Radan Software [Vero]
Manufacturing Case Study
Radic was first conceived to demonstrate all the functions and advances in Radan software for their user group meetings in America and has now made it over to the UK. As Radan celebrates their 40th anniversary this year they wanted to give a unique giveaway to visitors to their stand at the MACH Exhibition; a miniature, make-your-own Radic. The full size Radic boasts a monitor, web cam and motorised treads, while Radic Jnr is a little more portable for the visitors to their stand.
We have a long-standing history working with the team at Radan, with our complex integration of e2i through to bespoke macro development for programming our punch machines. When Radan wanted to design and manufacture a miniature Radic they approached Constant Manufacturing, and we were more than happy to oblige with such a quirky sheet metal project!
One of our in-house CAD engineers spent an afternoon with Radan to go over the concept and design. Radan had an initial outline of the make-your-own Radic already from a previous handout they had done for a user group meeting. Our team took this initial specification and modified it to accommodate a large batch run, tweaking the easy bend cut-outs making them better for hand construction by visitors.
Firstly, before we set to manufacture 200 off, we created a prototype (or two) of the robot. We use these prototypes to check the alignment of all the tabs and folds, analyse construction and overall design, as well as giving our marketing team the opportunity to ensure the Radan and Constant Manufacturing branding were correct.
The first prototype was laser cut from 1.2mm stainless steel. However on initial test we found it slightly tough to hand-fold, and as Radan wanted to powder coat the giveaway their corporate green it was decided to swap the metal for CR4 mild steel and reduce the thickness to 0.9mm for the second prototype, making it slightly easier to hand-bend.
Once the prototypes were signed off, it was time to run the job on the CNC laser cutter. The job involved 9 sheets of CR4 mild steel, that were auto loaded on and off the cutting beds with our lift master machines.
Radic was a fully functional robot created in 2015 by CAD software company Radan.
Watch our short video of the laser cutting getting to work on the last Radic jnr sheet.
Each Radic Junior went through our metal powder coating plant. We bought in a special RAL colour paint to match Radan’s brand guidelines, and care was taken to not accidentally push out the flat pieces from the metal surrounds!
Quality assurance is important at Constant, for small projects to large ones. We checked each Radic sheet to make sure they were painted correctly, branded accordingly and ready to despatch.
Radan collected all 200 Radic Juniors from our site in Manchester, so we simply boxed the flat pieces up ready for collection.
The end result is a powder coat finished, flat pattern Radic Junior, that visitors to the stand can take away, pop out the metal flat pattern, make at work (or home!) and utilise as a pen holder (or business card holder such as we did).
Constant Group, well done to all, brilliant job and great marketing
– Kevin O’Connor, Radan UK Sales & Major Accounts Manager of Radan
Give us a call to go over your next manufacturing project to see how we can add value, reduce lead times, and improve quality.
Send your details and drawings to contact@constantmanufacturing.co.uk and we’ll get back to you with a quote and any adviser information on your project.