Rentapen, specialists in weld fixtures, introduced a new free web service on March 16, 2012, which allows weld tooling designers to order 3D CAD Models of weld tooling components and receive them right into your email.
Rentapen Inc., located in Waukesha, WI has long been helping manufacturers reduce their costs in weld fixtures through lean weld fixture design and through their line of RAPid Tooling Components™ .
Now, 3D Models of their components are available to all. Rentapen’s 3D CAD Models is the perfect solution for any fixture designer that wants to become more efficient and create better fixtures.
All Tooling Designers need to do is go on to Rentapen’s website click the Order 3D Models tab, select the RAPid Tooling Components™ that they need and determine what dimensions your weld fixture design needs.
There is a catalog pages of the line of blocks, plates, clamp risers, and shims also available from the website. If a designer prefers working with paper catalogs, one can be ordered from the distributor of RAPid Tooling Components™, E.L. Simeth. There are images on the website and in the catalog that show the designer suggested uses for the tooling components.
After the Tooling Designer has selected the component and dimensions they want, they click order file. Files can come in a wide variety of file forms including: STEP AP214, STEP AP203, IGES, PARASOLID, PARASOLID BINARY, ACIS, VDAFS, VRML, STL, UNVERSIAL 3D, CATIA, AND JPEG.
The first time a Tooling Designer uses the site, they will have to complete a form giving their information including their name, company’s name, address, phone number and a contact email address. Rentapen says they will not to use the information to send unsolicited emails to the Designers. The information is to make sure that the Tooling Designer is a legitimate user located in the United States.
After filling out the information, the Tooling Designer will need to click Order Model again. It takes about 10 minutes to receive the 3D Models in an email.
Once the tool designer has the model, they can add the data, vendor, and part number according to their company standards and save the model in their purchased parts library.
This will allow them to use that part over and over again skipping all the time it would take to download the part and add data again.
“The response we have received so far from Design Engineers has been very positive,” said Susan Straley, President and Queen of Lean Machine Design at Rentapen Inc.
Rentapen has designed the parts to be versatile so that the same type of part can be used in multiple fixtures. Each time a component is used on a fixture it saves design and build time and costs.
The 3D Models can be altered to meet your needs. For instance, RAPid Blocks™ can be ordered with only holes in one end. The other end can be customized to hold a pin, a rest pad, or a stop plate. Then a drawing with dimensions for the alterations can be sent along with the order for the purchased block. The purchased part will arrive at their factory already altered and ready to assemble into their fixture. This is another way Tool Designers can save their company time and costs.
In the past, customers would buy the RAPid Block™ and then put it in their CNC or take it to another vendor to place a hole in it to hold a locating pin or a rest pad. Using Rentapen to customize the purchased components saves the machine builder from handling the component more that once. This saves costs, time, and hassles for manufacturers.
So, Tooling Designers everywhere, be aware that the craft of design is changing. The new method is using standard yet versatile purchased components like Rentapen’s RAPid Tooling Components™ wherever and whenever it makes sense to do so. And with the free 3D model downloads of purchased components, designing just got better and faster.
