Tag Archives: 3d machine design

Sales Goals Exceeded By 22% In First Quarter For Weld Fixture Tooling Components Company.

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Local Wisconsin Weld Fixture Specialist Company Sees Big Numbers In The First Quarter.

April 9, 2013, an article in the Milwaukee Area Business Journal entitled “Manufacturing growth to outpace GDP in 2013, 2014”  by Jeff Engel stated that the expert projections are that manufacturing will outpace overall economic growth in 2013 and 2014, with a 2.2 percent manufacturing increase in 2013 compared with overall gross domestic product growth of less than 2 percent.
Rentapen Inc., an engineering and manufacturing company located in Waukesha, WI has exemplified growth in the first quarter of 2013 by exceeding its sales goals by 22% in the first quarter.

Rentapen is a multifaceted manufacturing company with their ability to design and build many different types of weld fixtures.  Their engineers create 3D CAD drawings of weld and assembly tooling they design.  Rentapen’s customers sometimes just want the drawings and they build the fixtures in house.  Some customers prefer to get the fixture designed, built and tested by Rentapen.

3D ModelsAnother side to Rentapen Inc., is their line of RAPid Tooling Components™.  This line is made up of RAPid Blocks™, RAPid Plates™, RAPid Risers™ and RAPid Shims™.  These components are used by manufacturers that build weld jigs and assembly fixtures and other types of work-holding tools.

Besides increasing sales, Rentapen Inc. has increased their customer base for RAPid Tooling Components™, Pro/E CAD and Solidworks Designs and weld fixture build projects.  They acquired twelve new customers in the first quarter.

The Business Journal article stated, “In Milwaukee, the manufacturing sector has expanded the past four months, according to the Institute for Supply Management – Milwaukee report compiled by Marquette University. “

Maybe this will help improve the job outlook for the area.  Rentapen’s factory has been busy enough in the past couple months to justify hiring help to pack their precision steel shims and shim packs — RAPid Shims™.

Rentapen’s shop team assembles, packages, and ships their RAPid Tooling Components™, including their custom and standard metal shims and shim packs.  Also, Rentapen has been seeking a Machine Tool Designer and Weld Fixture Design Project Lead Engineer.

“Not only are we a manufacturer, but we serve manufacturers.  So when manufacturing is busy, we get busy,” said Susan Straley, Rentapen’s President.

Sue and George Straley - Owners of Rentapen Inc.President and Co-Founder of Rentapen Inc., Susan and George Straley, have been dedicated to their machine designing company and satisfying their customers’ needs to reduce costs since 1976. They have continued to stay positive during these hard economic times and it has been paying off.

Rentapen’s increase in shim and tooling component sales are a result of an overall trend in Manufacturing in the Midwest. Manufacturers in the Midwest are growing in sales and investing in machine tooling.

Rentapen Inc., is the weld fixture specialist, and is home of RAPid Tooling Components™. Rentapen Inc. has been providing machine tool design services to manufactures since 1976.  A Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™. For more information about Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891.

 

Weld Tooling Design Company Introduces New Cost Saving Clamp Risers

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Lean Manufacturers Discover Time and Cost Savings in Their Product-Holding Fixtures With Clamp Risers by Rentapen

In the beginning of April, 2013 Rentapen Inc. launched new website pages for their line of clamp risers and spacers.  The clamp risers are made specifically for different brands of clamps including: Wolverine, Carr Lane, REID, De-Sta-Co, TE-CO, All American, and Jergens.   Each riser or spacer is tapped and drilled for mounting the designated clamp and uses counter bored holes for mounting the riser or spacer to the fixture or jig.

Rentapen’s design team has been designing and building weld fixtures for over 35 years. They realized they were designing the same clamp risers over and over again.  So Rentapen developed what is now called RAPid Risers™,  a line of tooling components that hold all of the finest brands of part holding clamps.  These standardized yet versatile risers save manufacturers time and money when it comes to the design and build process.

Wolverine Clamps3D CAD Models of the risers can be downloaded from Rentapen’s website along with informational PDFs that detail the design of the RAPid Riser™.

 “By focusing our processes and skilled talent on what we do well, we free-up our customers time, energy, and talent to be more powerful and productive with what they do well,” said Susan Straley,  President of Rentapen.  “That gives them peace of mind and contributes to their success.”

If a designer created a clamp riser from scratch, like Rentapen and all other machine tooling design companies used to do, they would have to go through a timely and expensive process that includes: designing the part; detailing; checking; ordering material; writing the CNC code; creating the part and finally inspecting the part.

This entire process takes about 77 minutes. Manufacturers are now able to download the 3D model from Rentapen’s website, save the model to their library, put the riser into their design, and order the block.   Once the model is in the company’s CAD library, the process approximately takes 4 minutes.  Rentapen’s RAPid Riser™ is saving the manufacturers as much as 73 minutes in design and build time.

 “The RAPid Risers™ are just another way for the fixture builder to save time and money on the design and build of weld fixtures or any other type of fixture,” said, Steve Pautz, Product manager at E.L. Simeth Co. a distributor of the clamp risers.  “The Clamp Risers is just one part of this unique design system that really works. E.L. Simeth Company, as the distributor for this line, has customers that use the complete line so we know that it works very well,”

RapidRisersRapid Tooling Components™ reduce the design cost of the fixture by eliminating the need to design, detail and check similar parts over and over again. Three dimensional computer models are provided by Rentapen Inc. that customers can use to incorporate into their designs.  These modular components are the new standard in weld jig and assembly fixture design.

Rentapen Inc., is the weld fixture specialist, and is home of RAPid Tooling Components. Rentapen Inc. has been providing machine tool design services to manufactures since 1976.  A Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™. For more information about Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891.

Growing Weld Fixture Design and Build Company Takes Part In Efforts To Close Skills Gap In Wisconsin.

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Growing Weld Fixture Design and Build Company Takes Part In Efforts To Close Skills Gap In Wisconsin.

Rentapen Inc., of Waukesha, WI, a 3D Design Service Company and Tooling Components Manufacturer participating in the efforts to lessen the manufacturing and engineering skills gap.

On March 13, 2013 Governor Scott Walker signed the bill known as “Wisconsin Fast Forward”. This bill is designed to address the skills shortage in the state’s workforce and will better link employers and job seekers.

Rentapen Inc., a Machine Tool Design Company and Manufacturer of precision metal shims is just one of several manufactures helping with the effort to get the word out that jobs in manufacturing provide job security and require extensive skills. According to manufacturers, there is a large disconnect in Wisconsin between the workforce and the number of skilled workers ready to fill positions.

According to the panel of speakers at the New Faces of Manufacturing Summit hosted by Waukesha County Business Alliance, 68% of manufacturers reported a lack of talent or skills in the manufacturing industry.  High school students and college freshman, who have not determined a major, do not think about manufacturing.  When they do think of manufacturing, they think of it is dirty and made up of people who are low income and lower skilled.

Rentapen Inc. has been a member of the Waukesha County Business Alliance for almost two years and has been affected first hand by the skills gap.  Recently, Rentapen Inc. has joined the “Dream It Do It” Marketing Action Team.  This action team is made up of individuals around South-Eastern Wisconsin, and is dedicated to lessening the skills gap.

Rentapen Inc. has found that some of the most skilled workers are graduating from technical colleges.  Rentapen has hired over 5 individuals from Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) alone; these students have started as interns and have excelled and been retained.

PG3_9364“It’s exciting to be in manufacturing right now.  We are in a busy and growing industry.  Finding, training, and maintaining good talent is key to being competitive in the global marketplace,” said Susan Straley,  President of Rentapen.  “We are pleased to have the support of the College, and the State in helping manufacturers succeed in Wisconsin.”

The second part of the bill that Governor Walker signed creates a workforce training grant program at the Department of Workforce Development. This grant program will be used to leverage additional private dollars to help both new and current employees acquire additional job trainings skills.  The bill, coined “Wisconsin Fast Forward,” creates a website that uses real-time job data to match employers and potential workers, provides $15 million in state funds for worker training grants and creates an Office of Skills Development within the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development to help provide specific training for employers who need workers with specific skills.

Rentapen Inc. and many other manufacturing companies are struggling to find skilled workers to fill a variety of positions because the education that people are getting does not fit the skills needed in the actual working environment. Individuals are taking courses to receive a 4-year diploma but are not attaining the correct skills needed to excel in the work place.

234a658 “The problem is parents and adults are pushing students to get degrees in subjects that do not necessarily prepare them for jobs that actually exist in the market,” said Thies.  “There is a large amount of history majors, political scientists and lawyers than is needed in the workforce.  At the same time, the average high schools do not have a manufacturing class or a program designed to teach about a CNC operator. There is also need for machinists and welders; these courses are not offered or encouraged in a lot of high schools throughout the state and the nation.”

 

Manufacturing is one of the fastest growing industries like nursing, retail and food service. The manufacturing sector is aging. Within the next five years a new generation of workers will need to have the skills and experience to take over for the generation that is leaving. Companies are trying to deal with the hundreds of years of experience that will be walking out the door in the next five to ten years. There may not be thousands of new jobs, but there will be thousands of openings, and Wisconsin does not have the skill sets to fill in.

Rentapen Inc., is the weld fixture specialist, and is home of RAPid Tooling Components. Rentapen Inc. has been providing machine tool design services to manufactures since 1976.  A Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™. For more information about Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891.

Please visit Rentapen’s Youtube channel to watch a variety of educational and entertaining videos!

 

 

3D Models of Tooling Components Assists in Growth of Weld Fixture Design Company As New Part-Holding Tooling Pieces are Added.

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Rentapen Inc., of Waukesha, WI, Continues to Expand the Number of Components and Product Parts Available for 3D-Model Download.

In January and March 2013, Rentapen Inc., a 3D CAD Design Company added several new components to its 3D-Model download web page, www.WeldFixtureComponents.com.

Rentapen Inc., offers a large custom line of RAPid Tooling Components™ that can be downloaded for free to help manufactures save time and money while designing and building their weld and assembly jigs and fixtures.  RAPid Tooling Components™ are a new American standard for the machine design Industry.

An alternative to NAAMS, Rentapen’s components along with the 3D models have changed how Machine Design Engineers and CAD Drafters design their weld fixtures.

 “In 2001 we discovered we, as weld fixture and assembly fixture designers, were designing the same parts over and over again.  So we realized if we standardized on those parts we could save our customers lots of time and costs.  So we created RAPid Tooling Components™,” said George Straley, Founder of Rentapen.

Rentapen Inc., has a total of 9 different types of RAPid Blocks™ that can be ordered to fit different tooling fixture needs.  In the beginning, customers would buy the RAPid Block™ and then if the block needed to be altered, they would place the part in their CNC or take it to another vendor. RAPid Blocks are often altered to add a hole in it to hold a locating pin or a rest pad or to chamfer a corner.   In 2011, Rentapen Inc., began to offer customized alterations to their RAPid Blocks™.

Rentapen Inc., manufactures each block as it is ordered.  This allows them to keep inventory low and provide a valuable service to their customers.  Rentapen Inc., will customize the RAPid Block™ per the customer’s specifications. “Need a chamfer? No Problem.  Need a hole for a locating pin?  No problem,” said Susan Straley, President of Rentapen.

Productuon Part Holding MachineryAll of Rentapen’s RAPid Tooling Components™ are made in the U.S.A. This is in line with Rentapen’s vision as the U.S. Leader in machine design and tooling components.  Rentapen is dedicated to reducing costs for manufacturers. And their free 3D service is greatly help manufacturers on their lean journey.

Rentapen Inc., is the weld fixture specialist, and is home of RAPid Tooling Component™s. Rentapen Inc. has been providing machine tool design services to manufactures since 1976.  A Certified Woman Owned Business and owns RAPid Tooling Components™. For more information Rentapen Inc., please call 262-542-8891 or visit http://www.rentapen.com.

 

Weld Jig Design and Tooling Company Introduces Wolverine Clamp Riser

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Rentapen Inc., Located In Waukesha, WI Has Added A Brand New RAPid Tooling Component™ To Their Website.

On Monday, January 21, 2013, Rentapen Inc. launched their new spacer and riser to go under Wolverine Clamps. They immediately made 3D models available for customers to download from their website and place in their machine tool designs.

Rentapen developed a new line of clamp risers that will work with a variety of Wolverine brand clamps. The Wolverine clamp is designed to hold parts in place while the parts are being welded or assembled with other parts during production. Often times the machine tool requirement is that the clamp needs to be attached to a mounting block to be in the right position for clamping the production part.

“We have several new products that are being launched early this year that will be offered to help manufacturers and machine tool makers save time,” said Susan Straley, President and Owner of Rentapen. “Our team is excited about this first new product launch of 2013.”

Wolverine clamps are available in a variety of styles and sizes. Rentapen’s new risers are able to hold straight-line clamps and manual or pneumatic hold-down clamps. When Machine Tool Designers are creating jigs or fixtures, they find it is faster and cheaper to use purchased products as often as possible to reduce design and build time and to reduce errors.

By using a purchased component the manufacturer saves time needed to create a custom clamp riser from start to finish. For example, they would have to go through a timely and expensive process that includes: designing the part; detailing; checking; ordering material; writing the CNC code; creating the part and finally inspecting the part. Time studies have shown that Rentapen’s RAPid Risers™ saves manufacturers as much as 73 minutes in design and build time.
“We experienced phenomenal growth in our tooling component sales in 2012 as more manufacturers learned about the quality and versatility of our product line,” said Straley. “More and more, RAPid Tooling Components are becoming the new standard in assembly fixture and weld fixture design.”
Rentapen Inc. has been designing machines since 1976. In 2002 they developed the RAPid Tooling Components™ line in response to their customers need to reduce costs. The new clamp risers will be made in the USA.

Weld Tooling Company Helps Educate Engineering Students and Machine Designers About Adjustability.

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>Rentapen, Weld Fixture Components Manufacturer, Provides Lessons in Machine Design Using Videos and Youtube.

On January 2, 2013, Rentapen added another lesson for new machine designers entitled, “Product Piece Part Holding with Precision — Why use Adjustability with Shims

The lesson is part of the on-going tutorials put out to help prepare CAD Drafting students and new engineers on the art and science of Weld and Assembly Fixture Design. A fixture is used to hold product parts in place in the factory while they are being manually or robotically welded or assembled.

Rentapen’s President and Queen of Lean Machine Design, Susan Straley, has created a Weld Fixture Design Blog and posts bi-weekly educational and helpful information for individuals in the Manufacturing Industry. Rentapen has created a series of videos and instructions on best practices.

This latest Weld Fixture Design Blog addressed 3-way adjustability with weld fixtures that corresponds with the latest video that has been released on Youtube and on their website. Visitors to the blog will find a plethora of different categories on the Weld Fixture Design 101 page. Some common categories that Staley blogs about are locating pins, metal shims, machine design, fasteners and RAPid Tooling Components™.

There are over 50 different videos that a subscriber may choose from when viewing Rentapen’s Youtube channel. Most of the videos are designed to inform the viewer and will educate the viewer on how to design or use purchased tooling components.

“I am pleased that George, who has been designing machines for over 36 years, agreed to be a part of this lesson. He does a great job explaining why Machine Design Engineers should consider including adjustability in their weld fixture designs,” said Susan Straley, President of Rentapen.

Rentapen is a Wisconsin Certified Woman-Owned Business Enterprise that has been designing machine tools for over 36 years. The Milwaukee area company was voted a Top 10 Business in Waukesha County.

Rentapen Featured in December Issue of Welding Journal For “Green” Practices.

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Rentapen Inc., a manufacturer of Weld Tooling Components, has been recognized by the American Welding Society (AWS) for being a “Green” company.

On December 3, 2012 the Welding Journal produced a five page article in its magazine entitled “For Weld Tooling Design Company Being Green Is Second Nature.”  The article can be found on pages 32-36 of the magazine.

 Rentapen designs and builds weld fixtures and is the home of RAPid Tooling Components™.  These tooling components are products that Rentapen developed to help engineers and manufacturers save time in the design and build of weld fixtures.  Rentapen manufactures these metal shims, locating plates, and clamp risers at its plant in Waukesha, WI.

Rentapen has been a “green” company for over twenty years.  In the early 1990’s Rentapen’s President, Susan Straley and Vice President George Straley, became part of a Household ECO Team program.  Rentapen’s Owners were reducing, reusing and recycling long before Wisconsin took action and made recycling a state law.

Rentapen not only recycles in their shop, they also recycle and reuse in their office too.  Rentapen does not buy paper towels; they use cloth rags in all areas of the office and shop. Also, in every room at Rentapen there are separate bins for recycling and for garbage.

“I am very proud of this recognition.  George and I have been advocates for protecting the environment and reducing waste for a long time,” said Susan Straley, President and Owner of Rentapen.

The shop team is also conservative and mindful of waste.  They first consider the boxes of discarded material before going to the inventory of new material to build new tooling components and metal shims.

 All the paper in the recycle bins located in Rentapen’s office is shredded and used as material for shipping.  Employees are encouraged to bring in their old newspapers for use as packing material. Recycling makes good business sense for Rentapen.  In the first 9 months of 2012 Rentapen received over $3,500 back for recycling their metal waste.

The article can be found on the American Welding Society (AWS) website, under the December Issue.  AWS was founded in 1919 as a multifaceted, nonprofit organization.  The main goal of the organization was to help the advancement in science, technology and applications in welding.  The website provides thousands of articles related to the field of welding and will benefit instructors, students, and individuals already in the field.

 

Rentapen Gets Big Views of Educational Video to Teach Machine Tool Design, Weld Jig and Assembly Fixture Design to Mechanical Engineering Students and CAD Drafters.

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Rentapen Inc., Weld Fixture Specialists, located in Waukesha, WI, produced and published an educational video for CAD Drafters, Engineering Students, and Manufacturing Engineering Managers that has received over 3,100 views on youtube.

On September 25, 2011 Rentapen Inc., produced a video demonstrating Weld Fixture Design.  Since the video was released it has been viewed over 3,100 times. This 6.5 minute video is one of the top viewed videos on youtube when searching for Weld Fixture Design. There are 46 other videos that Rentapen has developed and placed on youtube and the website that are for educational purposes.

This video provides seven important tips when building a weld fixture.  These tips are designed to help Manufacturing Engineers produce the very best designs. Rentapen Inc., is a custom precision
RAPid Shims™ and RAPid Blocks™ company that takes pride in educating their customers and students in the industry.

“I started my educational Blog, Weld Fixture Design 101, after I learned that 40% of our Engineers in the United States will be retiring in the next 7 years.  I feel strongly that those of us who have been working in design need to share our knowledge with those coming up behind us, so they don’t waste time making the same mistakes we made,” said Susan Straley, Queen of Lean Machine Design
and President of Rentapen.

Engineers and students of Engineering and Machine Tool Design can sign up to be notified every time a new blog is posted by signing up for Education and Updates on the Rentapen website.  However, if you just want to see any new videos, subscribe to Rentapen’s Youtube Channel.

“Instructions on how to see how many views your video has received on Youtube said that a count of 200 views was really good, so I was pretty shocked and pleased to see our video on machine design tips received over 3,000 views,” said Straley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Milwaukee Welding Fixture Specialist Demonstrates Precision Fixtures

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Rentapen Inc., discovers 32 different footprints for
creating 3-way adjustments with RAPid Shims™ and RAPid Blocks™.

On November 14, 2012 Rentapen Inc., launched a new page on the Rentapen website introducing 3-way adjustability for RAPid Shims™ and RAPid Blocks™ under the Shims menu dropdown.  These RAPid Tooling Components™ help Engineers save time and also saves time in the machine tool build process.

These newly developed RAPid Shims™ and RAPid Blocks™ create adjustability for locating pins to fit for precision welding.  The locating pin’s position in the weld fixture can be finely tuned before mass production begins.  Precision shims are added or removed between the blocks to make sure the pin is in the right
location.  When in the right location, the final welded product meets product’s tolerance specifications.

Rentapen’s RAPid Shims™ are created with precision sheet metal for fine adjustment of the fixture before welding begins. The RAPid Blocks™ are created with counter-bored hole on both sides for design versatility.

“We knew our RAPid Blocks were versatile, but we were surprised to learn there are actually 32 different ways to position the blocks along with shims to create the 3-way adjustment that is often needed in a precision weld fixture,” said Susan Straley, President and Owner of Rentapen.

In the next few weeks Rentapen Inc., will be producing a “How To” video displaying how 3-way adjustability can be used.  There will be a series of blogs coming out that can be found on the Weld Fixture Design 101 web page that will help describe how to use these tooling components in detail.

“I just posted a blog talking about our standard tolerance on locating pins and the ways to use our RAPid Blocks with shims to create 3-way adjustment in weld and assembly fixtures,” said Straley.

 

 

Rentapen wins Award for Excellence in Business

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On November 9, Rentapen, Inc, a woman-owned machine tool design and build company was honored for its achievements in exceptional marketing by the Waukesha Award Program.


Rentapen Inc. specializes in weld and assembly fixtures and custom and standard precision shims. The weld jig and assembly fixture design and build company was selected for the 2012 Best of Waukesha Award in the Miscellaneous General Business Services category by the Waukesha Award Program.

Earlier in 2012, Rentapen also was voted one of the Top 10 Businesses in the Waukesha Area by the Waukesha Business Alliance and the Biz Times. That award was based on Customer Service, Growth, and Employee Relations.

Each year, the Waukesha Award Program identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Waukesha area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2012 Waukesha Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Waukesha Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Rentapen
Rentapen works with manufacturers when they are tooling up their factories to produce their products. In response to their customers’ need to reduce the time needed to design and build a fixture, Rentapen developed a line of standard yet versatile components. These components save machine designers and manufacturers time when designing and building their weld and assembly fixtures.

This simple weld fixture contains Rentapens time-saving RAPid Tooling Components(TM)

The product line, called RAPid Tooling Components include clamp risers, blocks, plates and precision shims. They are quickly becoming popular among machine tool designers and have grown to be half of Rentapen’s sales. Thanks to a dynamic website where 3D models of the components can be downloaded and placed easily into designs.

About Waukesha Award Program

The Waukesha Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Waukesha area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Waukesha Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in the Waukesha community. The organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. The Waukesha Award Program’s mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy.