Back in 1969, the outlook for Ambler Patterns probably looked quite good for the company in Rochdale, England. The company served the local foundry industry as a pattern maker—creating the shapes that are used to pour the metal in—with a clientele in the auto industry.

But things change. And during the past 30 years the company—since renamed Ambler Technologies—has become a specialist in CNC machining of epoxy resin and polyurethane tooling board, while maintaining its pattern making capability. It has moved into the production of models and lay-up tooling for reinforced plastics, and it is performing rapid prototyping. And its customer base has consequently widened quite significantly.

One recent project was for composites material supplier Trelleborg AEM, which was interested in having a structure made with a new low-density epoxy tooling board, TB 400, something that would exhibit both the machinability and the finish of the material.

Ambler got the job. It used its Delcam PowerSHAPE CAD system to develop the design of a chair. Then sections were taken from the 3D model that were rough cut to approximate size. These component parts were bonded together, then machined with programs generated from the Delcam PowerMILL CAM software. The surface was polished, then an epoxy coating was applied.

Mission accomplished.