By Liz Stevens, writer, The American Mold Builder

In this age of relentless technological advances, mold builders are reaping benefits from tooling innovations that are reshaping mold manufacturing. A variety of advanced design and machining options, simulation technologies and modular tooling components now are available to reduce lead times, improve quality and address workforce challenges. The American Mold Builder considers some of the newest examples from two forward-looking vendors, HASCO and Tebis.
 
HASCO
HASCO AMERICA, Inc., Fletcher, North Carolina, is a manufacturer of modular high-quality standard mold units with a part list of more than 100,000 standardized and configurable products. HASCO’s K standard parts are drilled plates machined on all sides. Its P standard parts are undrilled plates which are machined on all sides and used primarily to make molds, tools and other devices. Z standard parts include accessories such as ejector elements, latch locking units and products for mold cooling. The company also offers mold steel from European suppliers. Brenda Clark, engineering manager/inside sales, shared information about some of HASCO’s newest modular tooling innovations, smartphone apps and web-based assistants, and described how HASCO products can be integrated with mold simulation software.

 
New at HASCO
“One of our newest parts,” Clark said, “is the Cooling Tornado Z9665/, which can provide innovative possibilities for energy savings directly in the mold. The Cooling Tornado can be used in combination with bores and in core cooling systems or directly in corresponding mold plate cooling bores.” It is a metal coil inserted into a mold’s cooling channel, producing a turbulent flow that improves the efficiency of the cooling by up to 20%.
 
The HASCO InsertKey Z088/ is another new product (Figure 1). “This two-piece part has been developed especially for the coding of mold inserts in injection molding tools,” Clark said. “It consists of the sleeve Z0881/… and the bush Z0882/…. One piece is inserted into the mold base plate pocket at a screw location. The other piece is press fit onto the cavity or core on the matching screw location.”
 
The use of the InsertKey, which can be set to any of eight key configurations, ensures the proper placement and orientation of mold inserts. “Work preparation, storage of spare parts and maintenance work are considerably simplified,” she said. The distinctive coding guarantees assembly of the mold cavities with no risk of mix-up and effectively improves process reliability. By using two InsertKey units, up to 64 (8²) clearly distinguishable key combinations can be created.
 
HASCO also has introduced the H1210 hot runner wiring test tablet for testing hot runner wiring without turning on the heat. “This testing product confirms that wiring is done correctly to avoid damage to the hot runner system,” Clark said. “The tablet is portable for use at the injection molding machine or in the maintenance shop. It recognizes heating units, thermal sensors, earth faults and any existing defects.” The fault display and interpretations are shown in a graph and in table form. In most cases where faults are detected, this allows for preventative maintenance, repair or troubleshooting with the mold wiring before the start of production.
 
HASCO parts integrate with mold simulation software. “HASCO cooling items, for example, can be placed into mold designs to further enhance mold simulation for cooling,” Clark explained. “Components can be added into the design and the simulation, then run based on the distance from a molded article to the HASCO cooling item. This type of integration has been done by customers for many years with HASCO components and simulation software.”
 
There’s an App for That
The updated HASCO App offers moldmakers, technicians, design engineers, buyers, teachers and students practical information on moldmaking (Figure 2). It can be downloaded free of charge. “The HASCO App,” Clark said, “is a toolbox of mold base technology calculators for aspects like heat, milling, threads, tolerance, steel types, insulators, hardness and cylinder sizing. This app for iPhone and Android use replaces older tolerance slide rule and charts.”
 
The app also has links to other HASCO apps and services, including CAD service, hose configurator, ejector configurator and mold base assistant found on
the website.

HASCO’s CAD Service allows designers to find components for a specific CAD model. “Components for a CAD model can be directly downloaded from the website into a customer’s 3D system (using CADClick interface),” Clark said. “At the heart of CAD Service is a complete collection of high-quality 3D models of all HASCO standard components. These are available for all common CAD systems and can be seamlessly integrated into existing design processes. System-specific parametric models and native data files are available.

CAD service has new features, including the mold base assistant, the hose configurator and the ejector configurator. “These are assistants to help designers and builders utilize the HASCO parts in their current projects,” Clark explained. “The assistants are online via our web portal of tools for designers and mold builders.”

“With bold base assistant,” Clark said, “designers can configure an individual mold base faster, easier and more precisely than ever before. It takes just five simple steps to move from concept to a complete mold base with BOM and 3D data available in just a few clicks.” Mold designers and builders can choose each plate size and material type to build-up an assembly, add components, generate an Excel file for quoting/ordering and get 3D data to further their projects faster.
 
HASCO’s Hose Configurator simplifies the configuration of hose systems. “With this new configurator,” Clark said, “designers can create custom hose assemblies in just a few steps by picking a hose and then finding the matching fittings and components. This includes even our newest 5 mm diameter hose and fittings for tight spaces.”
 
With the ejector configurator, designers can quickly and easily design ejectors tailored to their exact requirements – directly online and with maximum flexibility. This includes choosing the ejector length and tolerance range, to cut-to-size ejector pins, blades and sleeves.
 
Tebis
Tebis America, Inc., Troy, Michigan, is a provider of integrated CAD/CAM and MES software. Its customers use Tebis solutions to manufacture single parts like models, molds and dies as well as high-quality aerospace parts made of metal or plastics. The modular Tebis system features CAD software specialized for manufacturing, CAM software for many manufacturing methods, CAQ software for measuring on machines and MES software for manufacturing management. Michael Thiessen, sales manager, described some of the newest innovations in Tebis software.
 

Electrode Design/Geometry
Tebis has introduced innovations in the derivation of electrode geometry from the part geometry to be produced in mold manufacturing. “With the introduction of new parametric and solid model solutions in Tebis Electrode Design,” Thiessen said, “Tebis now can analyze molds automatically to identify eroding areas. This capability is driven by a new wizard-based technology on the design side, which – when combined with our SmartOps technology – enables a fully automated workflow.” The entire process – from initial design through complete numerical control (NC) programming and virtual verification is streamlined and automated. Leveraging Tebis’s Natural Intelligence (NI) or “out-of-the-box” intelligence, these advancements simplify and accelerate the overall process.
 
Qualitative Optimization of Existing Surface Models
Tebis has created a proprietary solid modeling kernel. “With the kernel’s advanced parametric and associative surface and solid modeling,” Thiessen said, “manufacturing preparation and design tasks can be highly automated. When element parameters are modified, the entire component updates automatically, ensuring consistency and speed throughout the design process.”
 
Tebis templates provide time savings within the CAD environment by standardizing repetitive design activities. “The templates are ideal for managing component variants or similar input data,” Thiessen said, “enabling fast, reliable and repeatable design workflows.”
 
With the introduction of its SmartOps technology, Thiessen asserted that the CAD-for-CAM process has undergone a major transformation, reducing manual effort while increasing CAM process reliability. This includes automation for preparing and enhancing CAD models for machining. “High-quality surface models are a cornerstone of our philosophy,” Thiessen said. “Because Tebis calculates toolpaths directly on the digital surface model (not a tessellated model), we consistently achieve machining tolerances that many other CAD solutions cannot match.”
 
CNC Virtual Simulation
Tebis considers virtual simulation technology to be one of its flagship strengths. “Ours is one of the very few solutions that allow the use of a true virtual twin of a CNC machine – behaving exactly as it does in reality,” Thiessen said.
 

With Tebis CNC virtual simulation, users can plan and validate part orientation, tooling and set-up positioning even before creating toolpaths. “Toolpaths then are programmed using the kinematics and geometry of the actual machine,” Thiessen explained, “enabling precise program validation and safe interaction with the virtual machine environment. This allows users to optimize machining strategies while eliminating the risk of collisions or crashes.” With this level of detail, a true digital twin is created. “Everything is visualized accurately, including fixtures, clamping devices and how parts are secured during machining,” Thiessen said. “The result is a safer, more efficient and highly reliable machining process – before a single chip is cut.”
 
Five-Axis Simultaneous Machining
With its five-axis simultaneous machining module, Tebis offers flexible and efficient five-axis machining solutions for safety, superior surface quality and optimized performance. “Increasing toolpath efficiency always is a top priority for manufacturing leaders,” Thiessen explained. “That is why we have introduced advanced strategies to further optimize retract motion to make those movements smoother and more efficient, enabling higher feed rates while maintaining stability and safety.”
 
Thiessen stated that automation is fully achievable in five-axis machining. “Due to specific part geometries, however, fully simultaneous five-axis motion is not always the preferred approach,” he said. “In such cases, indexed five-axis machining offers a safer and more controlled solution.” With intelligent remachining options, Tebis can automatically detect and select the optimal positioning angles, reducing manual effort for the programmer. “This results in a safer, more efficient and optimized machining process that minimizes the operator workload while maximizing machine performance and reliability.”
 
In-Process Measurement Solutions
“Part measurement and accuracy verification are a core focus,” Thiessen said. “The company has advocated in-process measurement strategies for more than two decades. As a result, Tebis CAQ software solutions for measuring parts directly on the machine – prior to removal – are proven, reliable and accurate.” (Figure 4)
 
Beyond measurement, the creation of comprehensive validation reports and the ability to review and archive results on screen for historical tracking are critical components of the process. “Tebis, however, goes far beyond basic measurement and dimensioning,” Thiessen said. “Equally important is leveraging the machine controller’s advanced capabilities, such as auto-rotate, blank checking and automatic alignment, all of which are integrated into the CAM workflow.”

In Tebis’s virtual machine environment, probing paths automatically are optimized and validated, ensuring safe execution, maximum accuracy and seamless integration between programming, verification and machining.

SmartOps Automation Technology
SmartOps technology, a new solution within the Tebis system, supports end-to-end automation of all CAD and CAM processes. “Users can rely on intelligent, sophisticated CAD/CAM operations that provide full automation thanks to powerful templates,” Thiessen said. “This technology is a game-changer when it comes to automation and dealing with a new workforce.”

Robotic Machining Technology
Since 2020, Tebis has offered robotic virtual machines and sophisticated post-processors. “Tebis supports robots for all types of machining,” Thiessen said. “By programming with a virtual robot (digital twin) from the start, there are no surprises later due to recalculation or other issues. Tebis directly outputs the NC control data for the robot. Users, therefore, can proceed directly from the CAD data to the completed robotic machining program with no detours.”
 
Tebis delivers advancements that enable the efficient, reliable operation of robotic systems. “The new solutions provide greater safety, flexibility and user-friendliness than ever before,” Thiessen said. “The latest release, V4.1R11, enables early detection of robot-specific conflicts during the interactive toolpath calculation process, allowing issues to be addressed long before execution on the shop floor.”

Tebis now identifies singularities, reachability limits and configuration changes earlier and more reliably. Potential conflicts can be resolved directly within the model. This reduces programming time while increasing operational safety from the CAM stage onward. Simulation capabilities also have been expanded to include connection movements. “In addition to validating the actual toolpaths,” Thiessen said, “Tebis now checks transition movements between toolpaths as well as tool change motions during robotic machining. This enables more comprehensive identification of potential robot conflicts – before the program ever runs on the real machine.”

In Closing
Mold manufacturing is a dynamic industry in which new standardized, modular components and innovations in advanced software, automation and robotics regularly are introduced. Innovations from companies like Tebis and HASCO give mold builders many options for improving operations, slashing lead times, perfecting quality and bridging the workforce gap.

More information: www.hasco.com and www.tebis.com