Delcam Electrode software saves time, money for moldmakers

Brian Bendig, president of Cavalier Tool, explained that the business had aspired to expand “without adding bodies; without adding bricks and mortar.” The savings Cavalier Tool receives from the Delcam Electrode program has contributed to the company being able to gain capacity and reduce the time it takes to burn electrodes.

The company’s engineers were aware that EDM was a long process that should have room for improvement. So Cavalier Tool turned to Delcam: the solution was to add an OPS Ingersoll machine and the Delcam Electrode software.

Cavalier Tool specializes building structural foam molds, gas assist molds, thermoset and compression molds, multi-shot molds and prototype molds for the automotive, recreational, commercial and household products markets. With 95 employees, the company operates from a 50,000-sq-ft facility, and builds molds for presses ranging from 250-4000 tons. The company builds more than 200 molds annually.

Mark Langlois, the EDM Lead for Cavalier Tool, described the transition to be “like night and day.” Before adding the software, the EDM process was long and drawn out, however, “now we just take data from Delcam Electrode directly to Ingersoll so there’s no typing. Everything is perfect,” said Langlois. “We had Delcam customize a few items inside the program menu so that it meets Cavalier Tool’s needs, and Delcam was also able to work with OPS Ingersoll to create a custom script to streamline the programming of the machine’s operations.”

Bendig told PlasticsToday that the Delcam software was a “turnkey solution” for the company. “We made huge leap from where we were to where we are today,” he said. “We’re roughly five or six times faster than before. The increased throughput has been phenomenal. At Cavalier Tool, we’re always trying to get things done more efficiently.”