Page 37 - MetalForming February 2011

Tooling Technology
programmer, the back and forth communication between designer and programmer is eliminated. The entire design can be in one model rather than using a mixture of 2D design and 3D CAM models.
Five years down the road, you won’t be searching for the 3D model of the block, because it will be a part of the die design.
Training New Die Designers and Eliminating Mistakes
Understandably, in the days of 2D design, whether on the drawing board or 2D CAD, the die was difficult to visualize. As a result, we endured a lot of mistakes made with 2D designs that we do not see occurring when using 3D designs developed with die-design-specific software. Likewise, it was extremely challenging to train die designers working in 2D. Because 3D design is much more visual, including the use of specialized tools for animating the die and performing dynamic interference detection, the task of training die designers is much less daunting.
While many in the metalforming industry still believe that the best die designers are those that previously were tool and die makers, that qualification is less critical today. In fact, we have one customer who previously worked as a quality manager. In 2 yr., he’s become an accomplished die design- er using 3D software exclusively, with most of his designs being for complex reel-to-reel electronic parts.
The Future
The capabilities of 3D die-design software might make some in our industry nervous, worried that their jobs could be in jeopardy. One common statement I’ve heard is:
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“Pretty soon we’re just going to have to push a button and the computer will spit out a design.”
Yes, the software can automate the design of parts that are members of a family of very similar parts, but the vast major- ity of parts differ enough to require human/designer input. I’ve also heard discussions of intelligent die-design soft- ware that actually will make design decisions. That sounds like science fiction to me. Software doesn’t make decisions; it does what it is told, whether by the die designer or by the human developer via the code written in the software.
While it is true that you can bring an incredible amount of automation to software, designers still need to control the software; the software shouldn’t control the designer. MF
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MetalForming/February 2011 35
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