FeatureCAM helps Moscow Mills win million dollar boat trap contract

The contract is to further develop a boat trap system, designed to support harbour security in the US and at military bases abroad – essentially a ballistic net deployed from a helicopter, designed to snare the propellers of a target vessel. Anderson Leveille, Moscow Mills engineering manager, says the companies had worked for more than two years to develop the system, using FeatureCAM to create the component machining programs. “We currently use FeatureCAM in both our lathe and mill departments to program all the toolpaths for key components in the project,” explains Leveille. “The flexibility of the software is fantastic. The more we dig into it and use its features, the better we appreciate what a fantastic product it is. “We use the software to produce high quality, short run production components and prototypes for our customers. 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.” In particular Leveille cites 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 – so allowing faster programming. And he likes the fact that 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,” he says. “I have six seats of the software, and all of my men program with it.”