Page 36 - MetalForming April 2016

Software
Equipped with 3D-design and development software, this Chicagoland die shop finds generating 3D strip layouts quick and simple. Automatic blank alignment, rotation and optimization functions help to create efficient strips, and an automatic 2D-strip-plan option assists with punch design.
Housed in an unassuming brick building in the Chicago sub- urb of Carol Stream, IL, cele- brating its 20th anniversary in 2016, DeCore Tool & Manufacturing is a pow- erhouse hidden in plain sight. Scott DeCore founded the company in 1996. Today the company boasts a staff of 20, including secretary and treasurer Carol DeCore, Scott’s wife.
The couple’s son, Bobby DeCore, works as a design engineer for the com- pany. While once he had set his sights on a career as a professional boxer, today Bobby DeCore approaches his design career with the same logical strategy that served him in the ring.
“Boxing is peaceful, like a game of chess,” he says. “It’s not about fighting, but about making the right moves. The same is true when it comes to designing dies, and requires logic, imagination and a gift for reverse engineering.”
Variety Rules, 3D Tools Shine
While the company primarily serves repeat customers and manufactures plenty of metal-stamping dies for the automotive industry, it also performs one-off jobs and serves a range of industry sectors. These include the appliance and electrical industries; the company even supplies tooling used to stamp parts for Weber grills.
To help its design engineers optimize efficiency, quality and productivity, in 2013 DeCore made the move to 3D designing when it acquired VISI CAD/
CAM software from Vero Software.
“We wanted to get into the 3D world and, being a job shop, we knew we needed to be efficient in 3D software,” Bobby says. “I started using VISI with- out any design experience, and found it very easy to learn and manipulate
using solids. It’s easy for me to take a part, make a strip and design a tool around it.”
VISI’s master distributor in the Unit- ed States and Canada is Tooling Soft- ware Technology (TST), LLC, Village of Clarkston, MI, provided educational
34 MetalForming/April 2016
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DeCore primarily serves repeat customers and manufactures plenty of metal-stamping dies for the automotive industry. It also performs one-off jobs and serves a range of industry sectors. These include the appliance and electrical industries; the company even supplies tooling used to stamp parts for Weber grills.