Narrated videos highlight the new functionality in Mastercam X2 MR2, including new peel milling, new saw toolpath, powerful machining boundaries, new surface creation, and more

CNC Software has added more videos to the Multimedia section of the Mastercam Web site. This page explores some of the latest features in the Mastercam cam software family with downloadable video demonstrations, narrated overviews, and documents highlighting powerful new tools. The Mastercam X2 MR2 What’s New video was just added with the recent release of Mastercam X2’s second Maintenance Release.

These narrated videos highlight the new functionality in Mastercam X2 MR2, including new peel milling, new saw toolpath, powerful machining boundaries, new surface creation, and more.

The Introducing Mastercam X2 video feature not only what’s new for existing customers updating to the powerful, streamlined flow and flexibility of Mastercam X2, but provide a broad based overview of what Mastercam can do for a new customer.

The 20 min video covers seven distinct areas, said a report to manufacturingtalk.com from CNC Software.

he first segment covers the new Mastercam X interface and helps demonstrate both how to use it and why you may want to use it in specific ways.

The second and third sections of this video provide actual workflow demonstrations of 2D and 3D design using Mastercam’s highly graphical and flexible Sketcher tools.

The remaining sections cover Multiaxis machining and high speed toolpaths.

* High feed rates - the High Feed Optimization video focuses on the benefits of Mastercam’s High Feed Optimization, including how this function can maximize your tooling and machine tool’s capabilities.

The Multimedia page also provides videos of the Machine and Control Definition Toolkit in Mastercam, as well as customer testimonials, which spotlight current Mastercam customers and how they have used Mastercam to increase their productivity or conquer complex jobs.

The Multimedia page will be continuously updated with new, exciting material.

* About Mastercam - developed by CNC Software, Incorporated, Mastercam is Windows-based CAD/CAM software for the following.

* 2- through 5-axis milling and turning.

* 2- and 4-axis wire EDM.

* 2D and 3D design, surface, and solid modeling.

* Artistic relief cutting.

* 2D and 3D routing.

CNC Software is a privately owned corporation founded in 1984.

The US based company provides Mastercam CAD/CAM software systems to more than 124,936 installations in 75 countries in industries including mould-making, prototyping, automotive, medical, aerospace, and consumer products.

Mastercam runs under Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista, and is compatible with all other CAD/CAM systems.

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/mfz/mfz109.html

IronCAD partner Magnacad Design is sponsoring a seminar on 2nd November 2006 highlighting techniques that increase productivity for electromechanical designers. Stony Brook University’s centre for Emerging Technologies (located at 3500 Sunrise Highway, Long Island, New York) will host the event, which starts at 1230. Seminar topics include: industry globalisation, cost cutting and design cycle planning.

During the seminar, dramatisations of ineffective workplace practices will help delegates gauge their productivity level.

Presenters then demonstrate techniques to combat these inefficiencies using a new design strategy.

On-stage dialogue includes interaction between a design engineer, manufacturing engineer and sales representative.

Presenters will demonstrate using IronCAD 3D modelling software.

IronCAD is used by design engineers in situations with tight deadlines where a high degree of unanticipated change is expected.

Users are not constrained by their history dependencies; unlike traditional history-based parametric design systems that force users into specific actions.

In IronCAD, objects can be moved and edited freely throughout the design process.

Its drag-and-drop interface and intelligent part technology allow users to build models quickly.

http://articles.onlineb2bmarket.com/category/cadcam/

Whitepaper on next generation CAD configurators available free from Catalog Data Solutions web site

Catalog Data Solutions (CDS), a leading provider of online product selection tools for industrial suppliers and distributors, has announced the release of a new whitepaper entitled Next Generation CAD Configurators Save Time and Money. The whitepaper available at the Catalog Data Solutions web site, details 5 key trends in the manufactured products market that have converged to create a new opportunity for manufacturers and distributors to drive revenue growth, lower costs and increase customer loyalty.

Increased online searching for products by design engineers, new configurator software innovations (like the patent-pending ‘visual constraint feedback’ and integration with CAD download, pricing and stocking systems provide instantaneous price and shipping information) and lower costs are driving greater adoption and use by design engineers of configurators.

The result is that by providing online configurators for your complex and multi-option products you:.

* Increase sales by making it quicker and easier for customers to select your products rather than your competitors.

* Attract customers and increase existing customer loyalty by reducing their time to market and, incidentally, speeding up their purchases of your products.

* Free your engineer’s time to focus on new product design instead of helping customers configure products.

In the case of Emerson Power Transmission, Marc Macaluso, eBusiness Manager said, ‘In a complex product, users usually don’t know the constraints and they almost certainly don’t know the interdependence of those constraints (ie if you select X you are giving up option Y in selection Z)’.

‘The Visual Constraint Feedback makes you aware of what effects any selection has on future choices’.

‘Substance is vital, but customer perception is even more important for successful adoption’.

‘We are delighted to publicly share this whitepaper on the ’state of the market’ for Configurator solutions,’ said John Major, chief executive officer, Catalog Data Solutions.

‘Online Configurator are an important sales and marketing tool for all industrial suppliers and distributors with configurable or made-to-order products’.

‘With many customers moving from 2D to 3D CAD systems, it is also important to couple online Configurators and online 3D CAD model downloads to ‘lock’ products into a design so suppliers later benefit from the sales success of that design’.

‘Suppliers of configurable and made-to-order products without Configurators and 3D models on their website are at risk of losing customers to their competition who do offer them’.

Catalog Data Solutions enables industrial manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors to have their products selected at the design stage by the design decision maker, ahead of the traditional buying stage.

Studies show that more than 80% of the time what the engineer spec’d in stays in.

With over 90% of designers and engineers now using the Internet to locate and select components for their new designs, Catalog Data Solutions unique domain expertise creates low cost sales B2B sales lead generation and gets components ‘locked and loaded’ at the design stage .

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/cjk/cjk113.html

PartMaker Inc., a subsidiary of Delcam Plc, has announced it is now shipping Version 8.5 of its PartMaker CAD/CAM software for CNC Mills, Lathes, WireEDM, Turn-Mill Centers and Swiss-type lathes. PartMaker Version 8.5 features a variety of new functionality and enhanced capability all designed to make PartMaker users more productive across every PartMaker application. The focus of this release is a significant improvement of CAD and CAM functionality used commonly in PartMaker. PartMaker Version 8.5 also marks the introduction of the PartMaker Documentation Wizard (PDW), an optional module which allows the user to create, preview and print documents with multiple views.
The latest version of PartMaker, Version 8.5, is now shipping.  PartMaker Version 8.5 features a range of enhancements to all PartMaker modules including improvements to PartMaker’s CAD, CAM and documentation functions.

“PartMaker Version 8.5 is a real productivity blockbuster,” according to Hanan Fishman, the company’s President. “The improvements made to the software’s drawing capability and general CAM functionality will make an immediate impact in terms of productivity for every current and potential PartMaker user.”

Drafting Improvements

PartMaker Version 8.5 offers all PartMaker users the ability to create dimensioned drawings in manner that is remarkably intuitive and easy to use. Users can create Horizontal, Vertical, Linear, Circular and Angular Dimensions in every Face Window separately by picking geometric entities. “Flexible” Dimension combines Horizontal, Vertical and Linear dimensions in one icon that results in saving time. Free-floating Notes and Notes with Leaders are also supported. Dimensions and Notes can be edited and special symbols inserted. Multi-line text is supported for Dimensions and Notes. PartMaker’s “smart” dimensioning tools make creating a detailed part drawings quick and easy.

General System Improvements

PartMaker Version 8.5 also features a number of enhancements across the PartMaker suite of products including PartMaker Mill, Turn, Wire EDM, Turn-Mill and SwissCAM. These improvements include the ability to link CAD to CAM to automatically update programmed features when a geometry change is made. Tool path profiles can also now be modified once they have been created. Additionally, recently used files can automatically be accessed from with-in the software. The software’s printing and shop floor documentation facilities are also much improved.

PartMaker Version 8.5 also supports the import of files from SolidWorks 2008 and Autodesk Inventor 2008.

Introduction of the PartMaker Documentation Wizard (PDW)

PartMaker Version 8.5 includes the introduction of the PartMaker Documentation Wizard (PDW) option for all PartMaker applications. The PartMaker Documentation Wizard (PDW) is an optional module that will let you illustrate your part process like never before. The PDW allows you to create, preview and print documents with multiple views. Up to four views are allowed. A “Drawing Layout” dialog allows you to choose specific windows you wish to include in the document. These choices include any Face Window, the Solids Window and the Simulation Window. This dialog also allows you to enter information for the Title Block that could be included in the drawing.

More on PartMaker

PartMaker is a Knowledge Based Machining system, allowing it to provide a substantial gain in programming efficiency by remembering the tools, material and process information necessary to machine individual part features. It thus relieves the user from reentering the same features information for subsequent parts. It also improves productivity by placing the emphasis on tool management functions.

PartMaker pioneered the field of CAM software for Turn-Mills and Swiss-type lathes with its patented Visual Programming Approach for programming multi-axis lathes with live tooling. It assures quicker learning and easier use. It makes an extensive use of pictures to help the user describe tools, part features and machining data.  Synchronization of tools working on multiple spindles is achieved by a few mouse clicks.

PartMaker Inc. is a subsidiary of Delcam Plc, the world’s leading developer and supplier of complete CAD/CAM software solutions.  Delcam Plc is publicly traded on the AIM exchange in London. While PartMaker is sold direct in North America by PartMaker Inc. PartMaker is sold overseas through a network of sales partner offices operating in over 120 countries.

http://www.tenlinks.com/news/PR/partmaker/112607_v85.htm

Technology is the most influential business sector changing the shape of the economy and everyday life in the 21st century. Its reach extends far into the manufacturing world, and, in the last four decades, technology has made its irreversible mark with NC, DNC, CNC, CAM, and CAD.

Now the industry is wondering where manufacturing technology, and specifically CAD/CAM technology, is headed in the future. To help answer that question, AMERICAN MACHINIST Editor Tom Grasson and Publisher Joe Fristik assembled eleven top manufacturing-software executives and asked them pertinent questions about industry growth, challenges, trends, and wisdom. Industry leaders noted similar concerns, but had varying solutions about how to approach new trends and satisfy the increasing needs of customers.

Fulton: I think we will see continued growth because there is a lot of change occurring especially in the manufacturing industry. There are a lot of new inexpensive 4, 5, and C-axis machines coming to market. These machines require new generation CAM systems. There are always changes to operating systems and right now there is a huge trend towards solids. About 80% of our sales currently involve some sort of solids machining. As long as there is change, and I think there will continue to be lots of change, end users will need next generation CAM products to stay competitive.

http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/Issue/Article/False/8124/Issue

With Delcam’s free CAD viewer — users see but can’t change — CAD models in all major formats, including Catia versions 4 and 5, Pro/Engineer 2001 and Wildfire, SDRC, Unigraphics, SolidWorks, and Solid Edge, as well as industry standards like Parasolid XT, IGES, VDA, and STEP. Shops can download the viewer from Delcam’s website or request a CD.

The software incorporates viewing options offered by standard CAD packages. To help interpret complex models, it displays information relating to different layers or even individual surfaces within models. For instance, if individual layers are in different colors, users see them in the viewer.

“The ability to view a 3D model is valuable for potential suppliers, distributors, and customers,” claims Peter Dickin, Delcam marketing manager. “With the free viewing software, there is no limit on the number of collaborators to which companies can distribute models of new-design proposals.”

Early involvement by collaborators minimizes the amount of necessary changes made during the later stages of product development.

http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/Issue/Article/False/8592/Issue

Interoperability, the ability to share CAD data files between companies and between applications in the same company, continues to pose a difficult challenge to most manufacturing companies, says a recent survey by Kubotek USA. About 95 percent of all survey respondents said they had interoperability issues, and almost half of all respondents said they have to re-design parts on a regular basis because of interoperability problems. Translator issues and missing or corrupt data are the two most frequently cited factors.

Of the 2,869 CAD users who completed the Kubotek 2006 Interoperability Survey between May and July of 2006 (www.kubotekusa.com/company/interopsurvey/index.asp), 50 percent were from companies with less than 100 employees, 32 percent from companies with 100 to 1,000 employees and 18 percent from companies with more than 1,000 employees. Around 69 percent of the respondents were based in North America, 16 percent in Europe and 5 percent in Asia.

According to the survey, 43 percent of all respondents do not use the originating CAD software to make subsequent changes, and 34 percent are forced to rebuild 3D models from scratch at least half the time. The models needed to be rebuilt from scratch to complete a redesign, create a revision, or derive a new part or tool because it could not be done effectively using the original 3D model data file.

In examining the file type usage by industry, the survey indicated that design engineers working in the mold/tool/die/forging industry had a significant need to work with multiple file formats. Almost half of the respondents in the mold/tool/die/forging, automotive and transportation industries and 32 percent in engineering and design services use five or more different file types each month. The data shows that as the number of CAD file types being used increases, the need to revise, redesign or create new parts or tools also increases.

Translator issues were most consistently cited as the biggest problem with getting outside 3D CAD models into the user’s CAD system. Missing or corrupt data was the second most often cited problem. The main areas of difficulty are in passing model data between designers using different software, in having to deliver models in different formats to customers and in receiving models in different formats from suppliers.

In an interview with AMERICAN MACHINIST, one machine shop operator summed up the situation when he said: “We model a part from a customer’s drawing, then send it out to them for approval. We may also send out drawings for subcontractor quotes. Of course nobody is using the same software, so they cannot use the same native files and everything has to be translated and retranslated. Then we get the drawings back with questions and, of course, it’s in a different format. We have to translate it once again just to see what they are asking about. When we finally get approved drawings, we have to transfer them to our CAM software and that can open up another can of worms.”

Kubotek’s survey found that 46 percent of all respondents use a parametric feature-based CAD system for their redesign work. Of that group, 87 percent normally have access to the original feature tree, 84 percent regularly need to rework feature trees, and 66 percent indicated that the feature tree usually (more than 50 percent of the time) needed major rework to complete the design task. Only 6 percent of parametric users reported that the original feature tree of the existing or received model always provides the control they need over the model.

Kubotek says: “There is a significant difference between those who use parametric feature-based CAD systems and those who use direct-modeling systems with respect to the need to rework models. Our data indicates that those using parametric feature-based CAD systems have a higher incidence of redesign or rebuilding models from scratch — direct-modeling users do not redesign or rework models as frequently. In fact, 61 percent of direct-modeling users need to rebuild their models less than 25 percent of the time as compared with 43 percent of the parametric users. None of the users of direct-modeling tools reported a regular (three quarters of the time or more) need to redesign models.”

It should be noted that Kubotek makes geometry-based CAD software.

http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/Issue/Article/False/43809/

Steve Meginniss describes himself as an early adapter of CAD technology. He bought his first AutoCAD 1.15 program in the mid-1980s and hasn’t looked back since. A successful inventor, he has used Autodesk applications to design products that are now common personal appliances you are likely to find in your bathroom, including the Sonicare toothbrush and the Clarisonic skin care brush.

Always looking for a new challenge, Meginniss stumbled upon a potential market in the mid-1990s that was previously unknown to him. Working with the University of Washington on prospective mobility projects, he discovered that manual wheelchairs have quick-release axles that allow the standard drive wheels to be replaced with different types of wheels. Meginniss also learned that, overall, manual wheelchairs have changed very little since being patented in 1869. Hand rims and wheels remain much the same, and the chairs have only one speed.

Meginniss set out to change that fact by designing mechanical wheels that would provide the user with two easily shifted gears for mobility enhancement to navigate ramps, hills, and rough terrain as well as with an automatic hill holding with override feature in the lower gear that prevents the wheelchair from rolling backward on inclines. And with that simple idea, he began a 10-year journey to create MAGICWHEELS.
A manual wheelchair with the MAGICWHEELS product installed.

The Challenge of Complex Surfaces
Similar to the technology found on bicycles, the concept behind MAGICWHEELS is simple, but the product itself comprises a multitude of complex surfaces. After years of using AutoCAD and then learning 3D in Mechanical Desktop, Meginniss implemented Autodesk Inventor when his company became operational in 2001 and his team designed the final MAGICWHEELS product in this program. The appeals of Inventor are advanced surfacing modeling and animation capabilities, Meginniss explained.

“It’s almost impossible to do something like MAGICWHEELS’ two-gear drive without a 3D CAD system because many precision parts have to nest together,” he said. “Many times we found parts interfered with the shifting system. Inventor has a system where you can animate it, and it will show the interferences.”
A 3D model of the MAGICWHEELS shifting system in Inventor.

Inventor’s capability revealed interferences, which proved to be a key element when it came time to move from design to prototype. “We were able to make these complex surfaces and transfer them into the mold maker’s CAM software without any problems,” Meginniss said. “I had another project where we had solid models that didn’t fit together correctly. We had to have them all done over. I was impressed that we could build these models in Inventor and get them into CAM systems without any trouble.”

Learning Curve
The Magic Wheels team learned Inventor while designing the final version of Magic Wheels’ product, an effective but challenging way to learn the program. “It was brutal at times,” he admitted. “But the team got good support from the local Autodesk reseller.”

Once the product was finally ready for testing, Meginniss discovered more surprising elements about his new market. Manual wheelchair users frequently suffer from shoulder pain because of the physical stress of controlling their wheelchairs with their upper bodies. Although originally designed to increase the mobility of manual wheelchairs, Magic Wheels’ two-gear drives have been found to reduce that pain by 55%, according to a study by the University of Maryland, School of Medicine.

“This makes a real difference in people’s lives,” Meginniss said. “Our end users just love them.”
Barry Long, an early tester for the Magic Wheels company, demonstrates the hill holding feature of MAGICWHEELS.

As such, Meginniss and his Magic Wheels team of nine employees value the nonmonetary rewards for their hard work. “Our products help people get to work and maintain jobs and other activities of daily living,” Meginniss said. “We have a couple of weaker users that have become mobile with MAGICWHEELS. They are now able to get into vans independently and drive around.”

The MAGICWHEELS product was officially launched into the market last year. It’s already won a 2007 Silver IDEA award from BusinessWeek, and the enthusiastic praise from early adopters continues. The company also helps its customers with medical insurance claims, and Medicare has recently started covering the purchase of the product for eligible customers.

“We recently hired a new CEO to run the business,” Meginniss chuckled. “My tendency was, if anyone truly needed a set, just give it to them.”

Harnessing the power of 3D CAD in Inventor is one thing Meginniss is quite pleased about. He believes the technology has proven advantageous for the Magic Wheels company.

“The difference between 2D and 3D is so compelling that I can’t imagine anyone sticking with 2D,” he reflected. “It’s not that hard to use 3D once you learn it.”

http://manufacturing.cadalyst.com/manufacturing/ Barry Long, an early tester for the Magic Wheels company, demonstrates the hill holding feature of MAGICWHEELS.

As such, Meginniss and his Magic Wheels team of nine employees value the nonmonetary rewards for their hard work. “Our products help people get to work and maintain jobs and other activities of daily living,” Meginniss said. “We have a couple of weaker users that have become mobile with MAGICWHEELS. They are now able to get into vans independently and drive around.”

The MAGICWHEELS product was officially launched into the market last year. It’s already won a 2007 Silver IDEA award from BusinessWeek, and the enthusiastic praise from early adopters continues. The company also helps its customers with medical insurance claims, and Medicare has recently started covering the purchase of the product for eligible customers.

“We recently hired a new CEO to run the business,” Meginniss chuckled. “My tendency was, if anyone truly needed a set, just give it to them.”

Harnessing the power of 3D CAD in Inventor is one thing Meginniss is quite pleased about. He believes the technology has proven advantageous for the Magic Wheels company.

“The difference between 2D and 3D is so compelling that I can’t imagine anyone sticking with 2D,” he reflected. “It’s not that hard to use 3D once you learn it.”

http://manufacturing.cadalyst.com/manufacturing/

CAM software now includes a very powerful and market-proven high-speed, 3D machining module - with optimum roughing and finishing CNC high-speed toolpaths - for molds and complex 3D parts

SolidCAM, the Gold-certified Integrated CAM-Engine for SolidWorks, today announced that it will present SolidCAM2007 R11 to American and European audiences at the IMTS (Chicago/USA) and AMB (Stuttgart/Germany) tradeshows. With this release, SolidCAM is further expanding its 3D milling functionality by providing a very powerful and market-proven high-speed machining module (HSM) for molds, tools and dies, and complex 3D Parts.

The HSM module offers unique machining and linking strategies for generating optimum roughing and finishing CNC high-speed toolpaths.

With demands for ever-shorter lead and production times, lower costs and improved quality, high speed machining (HSM) is a must in today’s machine shops.

SolidCAM’s HSM Module smooths the paths of both cutting moves and retracts wherever possible to keep a more continuous machine tool motion - an essential requirement for maintaining higher feedrates and eliminating dwelling.

Retracts to high Z levels are kept to a minimum; angled where possible, smoothed by arcs, retracts do not go any higher than necessary - thus minimizing aircutting and reducing machining time.

All machining passes operations support enhanced point reduction and arc fitting.
The result is an efficient, high quality and gouge-free tool path.

This translates to increased surface quality, less wear on your cutters, and a longer life for your machine tools.

Rest machining can be calculated even in areas where the final cutter is smaller than the curvature of the part.

A succession of rest finishing toolpaths from a series of successively smaller cutters can be easily created, even on very large jobs.

All operations feature tool holder collision checking and work with tapered tools.

According to SolidCAM’s managing director, Dr Emil Somekh, the new HSM module expands the 3D machining capabilities of SolidCAM, allowing users to generate complex NC programs for different types of high-speed cutting machines.

‘Efficient machine utilization and excellent surface quality will be the benefits for our users.

Being fully integrated into the SolidWorks platform, we can now offer a complete CAD/CAM solution for the mold, tool and die market and other high-end applications.’ The new SolidCAM2007 R11 will be available to SolidCAM customers at the end of the third quarter.

* About SolidCAM - founded 1984 by its Managing director Dr Emil Somekh, SolidCAM provides manufacturing customers with a full suite of cam software modules for 2.5D and 3D milling, multi-sided Indexial 4/5 axes milling, Simultaneous 5-axis milling, turning, mill-turn up to 5-axis and wire-EDM.

SolidCAM has the Certified Gold-product status from SolidWorks and provides seamless, single-window integration and full associativity to the SolidWorks design model including parts, assemblies and configurations.

SolidCAM has today more than 10,000 seats installed in industry and education.

SolidCAM is sold by a worldwide reseller network in 40 countries.

SolidCAM has been on a very rapid growth path since it implemented the SolidWorks integration strategy.

In the CIMdata NC Software Market Assessment Report, CIMdata named SolidCAM as the worldwide fastest growing CAM vendor in 2003, 2004 and 2005 with revenue growth rates of +39.4%, +51.1% and +40%.

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/sdc/sdc105.html

Suppliers use JewelCAD and CAM systems to produce original and buyer-specifiedmodels, with samples ready in as little as three days.

The trend for statement jewelry pieces is spurring manufacturers of cuff bangles in China to fortify R&D capability and meet demand.

One of the key accessories for 2008, cuff bangles in intricate wirework or solid metal with gemstone accents and antique finishes are being released in greater number. To enhance competitiveness, OEM-oriented manufacturers are investing in CAD and CAM systems. Apart from increasing productivity, combining CAD with rapid prototyping technology enables companies to create dimensionally accurate samples.

Suppliers are also sending designers to international jewelry exhibitions to keep them abreast of trends. Doing so allows companies not only to help buyers improve their designs but to create in-house collections as well. Some R&D teams now produce five times as many original designs as they do OEM models. A few even have more than 1,000 ODM styles in their catalogs.

In addition, suppliers are acquiring the necessary equipment to produce molds and some design elements in-house, including stamping and hydraulic machines. This has allowed companies to make samples in just three days.

Among suppliers in this report, Qingdao Rihong Jewelry & Accessories Co. Ltd can finish buyers’ samples in three days. At most, a sample is ready in five days.

The company’s 45 designers use CAD/CAM systems and undergo regular training, enabling them to produce more than 1,500 original styles. They also work with clients’ designers in creating OEM models. In a month, they can make up to 5,000 buyer-specified styles.

About $8,000 is spent annually on R&D.

Cuff bangles from Qingdao Rihong are priced between $0.50 and $2 each.

L&G Jewelry Co. Ltd has five designers in its 15-member R&D team. In developing new models, the designers use JewelCAD, CNC machines and rapid prototyping technology. They are able to produce 100 in-house designs and 30 OEM models each month.

Sampling takes five days.

The company spends about 20 percent of revenue on produce development. In addition, it sends the designers to trade shows in Hong Kong and Germany every year.

Moreover, the factory has machines for making various types of molds, resulting in unique designs.

Cuff bangles from L&G range between $0.60 and $2. Higher-priced models are usually plated with a finish that will not fade for two or three years.

The four designers at Wingkin Jewelry Co. Ltd release 300 original cuff bangles and 60 to 70 OEM models each month. Samples can be finished in seven days.

The company has stamping and hydraulic machines, and invests about $100,000 annually in R&D.

Wingkin’s cuff bangles are priced generally between$0.40 and $1.40 each. Designs featuring complex structures or with beads or rhinestones can reach $6.

Yane Ornaments Co. Ltd’s 10-member R&D team can release 1,000 original designs, and 50 to 100 OEM models monthly. More than $13,000 is spent yearly on product development.

Yane’s cuff bangles are from $1 to $1.50.

http://www.fashion.globalsources.com/gsol/I/