Custom Macro Enables Automated CNC Program Generation
It takes tooling to make tooling. For Knight Carbide, various fixtures, holders and carriers are needed to convey carbide machining inserts through the grinding and finishing operations required to make these tools. The cutting tool maker in Chesterfield Township, Michigan, primarily serves customers with specialized insert needs, and for every special tool design the company produces, new tooling for its own production process typically is needed to carry out the job. Waiting for this custom tooling to be delivered has historically been the largest contributor to Knight Carbide’s lead time. Now, lead times have begun to dramatically improve.
Edge prep carriers that used to be machined, but now are 3D printed, illustrate the reason for the change. One of these custom carriers could hold anywhere from eight to 30 carbide inserts for an abrasive edge prep operation, depending on the insert’s design and dimensions. Traditionally, a machine shop made these carriers, and Knight Carbide would wait 2 to 3 weeks to receive them. But the cutting tool maker wondered: Did these carriers really have to be made from steel? Or even metal? Through experimentation, the company discovered that a very durable plastic could also do the job. It learned this when it began to use a Mojo desktop 3D printer from Stratasys to produce the carriers in tough ABS plastic. In place of the multi-week lead time typical of the carriers, generating a carrier directly from a CAD model through 3D printing in this way requires a build time of only about 6 hours.
Moreover, the 3D CNC Inserts printed carrier is often better than the steel one. When the parts were machined, developing complex carrier designs would have been impractical. Creating tooling to hold the inserts at precise orientations during the edge prep would have required five-axis machining and/or additional setups in order to machine the needed angles into the carrier. But 3D printing is unaffected by complexity—it simply prints a tangible model of whatever CAD geometry is provided. Thus, Knight Carbide has been able to fine-tune its edge prep operation lately by using carriers that hold the inserts at precise compound angles. As a result, not only has the lead time of the edge prep operation improved, but so has its capability.
The Mojo printer employs fused deposition modeling (FDM) to generate plastic parts that
are roughly equivalent to tube process inserts what might be made through injection molding. Solid plastic forms produced this way are easily durable enough for use as tooling—at least in many cases.
Knight Carbide Vice President Chris Kyle says there have been failures. An FDM linkage used in a workholding system for securing inserts rigidly proved too flexible to maintain the required clamp. Also, the hope of replacing customized steel fixtures in a twin-spindle surface grinding machine was not realized, because the heat of grinding in this machine was sufficient to melt the plastic. Mr. Kyle says the company is still exploring in this way, learning by trial and error to discover all that the 3D printer might do.
One other successful application that illustrates the potential for efficiency gain involves holders used for peripheral grinders, he says. In this application, too, an insert needs to be held at a particular angle as a particular feature is precision ground. Knight Carbide technicians used to create these custom-angled holders by hand, assembling the holders out of hardware available in the shop. Building one of these tools might take a skilled employee the better part of a day. But now, that holder geometry—precisely achieving whatever insert angle is needed—can be generated in the 3D printer while the skilled employee tends to other work.
3D printing is still new enough for the company that most of the production tooling is still the traditional steel. Going forward, Mr. Kyle sees the company systemizing and learning to rely more on the productivity gains the printer can deliver. In a way, the old, longer-lead-time process was easier to manage. Since insert production could not proceed until tooling arrived from the outside supplier, there was no choice but to wait. But now, the opportunity—as well as the challenge—is to leverage the new capability in order to respond more quickly. This will involve incorporating 3D printing of production tooling into the standard workflow.
“Six hours to build each edge prep carrier is fast compared to what we were used to, but it’s still a significant amount of time,” Mr. Kyle says. And typically there are multiple carriers for any given job. (The edge prep machine accommodates up to six of them.) Thus, the production process has to allow time for all of this 3D printing. Fortunately, though, edge prep comes late enough in the insert manufacturing process that—if the workflow is designed well—there ought to be plenty of time to let carriers be printed while carrying out other manufacturing steps.
In the meantime, Knight Carbide continues to find other uses for the printer. It has proven to be valuable for communicating with customers, Mr. Kyle says, because the company can now print a physical model of any new carbide insert design to let the customer confirm that the form of the tool is correct. Thus, while most 3D printing users start with prototyping and move later to functional parts, Knight Carbide has gone in the opposite direction. After investing in 3D printing to make functional tooling, the company now sees prototyping as an added source of value.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Carbide Drilling Inserts
It takes tooling to make tooling. For Knight Carbide, various fixtures, holders and carriers are needed to convey carbide machining inserts through the grinding and finishing operations required to make these tools. The cutting tool maker in Chesterfield Township, Michigan, primarily serves customers with specialized insert needs, and for every special tool design the company produces, new tooling for its own production process typically is needed to carry out the job. Waiting for this custom tooling to be delivered has historically been the largest contributor to Knight Carbide’s lead time. Now, lead times have begun to dramatically improve.
Edge prep carriers that used to be machined, but now are 3D printed, illustrate the reason for the change. One of these custom carriers could hold anywhere from eight to 30 carbide inserts for an abrasive edge prep operation, depending on the insert’s design and dimensions. Traditionally, a machine shop made these carriers, and Knight Carbide would wait 2 to 3 weeks to receive them. But the cutting tool maker wondered: Did these carriers really have to be made from steel? Or even metal? Through experimentation, the company discovered that a very durable plastic could also do the job. It learned this when it began to use a Mojo desktop 3D printer from Stratasys to produce the carriers in tough ABS plastic. In place of the multi-week lead time typical of the carriers, generating a carrier directly from a CAD model through 3D printing in this way requires a build time of only about 6 hours.
Moreover, the 3D CNC Inserts printed carrier is often better than the steel one. When the parts were machined, developing complex carrier designs would have been impractical. Creating tooling to hold the inserts at precise orientations during the edge prep would have required five-axis machining and/or additional setups in order to machine the needed angles into the carrier. But 3D printing is unaffected by complexity—it simply prints a tangible model of whatever CAD geometry is provided. Thus, Knight Carbide has been able to fine-tune its edge prep operation lately by using carriers that hold the inserts at precise compound angles. As a result, not only has the lead time of the edge prep operation improved, but so has its capability.
The Mojo printer employs fused deposition modeling (FDM) to generate plastic parts that
are roughly equivalent to tube process inserts what might be made through injection molding. Solid plastic forms produced this way are easily durable enough for use as tooling—at least in many cases.
Knight Carbide Vice President Chris Kyle says there have been failures. An FDM linkage used in a workholding system for securing inserts rigidly proved too flexible to maintain the required clamp. Also, the hope of replacing customized steel fixtures in a twin-spindle surface grinding machine was not realized, because the heat of grinding in this machine was sufficient to melt the plastic. Mr. Kyle says the company is still exploring in this way, learning by trial and error to discover all that the 3D printer might do.
One other successful application that illustrates the potential for efficiency gain involves holders used for peripheral grinders, he says. In this application, too, an insert needs to be held at a particular angle as a particular feature is precision ground. Knight Carbide technicians used to create these custom-angled holders by hand, assembling the holders out of hardware available in the shop. Building one of these tools might take a skilled employee the better part of a day. But now, that holder geometry—precisely achieving whatever insert angle is needed—can be generated in the 3D printer while the skilled employee tends to other work.
3D printing is still new enough for the company that most of the production tooling is still the traditional steel. Going forward, Mr. Kyle sees the company systemizing and learning to rely more on the productivity gains the printer can deliver. In a way, the old, longer-lead-time process was easier to manage. Since insert production could not proceed until tooling arrived from the outside supplier, there was no choice but to wait. But now, the opportunity—as well as the challenge—is to leverage the new capability in order to respond more quickly. This will involve incorporating 3D printing of production tooling into the standard workflow.
“Six hours to build each edge prep carrier is fast compared to what we were used to, but it’s still a significant amount of time,” Mr. Kyle says. And typically there are multiple carriers for any given job. (The edge prep machine accommodates up to six of them.) Thus, the production process has to allow time for all of this 3D printing. Fortunately, though, edge prep comes late enough in the insert manufacturing process that—if the workflow is designed well—there ought to be plenty of time to let carriers be printed while carrying out other manufacturing steps.
In the meantime, Knight Carbide continues to find other uses for the printer. It has proven to be valuable for communicating with customers, Mr. Kyle says, because the company can now print a physical model of any new carbide insert design to let the customer confirm that the form of the tool is correct. Thus, while most 3D printing users start with prototyping and move later to functional parts, Knight Carbide has gone in the opposite direction. After investing in 3D printing to make functional tooling, the company now sees prototyping as an added source of value.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Carbide Drilling Inserts
User Friendly Tool Presetter Reduces Human Error
Starro Precision Products, Inc. (Elgin, Illinois) specializes in Swiss screw machining. The company produces a broad spectrum of high-tech parts for the aerospace, agricultural, automotive, medical, defense, energy and commercial markets. Although the company employs several state-of-the-art CNC workstations that can produce precise tolerances to 0.0001, the company also realizes that not every job in the Carbide Insert for Cast Iron shop requires that level of precision or sophistication.
"We are in an extremely competitive market where we are competing for business not just with domestic competitors but competitors from all over the world," says Lee Dwyer, director of total quality management at Starro. "Many times we are producing a part that sells for 20 cents. With low cost parts, a swing of a penny one way or another can be a big difference. Customers will shop the world to save a penny or two on parts like these. For that reason, we are constantly looking for ways to cut costs without sacrificing quality."
The company decided it did not make sense to do a job that can be done on an inexpensive mill on an expensive CNC machine. "I'm the first to admit that a CNC machine is much more flexible, but the fact is that the surface milling cutters price difference is a quantum leap," says Mr. Dwyer.
The company found that Barker mills, from Barker Milling Machines (Akron, Ohio), were job-specific machines for what it needed. "We are hard pressed to beat them when it comes to speed, accuracy and the low cost. We use our Barkers for straddle milling, slotting and profiling, just to name some of the secondary operations." Mr. Dwyer says.
The company found that it saved more money using a Barker mill and an operator than using an underutilized CNC running by itself.
One of the reasons the people at Starro Precision discovered the Barker milling machines was because there simply are not a lot of horizontal "production type" mills in the market. The machine can be used for milling, profiling, drilling, key seating, end milling, straddle milling, slotting, turning, facing, counterboring, recessing and more.
The Barker line is actually divided into two types of machines. The AM Series features a two horsepower spindle motor and a 6 ? inch by 20 inch table. Standard features include class 3 spindle bearings; hand lever feeds to head, saddle and table motions; a heavy duty, totally enclosed fan-cooled motor with dual voltage; a belt guard and a machine light. The AM III is the newest Barker AM model and includes PLC-controlled selectable cycles with optional air feed to all three motors.
The PM Series features a 1/3 horsepower spindle motor and a 4 inch by 12 inch table. This smaller version of the AM features rigid reinforced construction with extra-wide dovetail slides and adjustable gibs, delivering accuracy and long life. Although the PM has been designed for lighter duty work, its standard features are identical to the AM.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: carbide wear inserts
Starro Precision Products, Inc. (Elgin, Illinois) specializes in Swiss screw machining. The company produces a broad spectrum of high-tech parts for the aerospace, agricultural, automotive, medical, defense, energy and commercial markets. Although the company employs several state-of-the-art CNC workstations that can produce precise tolerances to 0.0001, the company also realizes that not every job in the Carbide Insert for Cast Iron shop requires that level of precision or sophistication.
"We are in an extremely competitive market where we are competing for business not just with domestic competitors but competitors from all over the world," says Lee Dwyer, director of total quality management at Starro. "Many times we are producing a part that sells for 20 cents. With low cost parts, a swing of a penny one way or another can be a big difference. Customers will shop the world to save a penny or two on parts like these. For that reason, we are constantly looking for ways to cut costs without sacrificing quality."
The company decided it did not make sense to do a job that can be done on an inexpensive mill on an expensive CNC machine. "I'm the first to admit that a CNC machine is much more flexible, but the fact is that the surface milling cutters price difference is a quantum leap," says Mr. Dwyer.
The company found that Barker mills, from Barker Milling Machines (Akron, Ohio), were job-specific machines for what it needed. "We are hard pressed to beat them when it comes to speed, accuracy and the low cost. We use our Barkers for straddle milling, slotting and profiling, just to name some of the secondary operations." Mr. Dwyer says.
The company found that it saved more money using a Barker mill and an operator than using an underutilized CNC running by itself.
One of the reasons the people at Starro Precision discovered the Barker milling machines was because there simply are not a lot of horizontal "production type" mills in the market. The machine can be used for milling, profiling, drilling, key seating, end milling, straddle milling, slotting, turning, facing, counterboring, recessing and more.
The Barker line is actually divided into two types of machines. The AM Series features a two horsepower spindle motor and a 6 ? inch by 20 inch table. Standard features include class 3 spindle bearings; hand lever feeds to head, saddle and table motions; a heavy duty, totally enclosed fan-cooled motor with dual voltage; a belt guard and a machine light. The AM III is the newest Barker AM model and includes PLC-controlled selectable cycles with optional air feed to all three motors.
The PM Series features a 1/3 horsepower spindle motor and a 4 inch by 12 inch table. This smaller version of the AM features rigid reinforced construction with extra-wide dovetail slides and adjustable gibs, delivering accuracy and long life. Although the PM has been designed for lighter duty work, its standard features are identical to the AM.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: carbide wear inserts
Digital Twins Give CNC Machining a Head Start
Chevalier Machinery’s FBL-460 vertical TCGT Insert turning center features a 45-degree slant bed, rigid boxways and programmable tailstock. The machine offers a flexible solution for mixed-volume, short-run or dedicated high-volume applications at speeds ranging to 1,400 rpm.
The slant-bed lathe features a 6.3" spindle through-hole bar capacity. A 35-hp, AC digital spindle motor with a two-speed gearbox produces 735 foot-pounds of torque at low rpms. The 10-position servo-indexing turret offers a 0.5 sec. tool-indexing time. The OD shank measures 1.25" and the boring bar holds up to 2.5". The carousel is held by a large curved coupling and is clamped with hydraulic pressure. The machine is equipped with a 150-psi high-pressure pump, oil skimmer and chip conveyor.
The ribbed Meehanite cast iron mono-block casting with hardened and ground hand-scraped fast feed milling inserts slideways is said to resist deflection and vibration for stable end-to-end cutting of long shafts. The machine offers a maximum swing of 33", turning diameter of 26.8" and turning length of 80". X- and Z-axis travels measure 14" × 83", respectively, with positioning accuracy of ±0.0002" and repeatability of ±0.0001".
The Cemented Carbide Blog: TNGG Insert
Chevalier Machinery’s FBL-460 vertical TCGT Insert turning center features a 45-degree slant bed, rigid boxways and programmable tailstock. The machine offers a flexible solution for mixed-volume, short-run or dedicated high-volume applications at speeds ranging to 1,400 rpm.
The slant-bed lathe features a 6.3" spindle through-hole bar capacity. A 35-hp, AC digital spindle motor with a two-speed gearbox produces 735 foot-pounds of torque at low rpms. The 10-position servo-indexing turret offers a 0.5 sec. tool-indexing time. The OD shank measures 1.25" and the boring bar holds up to 2.5". The carousel is held by a large curved coupling and is clamped with hydraulic pressure. The machine is equipped with a 150-psi high-pressure pump, oil skimmer and chip conveyor.
The ribbed Meehanite cast iron mono-block casting with hardened and ground hand-scraped fast feed milling inserts slideways is said to resist deflection and vibration for stable end-to-end cutting of long shafts. The machine offers a maximum swing of 33", turning diameter of 26.8" and turning length of 80". X- and Z-axis travels measure 14" × 83", respectively, with positioning accuracy of ±0.0002" and repeatability of ±0.0001".
The Cemented Carbide Blog: TNGG Insert
GF and EOS to collaborate on metal mold inserts
Designed as an update to its V60R model, Okuma’s V760EX vertical lathe features a larger RCMX Insert work envelope in the same footprint, accommodating larger workpieces with a maximum turning diameter of 760 mm. The lathe provides stable, high-precision cutting CNC Carbide Inserts within a small footprint and is well-suited for machining thin and odd-shaped workpieces, and applications in the gas and aerospace industries.
The vertical lathe offers speeds ranging from 20 to 2,000 rpm and power of 30 kW (40 hp) for 30 min. and 22 kW (30 hp) continuous. Rapid traverse rates are 24 m/min. (945 ipm) in the X and Z axes. The lathe features a boxway system and solid base and column for a dependable, rigid structure. The headstock’s flange construction includes precision hand-scraped mounting surfaces to minimize the effects of thermal deformation and vibration for stable, accurate cutting. According to the company, the machine offers an ergonomic design with easy access to the chuck and front-skirt operation panel.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: carbide insert blanks
Designed as an update to its V60R model, Okuma’s V760EX vertical lathe features a larger RCMX Insert work envelope in the same footprint, accommodating larger workpieces with a maximum turning diameter of 760 mm. The lathe provides stable, high-precision cutting CNC Carbide Inserts within a small footprint and is well-suited for machining thin and odd-shaped workpieces, and applications in the gas and aerospace industries.
The vertical lathe offers speeds ranging from 20 to 2,000 rpm and power of 30 kW (40 hp) for 30 min. and 22 kW (30 hp) continuous. Rapid traverse rates are 24 m/min. (945 ipm) in the X and Z axes. The lathe features a boxway system and solid base and column for a dependable, rigid structure. The headstock’s flange construction includes precision hand-scraped mounting surfaces to minimize the effects of thermal deformation and vibration for stable, accurate cutting. According to the company, the machine offers an ergonomic design with easy access to the chuck and front-skirt operation panel.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: carbide insert blanks
CAM, Simulation Software Enhances Port Machining Toolpaths
Getting the most out of turning operations often requires programmers and engineers to think outside the box. One way to do this is to think of every cutting tool as a multitasking tool. For example, center drills and spotting drills can also chamfer, some thread mills also make good end mills and grooving tools can do more than just cut grooves. While grooving tools are clearly best at making grooves, potential setup and cycle time savings might make it worthwhile to consider using these tools for other operations, too.
Here are two advantageous approaches to multitasking when turning OD features on parts. The first method treats the grooving tool as a single-point OD rougher/finisher. The second is to create a tool that can generate Carbide Grooving Inserts many features in a single pass.
It’s important to understand there are three main groove types: OD, ID and face grooves. Tools designed primarily to cut OD grooves have made the greatest strides of the three in performing aggressive, bi-directional stock removal. Grooving tool manufacturer ThinBit (Fort Wayne, Indiana) had this thought in mind when designing its Groove-N-Turn series. Other manufacturers also offer tools that perform similar functions. All are designed reduce cycle time by allowing users to skip tool changes when removing stock from the face and OD of the part and adding groove features later. In shops that have lots of short-run families of parts with grooves in their geometry, using a grooving cutter as a multitasking tool can shorten tool setup sheets and also reduce the number of tools in CAM software CCGT Insert libraries. An added benefit of using this method is a reduced number of carbide inserts in the tool crib. Smaller shops may see some benefit from quantity discounts on the few grooving inserts they do buy to accommodate increased activity.
Even if the groove feature is wide enough to use other methods, grooving tools clearly offer advantages over more traditional methods. Making such a groove without a grooving tool would require at least two tools and possibly as many as four. Using the two- or four-tool method (one set for the right hand and one set for the left) requires offsets to be matched and blended perfectly in the bottom of the groove. It also requires four offsets to control the width (one set for one wall; a different set for the other). In contrast, a grooving tool’s symmetrical square shoulder design allows it to cut left side walls, right side walls and the bottom of the groove with one set of offsets. This method is easier to program, control and adjust. Even comparatively narrow grooving tools (0.060-inch wide) are capable of quickly making large features in this way.
Another approach to multitasking with grooving tools is to create a tool with multiple cutting edges that can produce many features in a single plunge pass. Traditionally, toolmakers use either wire EDM or tool-grinding machines to machine these cutters from high speed steel or solid carbide blanks. These tools work well but are problematic because those parts of the tool that do more cutting tend to wear faster than others. This type of tool also demands greater rigidity and power than the single-point concept, and getting the best finish can be challenging. In addition, broken tools must be taken out of production and completely resurfaced. This requires removing the tool from the machine and installing a substitute. While using carbide is an improvement over high speed steel, this carbide is uncoated and possibly weakened by cobalt depletion from the EDM process.
To modernize this concept, ThinBit developed the Design-A-Groove series of multitasking, single-pass grooving tools, which combines modular designs with standard carbide inserts. Users provide information on the type of grooves needed, and the company creates tools that fit their needs. The inserted tools require less power and provide better finishes than traditional form tools. Also, using inserts ensures that individual areas that wear faster than others are replaced individually. This allows the tool to remain in the machine and production to continue after a simple insert change. This concept also provides optional carbide grades and alternate chipbreaker geometries that address problem areas of the form that may not be available with blanks cut via wire EDM or with tool-grinding machines.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: tungsten carbide Inserts
Getting the most out of turning operations often requires programmers and engineers to think outside the box. One way to do this is to think of every cutting tool as a multitasking tool. For example, center drills and spotting drills can also chamfer, some thread mills also make good end mills and grooving tools can do more than just cut grooves. While grooving tools are clearly best at making grooves, potential setup and cycle time savings might make it worthwhile to consider using these tools for other operations, too.
Here are two advantageous approaches to multitasking when turning OD features on parts. The first method treats the grooving tool as a single-point OD rougher/finisher. The second is to create a tool that can generate Carbide Grooving Inserts many features in a single pass.
It’s important to understand there are three main groove types: OD, ID and face grooves. Tools designed primarily to cut OD grooves have made the greatest strides of the three in performing aggressive, bi-directional stock removal. Grooving tool manufacturer ThinBit (Fort Wayne, Indiana) had this thought in mind when designing its Groove-N-Turn series. Other manufacturers also offer tools that perform similar functions. All are designed reduce cycle time by allowing users to skip tool changes when removing stock from the face and OD of the part and adding groove features later. In shops that have lots of short-run families of parts with grooves in their geometry, using a grooving cutter as a multitasking tool can shorten tool setup sheets and also reduce the number of tools in CAM software CCGT Insert libraries. An added benefit of using this method is a reduced number of carbide inserts in the tool crib. Smaller shops may see some benefit from quantity discounts on the few grooving inserts they do buy to accommodate increased activity.
Even if the groove feature is wide enough to use other methods, grooving tools clearly offer advantages over more traditional methods. Making such a groove without a grooving tool would require at least two tools and possibly as many as four. Using the two- or four-tool method (one set for the right hand and one set for the left) requires offsets to be matched and blended perfectly in the bottom of the groove. It also requires four offsets to control the width (one set for one wall; a different set for the other). In contrast, a grooving tool’s symmetrical square shoulder design allows it to cut left side walls, right side walls and the bottom of the groove with one set of offsets. This method is easier to program, control and adjust. Even comparatively narrow grooving tools (0.060-inch wide) are capable of quickly making large features in this way.
Another approach to multitasking with grooving tools is to create a tool with multiple cutting edges that can produce many features in a single plunge pass. Traditionally, toolmakers use either wire EDM or tool-grinding machines to machine these cutters from high speed steel or solid carbide blanks. These tools work well but are problematic because those parts of the tool that do more cutting tend to wear faster than others. This type of tool also demands greater rigidity and power than the single-point concept, and getting the best finish can be challenging. In addition, broken tools must be taken out of production and completely resurfaced. This requires removing the tool from the machine and installing a substitute. While using carbide is an improvement over high speed steel, this carbide is uncoated and possibly weakened by cobalt depletion from the EDM process.
To modernize this concept, ThinBit developed the Design-A-Groove series of multitasking, single-pass grooving tools, which combines modular designs with standard carbide inserts. Users provide information on the type of grooves needed, and the company creates tools that fit their needs. The inserted tools require less power and provide better finishes than traditional form tools. Also, using inserts ensures that individual areas that wear faster than others are replaced individually. This allows the tool to remain in the machine and production to continue after a simple insert change. This concept also provides optional carbide grades and alternate chipbreaker geometries that address problem areas of the form that may not be available with blanks cut via wire EDM or with tool-grinding machines.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: tungsten carbide Inserts
When a Turn Mill Doesn’t Turn
Favor Laser’s XO high-performance laser cutting machine is based on custom CNC hardware and software from NUM Corp. The laser cutter is capable of producing very small or very large parts from sheet metal, with a feed rate ranging to 60 m/min. All Favor Laser machines are based on a “flying optics” system, which supports the sheet metal on a stationary table while the cutting head directing the laser beam moves horizontally above the surface of the sheet. Because the cutting head has a low and constant mass, this approach is said to facilitate faster and more precise positioning than laser cutters that move the workpiece beneath a static laser beam using a motion control system.
Favor Laser chose NUM’s Flexium 68 CNC system for CCMT Insert the XO machine for both its hardware compatibility and software functionality designed to simplify application programming. In particular, the software’s Dynamic Operator (DO) function supports programming that dynamically controls the gap between the cutting head and the workpiece. According to the company, the DO function’s fast calculation and communication abilities enable the integration of event-driven machine cycles into the real-time CNC kernel.
All motion control elements of the XO laser cutter are also supplied by NUM. In addition to the motors, drives and Flexium 68 CNC kernel, the machine uses NUM Ethercat I/O terminals and a dual-processor Flexium FS152i operator panel with a 15" flat screen and hard drive. The custom human-machine interface was developed by NUM Taiwan and is designed to be intuitive and easy to use.
Read WNMG Insert more about the XO laser cutter and its co-development at wordsun.com.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: tungsten carbide insert
Favor Laser’s XO high-performance laser cutting machine is based on custom CNC hardware and software from NUM Corp. The laser cutter is capable of producing very small or very large parts from sheet metal, with a feed rate ranging to 60 m/min. All Favor Laser machines are based on a “flying optics” system, which supports the sheet metal on a stationary table while the cutting head directing the laser beam moves horizontally above the surface of the sheet. Because the cutting head has a low and constant mass, this approach is said to facilitate faster and more precise positioning than laser cutters that move the workpiece beneath a static laser beam using a motion control system.
Favor Laser chose NUM’s Flexium 68 CNC system for CCMT Insert the XO machine for both its hardware compatibility and software functionality designed to simplify application programming. In particular, the software’s Dynamic Operator (DO) function supports programming that dynamically controls the gap between the cutting head and the workpiece. According to the company, the DO function’s fast calculation and communication abilities enable the integration of event-driven machine cycles into the real-time CNC kernel.
All motion control elements of the XO laser cutter are also supplied by NUM. In addition to the motors, drives and Flexium 68 CNC kernel, the machine uses NUM Ethercat I/O terminals and a dual-processor Flexium FS152i operator panel with a 15" flat screen and hard drive. The custom human-machine interface was developed by NUM Taiwan and is designed to be intuitive and easy to use.
Read WNMG Insert more about the XO laser cutter and its co-development at wordsun.com.
The Cemented Carbide Blog: tungsten carbide insert
Deep Drilling Without Pecking Or Through Tool Coolant
Walter has?added a trio of side- and face-milling cutters to?its Xtra.tec series for groove and slot milling, as well as?trimming and slitting operations.?The?F4053 slitting cutter is available in diameters ranging from 80 to 160 mm,?and the F4153 and F4253 side and face cutters are available in diameters ranging from 80 to 200 mm and from 100 to 250 mm, respectively.?All models feature four-edged indexable inserts in staggering-tooth formation with an approach angle of 90 degrees. To increase precision, the indexible inserts are peripherally ground. Models F4153 and F4253 use CCMT Insert identical-system indexable inserts, which are interchangeable. Inserts are mounted laterally in the F4153 and tangentially in the F4253.
?
The cutters are suitable for virtually all cast and steel materials, and various insert geometries allow precision adjustment to the relevant application. The inserts are constructed from the company’s?Tiger.tec material,?which is said to provide favorable hardness-to-toughness ratios for increased machining output. Additionally, Carbide Threading Inserts the geometries are positive, which enable soft cuts, quality surface finish and minimal stress for the machine and workholding equipment. The tool bodies’ nickel-plated surfaces facilitate chip removal and prolonged tool life, the company says.?
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Carbide Inserts
Walter has?added a trio of side- and face-milling cutters to?its Xtra.tec series for groove and slot milling, as well as?trimming and slitting operations.?The?F4053 slitting cutter is available in diameters ranging from 80 to 160 mm,?and the F4153 and F4253 side and face cutters are available in diameters ranging from 80 to 200 mm and from 100 to 250 mm, respectively.?All models feature four-edged indexable inserts in staggering-tooth formation with an approach angle of 90 degrees. To increase precision, the indexible inserts are peripherally ground. Models F4153 and F4253 use CCMT Insert identical-system indexable inserts, which are interchangeable. Inserts are mounted laterally in the F4153 and tangentially in the F4253.
?
The cutters are suitable for virtually all cast and steel materials, and various insert geometries allow precision adjustment to the relevant application. The inserts are constructed from the company’s?Tiger.tec material,?which is said to provide favorable hardness-to-toughness ratios for increased machining output. Additionally, Carbide Threading Inserts the geometries are positive, which enable soft cuts, quality surface finish and minimal stress for the machine and workholding equipment. The tool bodies’ nickel-plated surfaces facilitate chip removal and prolonged tool life, the company says.?
The Cemented Carbide Blog: Carbide Inserts
