Delcam Aids Faster Service for Tennis Players

BIRMINGHAM, UK - September 12, 2001 - A combination of Delcam's PowerSHAPE hybrid modelling design software and the latest rapid prototyping technology has enabled sports equipment specialists Dunlop to speed the development of new additions to its range of tennis racquets.

For over forty years, Dunlop has enjoyed an extremely constant position as one of the world's leading manufacturers of equipment for racquet sports. The company has a long heritage of association with the world's best tennis players, including Rod Laver, John McEnroe and Steffi Graf, and has always used technology to maintain its leading position.

In the autumn of 1999, Paul Angell was recruited in Dunlop's UK Headquarters as Development Engineer. He introduced a new CAD system, PowerSHAPE from Delcam. "I choose PowerSHAPE partly because of some long relationships between Delcam and other parts of Dunlop," explained Mr. Angell. "Our Golf Division first used Delcam software almost twenty years ago. PowerSHAPE is also very easy to use compared to other surface modelling packages, while solid modellers are not sufficiently flexible for our needs."

PowerSHAPE is used to design and model the racquets in the UK, before sending the finished design to Taiwan. With the ability to e-mail designs and the Taiwanese toolmaker's ability to machine moulds directly from the PowerSHAPE CAD data, the time from the finalisation of the design to the delivery of the first racquet had been reduced from three months to nine weeks.

The remaining problem was the delay caused by the need to model replica frames in the UK for market evaluation and cosmetic design. Although PowerSHAPE's PS-Render module was very valuable in producing photo-realistic images for the marketing team, physical models were still an essential part of the approval process. This problem was overcome when Mr. Angell made contact with another Delcam customer - Tim Plunket at 3T RPD during last year. Within four days of the meeting, using 3T RPD's EOS rapid prototyping system, a PowerSHAPE CAD model of a new design had been transformed into a very accurate prototype.

This allowed the graphic design department to begin working on the cosmetic finish and decal application at the same time as the mould was being made in Taiwan. The ability to have a model that is accurate, hollow, and, therefore, of comparable weight, and available in four to five days, has allowed Dunlop to reduce the total development of a racquet frame and its decoration from six months to three months. The first model to benefit from this new approach is the Inferno, a novel design with a unique "hot-melt" graphite skin layered over the whole frame. This new manufacturing technique gives players more power and better control from an extremely light racquet. Dunlop is now beginning mass production of the design ready for launch at the start of the 2002 season.

http://www.delcam.co.uk 

 

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