Tag Archives: pro/e design services

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.

 

Jig or Weld Fixture Design — Holes 101

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In machine design there are fundamental rules to follow when locating fasteners.  I remember taking drafting classes but I was taught the basics of holes and hole locating only after I started working for Rentapen many years ago.

Mr. Iyer commented on the blog last time that I didn’t talk about construction holes for locating the angled cut on the v-block. He is right! So this video talks construction holes. I just want to add that in the video I put in .313″ construction hole. Looking back at it, a .25″ would have been better for this small part.

Also the video today talks about a major rule of thumb for locating mounting holes.

Mr. Iyer’s comment talked about using a plane that goes from the construction hole to the dowel hole that was zero/zero in the other surface. If this helps, where should I locate the other zero that is normal to that one. Also at the original surface dowel?

Remember, nothing is written in stone here. So if you know a better way or your company does it differently, share that with us in the comment section below!   Are there other rules of thumb you can share?

MORE TO LEARN!

A reader of this blog, Marvin Davis, has shared with us some links to other free education.  It doesn’t appear that any of them are on machine design, but some are on computers and math and so might be of interest to you.  I am sharing the list below.  But before you leave us to surf and learn, be sure to sign up for Rentapen news and updates on the right side of this page.  Then you will be notified of the next Weld Fixture Design 101 blog.

 

The Really Free Schools are Onlinehttp://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/the-really-free-schools-are-online-2353052.html

 

Berkeley Webcasts

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/series#c,s

 

CERN Document Server

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/

 

Harvard Open Learning Initiative

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative

 

Houston – University of Houston

http://www.youtube.com/user/UHouston#g/c/4F8EC29025F10C20

 

Indiana Multimedia Distribution System

http://www.imds.iu.edu

 

iTunes U

http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/

 

Khan Academy

http://www.khanacademy.org/

 

Math On Line – University of Colorado Colorado Springs

http://www.uccs.edu/~math/vidarchive.html

 

Mathematical Sciences Research Institute

http://www.msri.org/web/msri/home

 

MIT Open Course Ware

http://ocw.mit.edu

 

McGill Courses On Line

http://cool.mcgill.ca/

 

nanoHUB

http://nanohub.org/

 

Open Learn – the Open University

http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/

 

Oxford Podcasts

http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/

 

RSA Animate

http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/videos/

 

Scribd – Social Publishing

http://www.scribd.com/

 

Stanford Engineering Everywhere

http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx

 

Video Lectures

http://videolectures.net/

 

Yale – Open Courses

http://oyc.yale.edu

 

YouTube – Education

http://www.youtube.com/education

 

 

 

Weld Fixture Design — Product Changes

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How do you design a fixture knowing the product may be modified by the product engineers?

When designing a weld fixture, or jig as some people call them, it is important to remember that things can change.  Machine designers need to think ahead and have a standard procedure to follow that will reduce errors and costs in the case of a product change.  Changes can occur during or  after the fixture has been designed.

Often times the product design team is on a tight schedule to begin production of the new product.  They may hand it over to the manufacturing engineers before all the quirks are ironed out of it.  They may still be producing and working with the prototypes, but they need to start getting the factory ready for production.

Click on the picture to watch the weld fixture design video that discusses this further using Pro/E Wildfire 4.0.

 

Manufacturing Engineers,  what standard method of 3D model component location do YOU follow to help you in the event that product changes are made?

Leave a comment, add a question, sign up for future weld fixture education and updates.

Seven Tips for Lean and Efficient Weld Fixture Design.

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This is my FIRST Blog!!!  Yep!  And I am excited because we are going to go over how to design a simple weld fixture.  Then, with each new post we are going to delve deeper.  This is going to be like Weld Fixture Design 101, and then 201 and then 301!  So you may notice that some things may be not quite right in this weld fixture.  In future blogs we will address that.  So sign up to get notified regarding future education and updates.

 Weld Fixture Design is both an art and a science.  We won’t all agree on what is the right way.  I invite you to comment.  This way we can learn together.

So lets get started!

Tip #1  Ask the right questions before beginning.

Tip #2 Start w/ those items that touch the product parts.

Tip #3 Use purchased components where possible reducing time, costs, and errors.

Tip #4 Design in adjustability with shims.

The right combinations of shims will give the ability to fine tune the location of your product parts to .005” accuracy before mass production begins.

Tip #5 Review the design for weld access, efficiency and functionality.

Can you eliminate any parts?  Is there room for the weld gun?  Will you be able to get the parts out after they are welded?

Tip #6  Have the customer or production team review the design.

Make any changes they recommend and get their approval before putting in the holes, shims, fasteners and creating drawings.

Tip #7 Always have someone else check your work.

Get someone else to look over your design and drawings. 

In future posts we will go further into the design, address more complex issues, and continue learning together.

This list of tips is not all encompassing.  Let me know what you think.  What would YOU add?  Which of these tips would you like me to explore deeper first?