The traditional rapid design and tooling center has axis motors that push in one direction or the other along X, Y and Z. In the 1990s, all of us who attend rapid design and tooling center trade shows learned that this wasn’t the only way to design the machine.

rapid design and tooling center article

A variety of builders brought out "hexapod" and/or "parallel kinematic" machines in which a daddy-longlegs arrangement of linear-motion members used CNC interpolation to achieve precisely the same X-Y-Z motion as a standard machine. These two machining centers might be thought of as cousins to the hexapod (top left), but only in the sense that they use resultant motion to define at least one linear axis. In the Genius 500 horizontal machining center (top right images), the linear motors that move up and down in Y also produce the X-axis motion whenever they move separately, causing the coupler between them to shift.

With no motor pushing in X, more of the machine’s force is directed downward instead of from side to side. In the S-500A "relative motion" vertical machining center (below), the table and the tool move toward one another simultaneously.

The feed rate of rapid design and tooling center and acceleration result from the sum of these two movements. These novel machining centers make for attention-grabbing live demonstrations at trade shows. In fact, these eye-catching machines began to appear at trade shows not long after the use of attractive female models at these shows began to decline—almost as if some different means of capturing attendees’ attention had to be invented.

However, real-life users of these machines remain uncommon to say the least. While a machine tool buyer may notice a trade show booth because of the complex motion of one these machines, that buyer is still more likely to spend money on a machine that has a more standard rapid design and tooling center design.