Racing To Launch a Business From A Kayak You Can Stand Up In

 

CAD/CAM Software and 5-Axis Router Makes
Prototyping Shop Fast and Maneuverable

Last summer 5th Axis, Inc. of Stonington, CT, designed and built the first kayak with integrated extendable pontoons that make the little craft nearly unswampable. The entire job, from preliminary sketches to prototype kayak was completed in a little over a month. The primary objective of this first project was not to design a new kind of kayak but simply to prove out and demonstrate the company’s agile CNC manufacturing technologies.

5th Axis is a start-up job shop specializing in engineering, design, prototyping, model making, 5-axis machining, tooling, and composite fabrication. The company opened for business in April of 2006 shortly after taking delivery of a large, late model, 5-axis CNC router and Mastercam X2 Router CAD/CAM software (CNC Software, Tolland, CT).

Standing around a white board one day in May, President Doug Poscich, his two man staff and a friend of the company worked out a concept they thought would make their customers stand up and take notice. Kayaks are fun to paddle around in, but they are poor choices for many sportsmen’s activities because they capsize so easily. But what if a kayak could be made stable with easily extendable pontoons that didn’t get in the way while you were paddling? A fly fisherman could zip over to just the right spot, lever out the pontoons, stand up and start casting. A scuba diver could put on all his gear in the kayak and back dive into the water as one might from a skiff. You could extend one pontoon at the dock and load all your gear without having to worry about everything getting dunked before casting off.

After a number of hand sketches were made the next day, the 5th Axis team thought they were onto something. They agreed to work on the project full-out as long as it didn’t compromise delivery schedules for some of the defense- and sporting goods-related work the company had already been given.

Off And Running

Doug Poscich, who had 15 years of experience in the fields of design, engineering, testing, and rapid prototyping took the lead, designing the kayak in SolidWorks, then creating 5-axis tool paths in Mastercam. He started by converting the sketches into CAD drawings. Then he surfed the Internet comparing various kayak designs. Because of their inherent stability and hauling capacity, he used sea kayak designs as models for the lines he would be creating on the hull of his demonstration product.

Poscich relied heavily on previous experience designing surfboards and snowboards to arrive at an optimal combination of buoyancy, handling and stability. One of his innovations was to shape the retracted pontoons at the back of the kayak into a skeg (keel) that improves the boat’s tracking. Poscich estimates that it took about 16 hours of design time interspersed with a week’s worth of his regular work.

Then it was time to create the tool paths. Poscich had extensive experience with older versions of Mastercam, but had never used Mastercam X. However, after a day’s training at his nearby distributor, he was ready to go and never looked back.

Refining Workflow

As the primary interface between design and manufacturing, the CAD/CAM software is the focal point of 5th Axis manufacturing operations. Poscich used the time he spent on the kayak project to customize workflow to suit requirements of his operation and the customers he would soon be working with.

He used Mastercam to import a clean version of the SolidWorks model of the Kayak in a second or two. It is very important that 5th axis has no translation issues because customers deliver their projects in a wide range of electronic formats. The CAD/CAM software has numerous translators making it possible to directly import CATIA, IGES and various CAD program files with no extraneous data requiring clean-up.

Mastercam X represents a major departure from earlier releases in that all of the product features and functions are made available in customizable dropdown menus and icon palettes that can be set up close at hand on the desktop. He said, “There are numerous features in this version that automate and provide multiple approaches for nearly everything I need to do with the 5-axis router. I suspect they were available in previous versions, but I never had the time to go looking for them. Now everything I use is never more than a click or two away.” Some of the features he finds most useful include:

Breaking Up Surfaces.  A variety of selection tools (e.g. surface trim, surface extend and masks) allow Poscich to break the model down into any number of areas of a size and shape he chooses. He said, “I am always breaking things up into smaller sections where I can come in and fine tune the type of tool I need, or the head set-up, or the way I can control area to get a better cut or a cleaner part.“

Color Coding. One of the fastest ways to assign operations to disparate areas of the part is to color types of surfaces and geometric surfaces. Then a universal command can be used to assign a specific tool and path to all of the areas having a given color-code. This can dramatically reduce programming time while it improves selection accuracy.

Mirror Imaging. With just one click of the mouse, mirror image makes it possible to instantly replicate complimented tool path sequences on symetrical part features.

Verification/Backplotting. Mastercam X2 provides numerous ways to verify tool paths in order to eliminate scrap and the potential for head crashes. For 2D cuts, turning up the graphics and visually inspecting a realistic representation of the part may be sufficient. For 5-axis he uses “back plotting” to verify cutter paths.

The back plotting routine sends an animated probe through all of the cutting sequences at warp speed. Back plotting alerts Poscich to incomplete cutting and inappropriate moves that could damage the part or the tools. This also helps him estimate costs on a job.  The backplotting function generates an accurate estimate of how long it will take to cut the part based on the materials and tools used.  It also allows him to adjust this estimate for human factors such as part setup and tool changes so that costs can be assigned realistically.

Cutting To The Water

The week following initial concept, 5th axis went to work cutting the foam plug for the kayak’s hull. This included plunging in deep to cut the boat’s cockpit.  These cutting actions, which relied heavily on Mastercam’s versatility in manipulating the router head position, eliminated a great deal of manual sculpting.  Cutting the plug for the hull and the pontoons required about 16 hours of machine time interspersed with other work.

While this was going on, Poscich was back on SolidWorks designing the retractable pontoon arm and lever mechanism. This happened over a week and a half. Out in the shop, the staff was covering the hull with a thin layer of fiberglass. Then they installed the lever and arm mechanism with the pontoons and made some refinements to this mechanical design.

The art to part cycle that began on May 24 was completed on June 26 when they trucked their prototype down to the water and had some fun.  It was quite a bit heavier than a commercial product would be but otherwise they were very pleased. Poscich has many photos and digital videos showing off the virtues of their design.  Some show how maneuverable the craft is with pontoons retracted.  One shows all three of the team standing up in the kayak with pontoons extended.

Moving Forward

While the kayak project was underway, a considerable amount of work was coming in from paying customers, in particular a major defense contractor down the road a bit.  The kayak project proved to have some valuable repercussions for 5th Axis.  It did, indeed, demonstrate the firm’s versatile manufacturing capabilities. And the customized workflow processes that Poscich set up within Mastercam are now being used routinely.

Poscich showed the kayak design to a local distributor who not only liked it --a lot-- but also wanted to sell it.  The original boat was used as a pattern for production tooling. Another kayak was manufactured and in his spare time Poscich takes it with him to visit distributors or boat shows.

The Trifly™ Kayak is now patent-pending with several models in various stages of design and manufacturing process development. With a number of refinements underway the production versions will be about 30 lbs lighter than the first run out of the tooling. Poscich has some orders for the product, which are competitively priced at about $1950 (available direct from the manufacturer at www.triflykayak.com ). He will use the winter to visit some big trade shows and build distribution in preparation for the spring sales season.

In a very short time Poscich’s creativity and agile CNC manufacturing technology has brought him from launching a start-up to managing two very distinct businesses.

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