Accuracy spot on thanks to Tebis!

Up until recently, Interform Manufacturing had no CAD/CAM capabilities in place. By introducing Tebis to their shop floor they are now achieving the accuracy they had been striving for and are eager to learn more about Tebis and how it could benefit other areas of the business.

Based in High Wycombe, Interform offers a complete range of vacuum forming and manufacturing solutions. Established 32 years ago, the company was originally set up to make lawn mower parts and have diversified to offer their services to a variety of industries including Aviation, Automotive, Marine, Retail and TV & Film. Their services include prototyping, tool making, fabrication and assembly and CNC machining. They’ve even made props for the Harry Potter, Star Wars and James Bond movies!

With 19 employees and an array of items to produce for a variety of industries the time was right to invest and automate their CAD/CAM processes. They had previously been teaching in by hand. There are now 3 employees working with Tebis on a Maka MK7 and KPF.

• Why Tebis?

  The company initially looked at four CAD/CAM systems with Tebis being the first, and ultimately the one that was chosen. Tim Spalton, M.D at Interform explains that from looking at them all it seemed that Tebis was the most user friendly and most suited to what they thought they wanted out of a system. Upon asking what improvements and benefits they have witnessed in the time they have been using Tebis, “It’s mainly the accuracy we’ve managed to achieve more easily” explains Tim. “The software allows us to produce our parts more efficiently and to a more accurate tolerance. Before we were teaching the parts by hand on to the machines and this meant we couldn’t hold the tolerance of the drawings”.

  Tim continues, "As our first foray into CAD/CAM, we have found the system very easy to use. As first time users, it was a daunting prospect but we’re surprised at how quickly we have picked it up”.

  

  One of the users of Tebis is also extremely happy with software and the results it has helped them accomplish. "It’s made my life 100% easier compared to doing the job manually" said Yussef Kelly, a CNC Programme who uses Tebis on a daily basis. He continues, "I used to be at the machine manually saving the reference points. The last 6 months we have been far more productive, we have made all our own jigs and fixtures and we can collision check the program, the machine, the fixture and the part. The surface finishes on the trimming cycles are also much better".

  Tim’s experience of the support and service given by Tebis so far is a positive one, “We are really happy with the service we have received from Tebis. We have done some training which has been useful as none of us had the experience of the CAD/CAM side of things. In terms of support, whenever we have had a problem we have contacted the Tebis engineers and it has been sorted for us efficiently and quickly”.

• Robots and the future

  One of the current projects Interform are working on is “Bo”. Working with Bots and Us, components for the robot are being produced using Tebis software. Bo is described as the social robot with state of the art human-robot-interaction capabilities. Prototypes and parts for the Bobot are being machined with accuracy thanks to Tebis 5 axis trimming capabilities. Tim is enthusiastic about this project saying “Bots and Us are a young company who have ideas and to help bring them to life is an exciting opportunity for us”. You can find out more information about Bo at www.botsandus.com.

  

  Interform are now considering their future plans with Tebis in mind. “Now knowing what we can do with Tebis there are potential other uses we could use it for” says Tim. He continues “From talking with the Tebis guys and what we have seen there are other modules we haven’t got and we have seen that some of them could be very useful to use further down the line. We look forward to working with Tebis further in the future!”