Special Preview of the "New Original"
30.08.17 - With the unveiling of two ground breaking products for Automotive Design Studios the new WENZEL subsidiary WENZEL DesignTec was presented during a special preview event to Design Directors and Studio Managers from Europe´s premier auto makers in Hengersberg on July 5th.
Once checking in at the reception the visitors walked down the main corridor of the factory towards the demonstration area. The corridor was illuminated with cool up-lighting and videos were projected on to the walls showing clay modelling methods employed throughout the history of car design. Once into the demonstration area, the designers were greeted with the sight of one giant ‘machine’ and one smaller machine, both covered with sheets.
To kick off the proceedings, Mr. Frank Wenzel, CEO of WENZEL Group, welcomed everyone and shared with the audience how he had met with Mr. Andreas Köck, a former competitor, and decided to produce a new range of modelling tools, a range that would sell alongside WENZEL’s current RA Mill studio machines, and backed up by its project management experience and its global support network.
Mr. Köck, WENZEL DesignTec’s recently appointed Product Line Director, then took to the podium and introduced the design philosophy of the DT Mill before asking his colleagues to pull up the sheet and reveal the machine.
The first capability demonstration used a new area scanner fitted into the 5-axis head of the machine. By using the scanner point cloud information of the clay surface were easily and quickly generated without needs of sticking markings onto the model in advance. Half of a 1:2.5 scale clay model was scanned in 3 minutes! This type of speed allows modelers to perform an ‘end-of-day’ scan to record the day’s updates digitally, at the push of a button.
The scanner was then quickly substituted for a milling cutter and the DT Mill then proceeded to rip clay chips off the model at speeds up to the design target speed of 40m/min in 5-axis and 3-axis modes. The sheer speed and the amount and size of the clay chips really wowed the spectators.
Mr. Köck then introduced the DT Robot line which will be launched later in the year. Whilst the DT Mill would be situated in a separate milling room, the DR Robot is conceived to be installed in the studio. DT Robot is fundamentally a modeler’s tool allowing performance of 3 and 5-axis milling, scanning, projecting (augmented reality) on the model and more traditional tasks like measuring and scribing. A model of the DT Robot was then revealed. The engineered model showed clearly the size, the design and some other interesting features such as LED lights down the machine indicating the machines status and the function it is performing.
The life-size model was installed on a section of new industrial terrazzo flooring which is to be offered with the machines. This flooring can be made in almost any colour and is highly aesthetic when compared to traditional studio flooring. The installation and maintenance is also much easier that tiles often installed in studios today.
Following the formal presentations visitors and WENZEL representatives mingled around the cocktail bar discussing what they had seen. There were some interesting and very encouraging comments from the visiting designers;
“The DT Robot concept really has my brain working…”
“The DT Mill is not a prototype, it’s a finished product”
“The milling speed is unbelievable”
“What you have achieved in a short time is remarkable”
It seems like the New Original is really here!
Visitors and WENZEL people adjourned to a local hotel to attend an informal networking dinner which was enjoyed by all.
