In keeping with the Christmas season and its traditions, OPEN MIND showed how an exact replica of a famous nutcracker from the Erzgebirge, a region in East Germany, is milled from aluminium. The example demonstrates an end-to-end digital process chain and efficient 5-axis machining with hyperMILL.

Together with EMUGE-FRANKEN, CAD/CAM developer OPEN MIND set itself a task: To digitally reproduce a 40 centimetre tall nutcracker as accurately as possible and mill it from aluminium as efficiently as possible. The traditional Seiffener Volkskunst provided the wooden figure, which was handcrafted in around 150 steps and consists of around thirty individual parts.

From scan to surface model
OPEN MIND turned to WESTCAM for the 3D scan of the nutcracker. The Austrian partner is not only characterised by its hyperMILL expertise, but it also has extensive know-how in 3D measurement technology. The result of the scan was a high-resolution mesh model consisting of 1.2 million triangles. At OPEN MIND, a surface-based 3D model was created using the hyperMILL® CAD/CAM solution and designed completely parametrically. The advantage of the latter is that production-related changes to the model can be made very easily afterwards. For production, the nutcracker model was divided into the upper part, legs, arms and lever, which were pinned and glued together after completion.

For further details contact Hi-Tech Machine Tools on TEL: 011 608 0088 or visit www.hitech.co.za