Springbacks compensated for in a competitive manner

Wesoba uses AutoForm simulation tools to systematically safeguard toolmaking right through to tryout. This enables the company from Schwarzenberg in the Ore Mountains to produce the first component more quickly and to plan reliably and cost-effectively.

“In toolmaking, we concentrate on transfer and line tools for steel, stainless steel and aluminum components. The focus is on drawn parts with complex geometries – here we are consistently developing into larger tools,” reports Managing Director Georg Pfaff. Increasingly, this is also happening for parts made of high-strength steels – extreme tolerances and high surface requirements have to be met anyway: “This combination explains why we have to simulate. Experience and manual work are simply no longer enough.” Wesoba is therefore consistently expanding its collaboration with AutoForm in order to match model and tool ever more closely: “We have now taken the first steps towards the surface. We will continue on this path in long-term collaborations with our customers so that they can assess for themselves which step is possible next.” AutoForm now plays a special role in this constellation: Although the collaboration began back in 2008, it became really intensive around two years ago. AutoForm represents the solution for Wesoba to guarantee the manufacturability of the components and to be able to tell customers with certainty that ‘it works’. In Schwarzenberg, this provides crucial support early on in the production process on the way to a dimensionally accurate part. AutoForm also provides a time leap in development. With the AutoForm compensator in particular, Wesoba gets the finished compensation sooner: what used to require several manual correction loops including design changes, reprogramming, welding, mechanical processing and tryouts is now done by the program – and faster and more accurately.

The intensified collaboration began with training courses on AutoForm Forming, which focused on the creation of Class A surfaces. Not a single loop had to be run on a gray-zone part that was used for training: 97 percent of all measuring points were immediately OK. The first project was then implemented with a wheel arch for Mercedes-Benz and the compensation was built up step by step together. During the wheel installation, there was initially a discrepancy between simulation and practice. In several rounds, the cause of this deviation was investigated together. Questions about the evaluation of the component were also clarified. Finally, the solution was found and the component could be produced. The training, service and application went very well – no part is now manufactured in Schwarzenberg without the AutoForm Compensator. The AutoForm Compensator is part of a series of AutoForm tools that Wesoba now uses throughout the process. First, the design of a component is checked for manufacturability – sometimes even before a quotation is submitted. After consultation with the customer, the method is then simulated in AutoForm. Once this is complete, the tool is designed and compensated for the first time in order to work out any manufacturability problems. Once the components are cast and the tool is ready, another compensation process begins. In the next step, a finished drawn part is available, from which the experts scan the surfaces. The AutoForm Compensator is used again to evaluate these surfaces. Finally, the milling surfaces for the trimming tools are converted. In this way, the simulation and tool are repeatedly compared during the process – until the first part is available. Wesoba essentially derives three main effects from working with the AutoForm Compensator: First of all, it brings us closer and closer to practice. In addition, time and costs are saved because fewer correction loops are required and results are available more quickly. In pure compensation work, this easily amounts to three weeks of work per part. Thirdly, the results are more accurate than when working manually. In addition to the springback in the tool position, the springback in the vehicle position can now also be determined and gravity can be taken into account in this way.

This is another reason why the conclusion in the Erzgebirge is very positive: “Without tools such as the AutoForm Compensator, we would not be able to handle the ever larger, more complex parts as well as the visible parts,” emphasizes Christian Pfaff, who manages the company together with his brother. “But AutoForm also creates trust – not only because the customer is clear about what needs to be taken into account during simulation or how to evaluate it, but also because AutoForm is simply the standard in automotive engineering.” Incidentally, Wesoba’s current goal is to overlay the tool and simulation model more and more precisely. For high-strength steels, for example. The tribological values from the TriboForm plug-in could also help to simulate more complicated parts even more realistically in the future. At the same time, the simulations should increasingly reveal control variables that can be used to influence problem areas. Last but not least, Wesoba will start CAD work with the AutoForm-ProcessDesignerfor CATIA in the future in order to save time during design. Web: www.autoform.com