Top Brazilian toolmaker specifies Delcam's CAD/CAM system

Selection of Delcam's Power Solution by Matrizes Belga, a major Brazilian toolmaker, as its standard CAD/CAM system is expected to reinforce its ability to compete with Portuguese, French, and Spanish toolmakers who have begun setting up plants in the South American country. Belga has installed 16 seats of the software.

Alberto Vebber, engineering manager at Belga, estimates that the Delcam software is enabling the group to reduce the time to manufacture its molds and dies by up to 30 percent. Prior to the selection, Vebber performed a series of tests to confirm that Delcam's software could meet all the company's needs. To guarantee that the tests accurately represented the projects undertaken by at Belga, they were completed using large, complex models, with about 5,000 surfaces in each file.

The combination of PowerSHAPE, PowerMILL, CopyCAD and PowerINSPECT was found to provide a complete solution. "The difference with Delcam's products comes mainly from the fact that they have been developed by a toolmaker that knows all the needs of mold engineering: from modeling, drafting, and machining, through to inspection," Vebber explained.

Requirements such as ease of use and learning were also considered, said Vebber. "The user interfaces in the Power Solution range made the training easier." PowerSHAPE has allowed Matrizes Belga to reduce the time and cost of interpreting IGES and VDA files received from customers, and to speed up the creation, manipulation and correction of surfaces for the final product or component of the injection mould.

Major savings have come from PowerSHAPE's ability to generate 2D documentation without having to work with a closed solid. When complex shapes are required, surface modeling is essential. With Belga's previous software, considerable time used to be wasted by the need to close the surfaces into a solid before any 2D drawings could be produced.

Prior to standardizing on a complete Delcam solution, Belga had used the company's PowerMILL machining software for four years. Since its introduction, PowerMILL has allowed programs to be proved out on the computer, eliminating the need for time-consuming machining tests in soft material. The quality of the machining is totally guaranteed. In four years, there has not been a single case of a collision between a cutter and a part at Belga.

Delcam PLC, Small Heath Business Park, Birmingham, B10 OHJ. UK. Tel: +44 121 766 5544.

Delcam International, Inc., 3270 Electricity Drive, Windsor, ON N8W 5J1 Canada. Tel: 519-974-8088. Fax: 519-974-8170.

Edited with contribution from Jim Lorincz
Managing Editor
JLorincz@vertical.net
Source: Delcam