TPT November 2009

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Tube M ills and Roll Forming Lines
November 2009 119 ›
THE latest version of Copra® RF roll forming
software from data M focuses on four
major features: a 3D punch hole editor
for use with pre-punched material; the
automatic meshing of pre-punched material;
the cloning of rolls; and re-using/recycling
existing roll tools.
Copra RF 3D punch-hole editor: Before
the meshing of pre-punched material can
be performed automatically, it is necessary
to define the punched hole shape and
punched hole position in the Copra RF
design software. With the previous versions
this was not possible. The Copra RF
software has now been combined with
Copra MetalBender 3D, which enables the
easy definition of 3D sheet metal parts with
any punched hole shape. The punched
holes can be defined either in the flat
strip, or in the final section. Beneath the
integrated library of standard holes, the user
can also define punch tool shapes and add
them, creating a personal punch tool library.
The program also allows the individual
stations to be made visible including the
punch-holes.
Copra FEA RF punch-hole meshing:
With all the information about shape and
position of punched holes created with the
punch hole editor, the mesh can now be
created automatically. Therefore, it is no
longer necessary to transfer the information
about the punch holes into the MSC.Mentat
program, delete the elements in the position
of the holes, and drag the nodes into
the correct position. A mesh preview is
now available, illustrating the automatically
calculated mesh with or without holes, and
any change in the meshing parameters will
update the mesh preview automatically.
The preview also shows the number of
elements, making it easier to find the
optimum constellation.
Copra RF roll design – cloning rolls:
To be able and make a fast and reliable
FEA calculation, it is necessary to have
the roll tools designed in Copra RF. The
previous version of Copra RF introduced
the possibility to design rolls only with
AutoCAD functions to make the design
process easier for those who are not
working with Copra RF on a daily basis.
In Copra RF 2009 all roll design functions
work for ‘free designed’ rolls. This allows
an effective combination of using Copra
RF and AutoCAD based features.
Copra RF 2009 provides a powerful
new tool to make design easier: the ability
to clone rolls. Rolls that are identical can
be cloned automatically. This can be done
for individual rolls, for a station or for the
complete project. If one roll is modified,
all respective cloned rolls are updated
automatically. This makes changes in
projects with more identical rolls faster,
especially for the rolls used in corrugated
or trapezoidal sections. As an added bonus,
cloned rolls only need to be dimensioned
once: identical rolls will not show up again
during automatic dimensioning. In the cutting
or material list, the quantity of individual
cloned rolls is also shown, so there is no
need for this to be updated manually.
Copra RF Roll Recycling Database:
Many Copra RF customers have a few
thousand or even ten thousand rolls that
cannot be used any more because the
respective section is now obsolete or the
roll was removed because of signs of wear.
If the mean value of a roll is assumed to be
€150 and the number of rolls that cannot
be used any more is 10,000 pieces, then
the customer has a value of €1.5m in
stock that can no longer be used. For this
reason, data M designed a Roll Recycling
Database. In combination with the Copra
RollScanner, the customer can now make
use of these rolls.
The roll is first scanned, and the scanned
contour is directly transferred to the Roll
Recycling Database. A rough sketch of
the required roll contour needs to be
made during roll design. The designer can
automatically search for a fitting recycling
roll, and the search criteria can be user
defined. For the roll retrieval, an oversize
in width and diameter can be defined. If a
fitting recycling roll is found, it is placed on
a layer of its own that can be switched on
and off. The respective rolls can be marked
with a different line width and/or line colour.
The identified recycling roll is linked to
the designed roll, and this information is
attached to the engineering data, ensuring
that the roll already exists and only needs
to be reworked.
data M Sheet Metal Solutions GmbH –
Germany
Fax: +49 8024 640 300
Email:
Website:
Enhancements in latest
roll forming software
 3D punch-holes
 Punch-hole meshing