Avoid crashes with simulation software

For three decades and two generations, family-owned Jemco Components & Fabrication Inc. has offered prototype and production machining, fabrication and assembly services, laser marking and etching and a host of finishing options.

Three years ago, as the Kirkland, Washington-based contract manufacturer’s amount of 5-axis machining grew, management determined that an increasing number of little crashes potentially could lead to one big crash, which might damage an expensive machine tool and disrupt deliveries to customers.

With more than two dozen 5-axis machining centers in use, Vice President Travis Moore and his team began looking for an alternative to the traditional push-the-green-button-and-pray program prove-outs. In the end, the manufacturer turned to Vericut machine simulation software from CGTech Inc., Irvine, California.

Jemco Components & Fabrication uses Siemens NX CAD/CAM software but finds Vericut an invaluable tool for preventing crashes. image courtesy of Jemco Components & Fabrication

“A number of companies tried very hard to sell us on their simulation software,” Moore said, “telling us how their solution would address all of our needs. But after a lot of research and talking to a number of people, we found that Vericut was the only software with true G-code simulation.”

On the market since 1988, Vericut reads the code used by a machine controller, picking up where CAM systems leave off. Every workpiece, fixture, toolholder and machine component can be accurately modeled so nothing is left to chance. Gouging and uncut areas are clearly identified. Setup times are reduced. Because complete visibility of the machining process is achieved, opportunities for process improvement are enhanced. Best of all, collisions are virtual rather than spark-filled and noisy.

Moore’s parents founded Jemco when he was a child. Their decision to pursue sheet metal fabrication and machining under the same roof was made at the outset with the purchase of a Finn-Power turret punch press and an Okuma Cadet machining center.

In its machine shop, Jemco has nearly 40 CNC lathes and machining centers. Equipment builders include Haas, Okuma, Mazak and others, but topping the list is a pair of DMG Mori NMV 1500 5-axis vertical machining centers—one sporting a 40,000-rpm spindle—serviced by a 34-pallet robotic cell material-handling system.