Tool and Die Customer Stories
HWK
Haseltal Werkzeugbau und Kunststofftechnik GmbH (HWK) designs and manufactures high-precision injection molding tools for automotive suppliers, the electronics industry and the household appliances sector. The toolmaker has extensive expertise in the design and construction of injection molds for highly polished and grained molded parts with a design character and diverse optics.
The focus is on the design and manufacture of tools for automotive lighting technology. In the field of plastics technology, technically demanding thermoplastic parts are produced, including light disks, light filters and design parts for automobile headlamps, which simultaneously fulfill both physical-optical and visual sub-functions. TransMagic is used to convert the supplied customer data into a format compatible with HWK’s CAD systems.
Converts almost all CAD formats Easily and Inexpensively
“As a hired laborer, we have always had to be able to process a wide range of customer data,” explains Frank Simon, Managing Director of HWK. The major car manufacturers provide Catia data, and additional part data arrives in a variety of data formats available on the market.
“TransMagic translates about 90% of all existing data formats and facilitates our collaboration with customers immensely,” says Simon. “No matter what format we’re sent, we can translate it.” TransMagic reads old and new versions of the data formats – all in one program. “There is nothing like it on the market.” For example, the interfaces in traditional drawing programs would not provide the desired variability in the required data formats imagined by HWK. “The power of TransMagic is just right for us, it’s a small tool with just the functionality we need, easy to handle, inexpensive to buy and maintain.”
CAD Translator and Viewer in One
Simon works in the work preparation itself with TransMagic. The obtained foreign data are translated centrally and passed on to the in-house construction. “For us, TransMagic is a translator and viewer in one, different data formats can be displayed and measured, and we get an optical image of the 3D CAD data quickly and cheaply, which is also important for calculations, for example.”
Automatic Repair
In addition, TransMagic can be used to select and convert individual components from assemblies – saving time and reducing data volumes. Another feature of TransMagic HWK likes to employ is Automatic Repair. When a CAD file is opened, TransMagic analyzes the model and displays a green light if the file is good shape, a yellow light if it has gaps in the surface so that it is not a watertight solid, and a red light if there are more serious problems with the model.
If the model was composed of surfaces, as long as the surfaces are good enough, TransMagic will stitch the surfaces into a watertight solid. This uses an Automatic Repair tool called Lite Repair, which is included in all core TransMagic products. If the gaps between surfaces are too large, or if there are more serious problems with the geometry, such as inverted vertices, Full Repair (another Automatic Repair tool) may be required. Full Repair is a part of the MagicHeal Add-On.
Batch operation saves even more time
Many working hours are also saved by batch CAD translation. “We bought this feature later when we faced the challenge of having to convert many files at once.” In batch mode, any number of selected files can be converted at one go without having to open them one at a time.
“Thanks to TransMagic, it has never been a problem for us to implement customer requirements for third-party data, and the flexibility that the software gives us adds to our new customer base.”
Batch CAD translation is available in the MagicBatch Add-On.
Further information at: www.hwk-gmbh.de