WorkNC CAM software optimises machine utilisation at Prospect Mold

With sixteen seats of WorkNC CAM software, Prospect Mold, based in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, keeps its machines cutting metal for 80% of the time.



The company serves a wide range of industries, including aerospace which forms the largest part of its business. Continual investment in the latest equipment and expansion of the number of 5-axis CNC machining centres it uses has bolstered its success in the aerospace market.

“We have been using WorkNC CAM software since the late 80s,” said Mark Gruic, data coordinator, Prospect Mold. “It was the first in the market and its toolpaths are phenomenal. Since then, we have been adding more seats, all of which we use on the shopfloor. It is pretty easy to use and a lot quicker than the systems we had before, encouraging us to keep buying more and more licenses.”

Mould designs are created in I-DEAS NX. Every element of the tool including core and cavity blocks, lifters and slides is then exported to WorkNC-CAD on the shopfloor.

Gruic continues: “The machine operators can turn off layers to remove water lines, for example, and do a little bit of surfacing to block ejector pin holes or fill gaps in the model. WorkNC-CAD does everything we need, is easy to use, and is completely integrated with the WorkNC CAM software.”

The seven 5-axis CNC machines at Prospect Mold include a Fooke Endura 905, an FPT Dino, and a Fidia K165. The sixteen operators use the dedicated 5-axis CNC commands in WorkNC software for cutting parts such as carbon fibre wing spars and turbine blade dies. Collision avoidance and simulation within the 5-axis CAM software take account of the limits of each machine, introducing flip and unwind movements where necessary to ensure safe and reliable toolpaths are always created.

Using WorkNC CAM software on the shopfloor is claimed to make the best use of the operators' skills and increases flexibility.

“We will invest in more 5-axis WorkNC licenses as our 5-axis CNC machining requirements grow,” Gruic concludes. “We are also looking forward to implementing the next 64bit and parallel processing version of the software, which will speed up calculation times even more. The benefit of WorkNC to Prospect Mold is phenomenal, we monitor our machine utilisation levels and we consistently spend 80% of our time cutting metal.”

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