Quality Digest      
  HomeSearchSubscribeGuestbookAdvertise March 29, 2024
This Month
Home
Articles
ISO 9000 Database
Columnists
Departments
Software
Contact Us
Web Links
Web Links
Web Links
Web Links
Web Links
Need Help?
Web Links
Web Links
Web Links
Web Links
ISO 9000 Database
ISO 9000 Database


Departments: Quality Applications
*

Delcam International ArtCAM Pro Engraving Software

 

 

Making Money With ArtCAM Pro Software
Delcam International ArtCAM Pro Engraving Software

A gradual transition from traditional methods to computerized design and manufacturing has allowed the U.K.'s Royal Mint to cut its coinage lead times in half. The final stage of the change was completed in 2004, when the mint completely removed the pantograph from its processes.

The Royal Mint is a department of the U.K. government, and its primary responsibility is providing the nation with coinage. Its reputation extends well beyond this purpose, however, and the mint has produced coins for more than 100 countries. Its history stretches back more than 1,100 years to an initial consolidation of Anglo-Saxon moneymakers within the Tower of London. The mint later moved to purpose-built premises at Tower Hill and, more recently, with an enormous increase in demand for coin at home and overseas, to its huge modern coining plant in South Wales.

Chief Engraver Matt Bonaccorsi high-lights two reasons for the time taken to make the shift to computerized design. "First, we needed to change our processes without any disruption to our business," he explains. "Second, we needed to be absolutely confident that quality would not suffer while our staff was learning to use the software."

The first stage of the process was to begin creating all lettering and borders with Delcam International's ArtCAM Pro engraving software. "Lettering was the obvious place to start, as it's so difficult with traditional methods and so easy in ArtCAM Pro," says Bonaccorsi. "There was a range of immediate benefits. The software can handle a much wider range of fonts. Scaling for different sizes of coin is much faster than with a pantograph. It is both quick and easy to change details like dates, with no problems in matching the new details to the positions of existing numbers or letters. Finally, we can add draft to the lettering automatically to ease removal from the die."

The next stage was to add reverse engineering with a Renishaw Cyclone scanning system, which scans plaster models of new designs but has also been used to create new coins from existing samples and to recut new punches from old examples.

"Using ArtCAM Pro and the Cyclone rather than a pantograph has increased our accuracy considerably," states Bonaccorsi. "This is especially beneficial for any series of coins, as we can be sure not only that the common features will be identical but also that they will be in exactly the same place each time."

There are also considerable time savings in the continuity series, in which a new coin is issued monthly to collectors. "The first example in a series might take six to eight hours to create," says Bonaccorsi. "However, subsequent examples will take only one or two hours since the majority of the design follows a common template with a limited number of new elements."

Most recently, the mint's staff has started creating complete designs within ArtCAM Pro instead of first modeling them in plaster. "Geometric shapes like building designs have been completely manufactured in the computer from design to tooling," reports Bonaccorsi. "We are now starting to use the Face Wizard in ArtCAM Pro to create some portraits that we can compare with the results we get from hand modeling."

Machining data from ArtCAM Pro is fed to a series of high-precision Kuhlmann engraving machines to cut the punches for the coins. All cutting tools are ground in-house as tooling of sufficient precision is not available commercially. "Since we've used ArtCAM Pro, our punches have always been delivered on time," states Bonaccorsi. "One recent example of the delivery times now possible was a special medal produced to commemorate Wales' Grand Slam in the Six Nations rugby championship. We produced designs and punches in two days, and that included the time needed to recover from the hangovers following the victory celebrations."

With the success achieved so far, Bonaccorsi is looking to push forward with more innovative designs rather than just following traditional styles. He also wants to investigate possible uses of ArtCAM Pro in other areas of the Royal Mint, including souvenirs and collectibles such as jewelry and figurines, which are currently manufactured externally.

 

Delcam International ArtCAM Pro Engraving Software

Benefits:

  • The combination of Delcam's ArtCAM Pro engraving software and Renishaw's Cyclone scanner has enabled the Royal Mint to create new coins from existing samples and to recut new punches from old examples.
  • The software eliminates the need to create a model in plaster before production, saving the mint time and resources.

www.delcam.com