Page 30 - MetalForming February 2014

Strip Design
and Development–
Gaining Confidence in the Process
Three software tools take automotive stamper and assembler Atlantic Tool & Die to the next level in progressive-strip development. Meanwhile, a laser-scanning portable CMM and accompanying 3D metrology software lead the firm’s efforts to reverse-engineer stamping dies and weld fixtures.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
“We use simulation software differently than other tool builders might,” begins Jason Andras, design manager at Atlantic Tool & Die Co. (ATD), when asked to describe the firm’s recent uptick in inhouse die design and devel- opment. The 650-employee automo- tive-stamping and assembly company works out of numerous locations, includ- ing four in Ohio; plants in Texas and Mexico; a primary design and engineer- ing center in Costa Rica; and a die-build, stamping and assembly shop in China. ATD’s facility in China produced 70 new stamping tools for ATD and other North American customers in 2013, generating $3.5 million. In 2014 it is projected to produce 100 to 120 new progressive dies
generating $5 to $7 million.
We caught up with Andras, who over-
sees ATD’s die-design and development process, at its headquarters facility in Strongsville (Cleveland), OH. Up for discussion: its evolving use of 3D mod-
eling and surfacing of dies and weld fixtures, based on itsuseof:
• VISI PC-based CAD-CAM software;
• Progressive-die strip sim- ulation using the Dynaform suite of software modules; and
ATD’s Faro ScanArm portable coordinate-measuring machine, equipped with a laser scanner, captures sur- face data and enables reverse engineering of die sur- faces—new trim edges, for example.
28 MetalForming/February 2014
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• Reverse engineering of
cutting sections and forming
details using a portable coordinate- measuring machine —a Faro ScanArm outfitted with a laser scanner.
“we’re ramping up its use here in Cleve- land as we look to retire various other software and consolidate to VISI. To supplement the eight seats of VISI in Costa Rica (two added in June of 2013), in the last two years we’ve acquired four VISI seats in Ohio (one at its Sharon Center plant, two seats in Strongsville and one in Texas), with more coming. One of the nice features of VISI our designers really appreciate is the ability to work in 2D and 3D— they can sketch in 2D and extrude in 3D, surface and model all in one. That’s been a great benefit.”
ATD launched its foray into 3D design and development—of stamping dies and of weld fixtures to support its secondary operations—in 2005. The goal, says Andras, was to develop expertise in stamping and assembling more complex parts and assemblies, such as large rear parcel shelves and tiny yet complex airbag housings.
“While we’ve used VISI company- wide for years primarily at our design center in Costa Rica,” says Andras,