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Since the
mid-1960s, Harken Yacht Products — a family-owned business started
by brothers Peter and Olaf Harken — has been producing top-of-the-line
hardware for yachts, sailboats, and racing vessels. Hardware produced
by Harken is used by most of the world’s top boat builders and has
been pressed into service at a number of prestigious yacht races including
the America’s Cup.
The 3,500 parts
sold by Harken basically sit between the sailor and the sails. The company's
blocks or high-performance pulleys are used to do everything from hoisting
the sails to controlling or trimming them."
So how has
Harken managed to fill a 200-page catalog full of high quality, innovative
products that are used all around the world? By drawing on the sailing
expertise of its employees (Harken also owned a boatbuilding business,
Vanguard Sailboats, until the early 1980s), and by introducing the very
latest technologies into its operations, including a CAD/CAM program called
SURFCAM®.
Recently, SolidWorks
Express spoke with Len Post, Harken’s chief machinist, about the
company's use of SURFCAM and SolidWorks® software.
What
led to your decision to use SURFCAM?
"People expect our parts and components
to work reliably day in and day out, for a very long period of time. So
our parts simply cannot fail, even under the most extreme conditions.
It’s just not an option. We had to be certain that we were designing
and manufacturing the highest performing parts at all times. With that
mindset, we began searching for a CAM solution back in 1996. We thought
our parts were complex back then. Some of them had ten machining operations,
and it could take us up to a week just to program them because we were
doing everything by hand."
What
is the impact of using SURFCAM?
 "Today,
we’re programming parts that require fifty different machining operations,
and we’re able to program and machine them in less than 48 hours.
So, yes, SURFCAM has had a huge impact on the business and on our ability
to get things done.”
What's the importance
of being able to read native SolidWorks parts and assemblies?
"SURFCAM reads Solidworks files directly,
which means our programmers can read the same file as the engineer. This
eliminates the interim step of making neutral files and the worry associated
with such a neutral file not being up to date. In the end, it increases
accuracy and saves time."
Why is it important that the
SURFCAM program provide associativity to SolidWorks?
"The associativity eliminates much of the
need for manually updating toolpaths when an engineer changes a part.
This again saves the valuable time of our chief machinist."
What has been the benefit of
SURFCAM maintaining its interoperability to the latest releases from SolidWorks?
"It is important that SURFCAM stay up to date
so that there are no compatibility issues when the engineers upgrade SolidWorks.
As stated in question one, there is a great benefit to reading SolidWorks
files directly."
Describe
a typical machine process at Harken
"To machine blocks and a myriad of other sailboat
components, we generate SURFCAM programs for two CNC Knee Mills made by
Tree, a Haas Mini-Mill, and a Haas VF III milling machine. The amount
of machining that’s required to go from a raw piece of stock to
a finished component is surprising. We were recently working on a 150
millimeter runner block with a Becket. It started out as a 22-pound piece
of aluminum stock, and by the time we were finished with it, it was down
to just three pounds. So that gives you some idea of how much machining
was involved. It was one of the most complex pieces we have machined to
date."
Why
are there so many passes to create a single part?
"The
reason that so many machining passes are necessary for Harken parts is
because of the many design considerations that engineers have to take
into account: function, strength, durability, size, cost, weight, and
even aesthetics. Many boats are best suited for aluminum parts, while
others require stainless steel or even titanium."
How
does SURFCAM's drag-and-drop capability save you time?
"The
ability to change the order of machining operations by simply dragging
and dropping is a signficant time saver. Let’s say you’ve
got 25 or 30 operations for each side of a part. You notice a little bit
of chatter on the machine tool, and say to yourself, ‘If I move
this operation downstream, the part would probably come out better.’
Well with SURFCAM you can do just that. You can drag the machining operation
that’s currently third in line, for example, and drop it into fifth
place. You couldn’t even do something like that manually. You’d
probably have to start from scratch and write the program all over again.”
What's the importance of SURFCAM supporting high-speed
machining?
 "People
expect our parts and components to work reliably day in and out. Where
machine tools were operating at 6000 RPMs five years ago, you can now
buy a machine that runs at 40,000 RPMs. That’s more than a six-fold
increase, and it changes the whole scenario of how you are going to machine
a part. SURFCAM was quick to support high-speed machining. So as tooling
has gotten better and machines have gotten faster, we’ve been able
to take full advantage of these advances. We haven’t had to be shy
about reprogramming a part or trying out a different tool."
Describe
other advantages of using SURFCAM?
Versatility
"
SURFCAM offer a number of ways to approach an operation. Take pocketing,
for example. It doesn’t just give me one spiral option —
it gives me three or four. Does that mean I use all of these different
options? Certainly not. But I can tell you this: I have my favorite
ways of doing things, and they are not the same ways that I started
out with. There’s a lot of very good machining know-how inside
this product, and the longer you use it, the more you discover.”
Better handle on product complexity
"Product designs are never perfect when they come into the shop.
Sometimes the geometry doesn’t meet, so you have to either trim
it out or fill it. Or you might have to insert a small radius or fillet
because the end mill can’t fit into a square corner. Rather than
send the design back to the engineering department, these minor changes
are made inside the SURFCAM environment by taking advantage of some
of the program’s built-in CAD capabilities. The changes usually
don’t have to do with the quality of the design but rather with
its manufacturability. By making a few simple changes, we can speed
the process along and start cutting metal faster."
“Constantly learning” to make
things better, faster
"Our own success in the machine shop results from the depth of
the SURFCAM software itself and also from the technical proficiency
of our local dealer, Programming Plus in nearby New Berlin, Wisconsin.
They schedule user meetings where we get to hear from other local businesses
using SURFCAM. And more recently, they’ve been trying something
new, which is spending more one-on-one time with us in a more casual,
less structured environment.”
Drawing on SURFCAM engraving capabilities
"One of the most under-utilized capabilities of SURFCAM is engraving,
which Harken is putting to good use. There are two things that we like
to engrave on every part. First is the Harken logo, which gives us a
lot of brand recognition when you consider how many different boat builders
are using our products. And in many instances we like to engrave the
size on each part. For example, engraving ‘175’ on a block
indicates that it’s our 175 millimeter block.”
Error free software?
"One final thing that impresses me and that has made a huge difference
at Harken Yacht Products is the overall quality of the software. We’ve
used SURFCAM since 1996, and I’m honestly telling you that in
recent years the software has come out flawlessly, one release after
another. We haven’t had a single glitch, not one, which is pretty
amazing when you stop and think about it."
Changed
the way that Harken Yacht Equipment works
Has SURFCAM actually changed the way that the machine
shop at Harken Yacht Products works? The answer is a resounding yes. “Absolutely,”
says Post. “SURFCAM has made me a much happier machinist!”
Interview with
SURFCAM user:
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