Case Study: Star Metal Products achieves 50% machining time reduction and develops its own rigid trunnion with 3D Systems' GibbsCAM

GibbsCAM Helps Shop Develop Its Own Product Line

Star Metal Products, a 48-year-old Ohio shop, needed the accuracy of a horizontal CNC but couldn’t justify the $200,000 purchase and found commercially available trunnions too flimsy, expensive, or inflexible for its VMCs. As the company shifted into a job shop with growing competition and pressure to cut setups and handle harder steels, it required a rigid, versatile rotary solution it couldn’t buy off the shelf.

Engineering manager Dave McCray designed and machined an 86-part trunnion and used Solid Edge and GibbsCAM for modeling, machine simulation, and NC programming. The unit delivers 360° rotation, removable subplates, and 0.0005" repeatability, cutting machining time by about 50%, eliminating hundreds of setups, replacing eight manual horizontals, and reducing weekly machine hours by 87% (320→40) and man-hours by 75% (160→40). The design is now sold commercially ($5,995), boosting Star Metal’s productivity and competitiveness.

Star Metal Products

Dave McCray

Engineering Manager