ring, which had been imported from a compen- sated and optical-scanned surface. In straight CAD software, this can be an all-day job as it can be performed only in small sections at a time, with con- siderable manual effort. With Process- Designer, the addenda draw wall was redrawn and a variable fillet radius cre- ated, from the bottom of the ring to the top, in only 15 min.
in the initial tool build. While tools like these are ideal for working with big Class A automotive dies, this software can show immense efficiency gains with small to medium-sized parts as well.”
A user-friendly template structure in ProcessDesigner eases the job process when multiple users are work- ing on the same project, and aids in a consistent work flow among those
users, according to Brouwer. In addi- tion, Autodie uses AutoForm QuickLink for rapid data exchange between Catia and AutoForm stand-alone simulation software.
“We don’t have to perform a lot of extra work or translations,” Brouwer says, “as the software handles that in the background, eliminating unneces- sary intermediate steps and transla- tions.” MF
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Advantages Upon Part Receipt
The Autodie team obtains excellent results when first receiving a part from a customer, according to Brouwer.
“The software has a lot of tools for tipping a part (orienting it to the most favorable pressing angle), analyzing backdraft and draw angles, determin- ing depths of draw, and establishing a binder shape,” he explains. “With its parametric environment, we can go back in if something did not work well and we did not get, say, an ideal gravity drop of the blank onto the binder shape or a good binder wrap. Tools allow for rapid adjustments to address those issues.”
Adding draw beads and draw bars are other tasks eased via the software, according to Brouwer.
“It offers a nice suite for draw-bead creation, which can be time consuming for us,” he says. “The draw-bead-cre- ation tools are fully parameterized, making it simple to create different transition areas for restraining forces, and seeing those changes take shape.”
And the list goes on.
“You can automatically place bypass notches into a part overlap for the nest trim,” Brouwer says. “And, automated flanging and wiping tools are big assists
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MetalForming/December 2016 35