Moldmaking in the Fast Lane

“I was basically computer illiterate, with no CAM experience at all. Now I go from files to finished plug without drawings, like it was second nature.”

- Cory Burns
Patternmaker
Winnipeg Pattern & Modelworks
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Printable Profile

Winnipeg Pattern has been a leading independent pattern producer since 1910, beginning as a traditional wood pattern shop primarily serving the foundry industry. They specialize in patterns for foundry tooling, fiberglass plugs and molds, and tooling for rotational molding and vacuum-forming processes, as well as rapid prototyping.

The Challenge

Winnipeg Pattern needed to transition from traditional methods of a hands-on technique, to CNC machining in order to meet their customers’ increasingly shorter lead times.

The Solution

Mastercam Mill

Benefits

Mastercam has a great 3D surface modeler built in, so it was very simple to complete the model from the trimmed part
Mastercam's learner-friendly interface made for a brief journey from traditional hand pattern making, to the world of CAM.
With Mastercam, they merged and edited multiple toolpaths to create a single NCI file and cut the entire pattern in one shot.
Mastercam's solid-model toolpath verification let them test a "virtual part" on-screen before cutting chips.
The speed, efficiency and flexibility Winnipeg Pattern gains by using Mastercam has helped them accommodate customers' ever-decreasing lead times.

Project Details

Speed, flexibility and efficiency helps Winnipeg Pattern beat their automotive, agricultural, maritime and aerospace customers' ever-shorter lead times... thanks to Mastercam. "We had a rush job requiring a sculpted plug for a customer who needed it to make a fiberglass splash mold for a bus fender," patternmaker Corey Burns recalls. Multinational Motor Coach Industries (MCI) digitally scanned the fender contours of its full-scale mockup and downloaded the results in IGES to Winnipeg Pattern.

As an eleven-year traditional pattern/tool maker, Corey had virtually no prior computer experience. "This was a white-knuckle experimental venture for me," he recalls, "but I just followed the Mastercam manual. We brought the IGES file into Mastercam in a snap." Corey completed the geometry required for vacuum forming. "Mastercam's 3D surface modeler made it very simple," he says, "and we just following the manual until we had the toolpaths." [Corey's learning curve was augmented by on-site assistance from Mastercam's local representative.]

Corey tested a "virtual part" on-screen with Mastercam's solid-model toolpath verification before cutting chips, gaining the confidence to set up the CNC just before "quittin' time" and let the job run overnight. For a company serving customers in the volatile transportation industry, that's a true competitive advantage, first time out!