2019cnc4-5

48 www.CNC-West.com CNC WEST April/May 2019 Bicycle Manufacturer Relies on CAD/CAM Software to Roll Prototypes to Production Supplied by CNC Software Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc. designs and manufactures high-end road, mountain, and general-pur- pose bikes for a worldwide customer base. Founded in 1974 by cycling enthusiast Mike Sinyard, the company is a true trailblazer in its industry — Specialized Bicycle designed and manufactured the first production mountain bike in 1981. It has been rolling out innovations ever since. Daniel Lister is the research & development shop man- ager at the Morgan Hill, CA, facility. Here, Lister and his dedicated team spearhead R&D and prototyping efforts. Projects range from molds for carbon fiber to high-end road and mountain bike components such as suspensions, hubs, motors, and suspension links. The department works close- ly with the Specialized Bicycle design engineering team to rapidly produce testable prototypes within tight design cycles. To meet their goal of bringing innovation to produc- tion more quickly, team members rely on the capabilities of their Mastercam® CAD/CAM software and an expanded CNC machining and EDM operation. “We do all prototyping for literally any bike that comes through our design division,” said Lister. “It could be a new road bike that would be potentially ridden by one of our racers in the Tour de France or it could be a mountain bike for one of the riders in the World Cup downhill circuit.” A team of seven employees, including three CNC pro- grammers, makes full, rideable prototypes from a variety of materials, including aluminum, steel, titanium, and exotic alloys. All tooling for carbon fiber molds is made in-house. The shop often produces molds for wheels in their Roval Wheel line, frame molds for road and mountain bikes, and sections of carbon fiber frames. “We’re using Mastercam to fully prototype just about any part that comes through in a regular design cycle,” said Lister. “So, we can work on projects that are coming out in the next three months or marked for production in the next three to five years.” When Lister joined Specialized Bicycles in 2013, the 1200-square-foot R&D shop had one CNC mill and a vari- ety of manual machines. Within three years, three CNC ma- chines and two more seats of Mastercam were added. Within five years, the Specialized Bicycle research & development group moved into a new 8500-square-foot facility complete with CNC lathes, mills, EDMs, and numerous offshoot areas for welding, grinding, and processing. “We use Mastercam in a pretty holistic way,” said Lister. “It’s the most versatile CAD/CAM program that I’ve used. On the design side, we’ll import the part and check all fea- tures and tooling that we’re going to use. We then create and verify all toolpaths before we put stock into the machine.” When adhering to short design cycles, Specialized Bicy- cle designers look to Mastercam Solids for efficient, flexible solid modeling. The software lets the team import, create, Dynamic OptiRough milling toolpath used to efficiently rough material from the bearing bores and surfaces sides of the suspension link. Dynamic Rough lathe toolpath used to rough in the outer shape of the mountain bike hub using a Kennametal button turning tool. Dynamic OptiRough milling toolpath used to efficiently rough mater al from the bearing bores and surfac s sides f t e suspensio link. Dynamic Rough lathe toolpath used to rough in the outer shape of the mountain bike hub using a Kennametal button turning tool