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Delcam's FeatureCAM CAM system
has helped Moscow Mills Manufacturing of Moscow, Vermont, along with
partner company Foster-Miller, from Waltham, Massachusetts, to win a
$1 million dollar contract from the United States Marine Corps Systems
Command Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. The contract is to further
develop an advanced 'boat trap' system designed to support harbour security
in the US and at military bases abroad.
The companies have worked for more than two years to develop the boat
trap system using FeatureCAM to create the machining programs for the
components. The system is based on a non-lethal, ballistic net deployed
from a helicopter into the path of any threatening or suspicious boat.
The net ensnares the propellers of the target vessel, disabling the
craft.
"We currently use FeatureCAM in both our lathe and mill departments
to program all the toolpaths for key components in the project,"
said Anderson Leveille, Moscow Mills engineering manager. "The
flexibility of the software is excellent and we use the software to
produce high quality, short run production components and prototypes
for our customers.
"This is one of the most difficult segments in the industry in
which to compete successfully," Mr Leveille continued. "When
doing short-run, high-end parts you do not have the luxury of amortising
large amounts of set-up time over many components. Hitting the ground
running and creating usable code quickly is a key part of our strategy
to turn around our customers' projects in record times. As the boat
trap moves from concept to reality, FeatureCAM's flexibility allows
us to go from art to part in record time."
One of the key features for Moscow Mills is FeatureCAM's automatic feature
recognition capability which automatically recognises turned features,
bores and grooves from imported turned solids, together with sides,
bosses and pockets for milling, and so allows faster programming. In
addition, any new solid models can be monitored for changes, which are
automatically highlighted by the software.
"Even with our track record, this project would not have been possible
without FeatureCAM," Mr Leveille summed up. "I have six seats
of the software, and all my staff program with it."
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