Plastics & Model Making
Berlin team of architects becomes high-tech model maker
By investing in a '5-axis class' CNC machining center, two architects offer everything that can be expected in the construction of demonstration models in a special class - and often even more. The equipment of the machine and the length of its travel paths give the team of architects an almost perfect unique position in exclusive model making. The interaction and implementation of ideas, software and machining technology are crucial here.
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It is certainly not an everyday occurrence that architects are intensively involved in the simultaneous five-axis machining of wood, special plastics, acrylic or even light metals. However, the model-making company Werk5, located in the middle of the former eastern part of Berlin, is a good example of what is possible today with modern software and machining technology.
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When the two architects, Dipl.-Ing. Hauke ​​Helmer (45) and Dipl.-Ing. Ulrich Mangold (42), set up their own business after completing their studies twelve years ago, they had no idea that they would one day be doing the job of model makers. And at the highest technical and qualitative level. The current managing partners of the model making company, which has since been renamed Werk5 Mangold Helmer GmbH, soon realized that their architectural models were too expensive to make by hand, as was common at the time, that they took far too much time to create and, above all, that their execution did not always meet their own high expectations. They looked for a way to do this more professionally and efficiently. Modern CAD software and, inevitably, CNC processing technology quickly came into focus for the two of them. Initial attempts with a smaller machine, including for the post-processing of deep-drawn plastic parts from which the models are often made, quickly reached their limits.
Today, three CNC machining centers, a CO2 laser cutting and engraving system, a 3D multijet plotter, a 3D laser scanner and twelve CAD-CAM workstations are in use. As one of the leading companies in the field of architectural and design model making, the Berlin-based company offers competition and presentation models, prototypes and, if necessary, small or pilot series. 20 employees, including 10 permanent employees and three trainees in the field of model making - with a focus on demonstration model making - are currently employed on Köpenicker Strasse in Berlin's Mitte district.
Some of the trainees to date have already graduated with distinction. 60 percent of the models are destined for foreign countries, primarily for projects in Dubai, Russia, the USA, France and Australia, to name just a few of the interesting countries. The customers are architects, developers, the public sector, industry, internationally active designers and, not to forget, performing artists.
Many years of experience, the use of modern materials such as wood, Corian, acrylic and polystyrene, but also aluminum, as well as the available high-tech software, an excellent machine park and of course outstanding employees who are very familiar with the CNC world, meet the high demands of customers. The Berlin model makers' reference list includes around 250 interesting names, from A for Adidas and Audi to Daimler, SAP, Studio Liebeskind and VW, to Z for Hanover Zoo. Werk5's range of services extends from its own designs to the three-dimensional implementation of ideas, plans and designs. The proximity to the German Architecture Center ( www.daz.de ) in the same building complex, a former factory for agricultural equipment and machinery, creates additional international contact opportunities for Werk5.
Mr. Mangold is from near Ulm and knew the Maka company in Nersingen early on. When the CNC machining project on a larger scale, i.e. for larger workpieces, became urgent, the Werk5 team 'queried' all potential manufacturers of machining centers with five-axis technology and examined their offers in detail. Maka's expertise in this technology and the interaction of the control system - in this case a Siemens 850D - with the Maka MM 7s, the software available from Maka and the Tebis software for the five-axis simultaneous technology, ultimately tipped the scales in favor of Maka.
A Maka MM 7s five-axis machining center has been in use at Werk5 since October 2006. Maka is astonished: since the handover after just a week of instruction, the Nersingen-based machine builders have heard basically nothing from their machine. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, it is almost overwhelming what the Berlin-based company has achieved with it and what plans they have for the future. According to the operating hour counter, the MM 7s was in use for more than 2,600 hours in its first year and was used to manufacture a large number of models.
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These include architectural models, landscape models based on 3D satellite images of existing landscape sections, such as with an inserted curved bridge for a museum in Bern, for church, theater and hotel projects. But performing artists also make use of Werk5's services.
This is illustrated by the example of a model for a sports stadium in Barcelona, ​​with the commission for a competition model from the architects Gerkan, Marg and Partner for the conversion of an existing stadium in Barcelona. The complex free-form support structure of the stadium roof was delivered to Berlin as a 3ds file and redesigned by the Werk5 employees using Rhinoceros. A machining program was then created using Tebis and the stadium model was milled out of a solid acrylic block on the Maka MM 7s in a total processing time of eight hours. This required two-sided clamping and, of course, five-axis simultaneous machining. The advantage of the selected model construction measuring 500 x 300 x 40 mm is its monostructure, which means that no assembly of individual parts is necessary. The executed model of the architects' stadium design is impressive in terms of aesthetics but also and above all in terms of high precision in detail.
Machine details The Maka MM 7s has a work table and a work area with cube dimensions of 3000 x 1500 x 650 mm. The aluminum table top is 39 mm thick and has 120 combination sockets in a 200 mm grid. The Maka five-axis head is equipped with a high-performance spindle with a drive power of 10 kW and a speed range of up to 24,000 rpm, as well as an HSK 63 F tool holder. A moving tool magazine with drum changer offers ten tool places, the suction hood is height-adjustable and its suction capacity can therefore be adapted to the respective work task. As a special feature, the machine has a Haidenhein linear scale as a direct path measuring system in the Z-axis, as well as a coolant spray system for aluminum processing.