Ward Pattern & Engineering

Ward Pattern & Engineering, Inc was founded in May 1964, with three employees. Today, WPE has both a wood and a metal division in addition to a CAD department. From a hand sketch to solid modeling, pattern tooling is constructed from wood, plastic or metal.

WPE uses Pro/Engineer and Mastercam CAD/CAM software on high-end Windows XP workstations with the ability to digitize a model or part for the customer. The computer aided design capabilities provide fast evaluation of engineering requirements and give WPE engineers rapid-prototype ability.

Wood Shop

The pattern shop produces pattern equipment from paper LOMs, clay models, completed blueprints, or IGES files with the assistance of the CAD department. With the ability to cast existing parts or tooling and transfer these models to a plastic pattern, aluminum pattern, and iron or steel molds via duplication, the wood shop can quickly and accurately provide tooling for a wide variety of applications.

Equipment:

Bridgeport Mill
Kindt Col. Disc Sander (2)
Sount Bend Lathe 10"
Walker Turner Drill
Yates American Planer
Zimmerman Router (2) FZ0, FZ1
Oliver Jointer
Delta Unidrill
Zimmerman Belt Sander
Master Spindle Sander
American Vertical 36" Band Saw
Craftsman Table Saw 100

Metal Shop

The metal division has three Milltronics CNC mills hardwired to the CAD system, and one Rambaudi 600 Duplicator with a Fidia CNC control capable of duplicating, digitizing, or CNC programming. This, coupled with 3 Rambaudi duplicators, bridgeport mills, and lathes gives the Metal shop the ability to quickly produce a wide variety of production molds and tooling.

Equipment:

Rambaudi 600 Duplicator with Fidia CNC Control
Milltronics RH-30 Mill
Milltronics Partner VII Mill, 30" x 34" travel
Milltronics Partner VII Mill, 30" x 45" travel
Rambaudi Ramcop 600 Duplicator (3)
Ayce Horizontal Mill
Tree Mill
Cincinnati Mill, Model 4-Horizontal-Large
South Bend Lathe (3) 6", 8" and 17"
Leblond Lathe 17"

CAD Department

The CAD department has the ability to import 3D customer models or translate a blueprint or sketch into a 3D model. Using Pro/Engineer and Mastercam, they can use these models to quickly design and build accurate tooling with any of the 4 CNC mills connected to the shop network or provide the wood or metal shop with the information they need to build tooling.

Software & Equipment:

Pro/Engineer, 3 seats
Mastercam, 4 seats
Windows XP CAD/CAM workstation (4)
Windows Server for file backup and storage
Linux Server for FTP access and backup
HP Designjet 500PS Plotter for full-sized blueprints and photos
10/100kbps ethernet network spanning the entire shop and all CNC machines

Photo Gallery