High-performance strategies for roughing, drilling and finishing

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Finishing time cut from 36 minutes to 18 seconds

Christian Neuner, head of Global Engineering Services at Open Mind, backs up these claims with a demonstration of milling performance on an aluminium sample workpiece. The task was to finish all the faces of the four pre-machined outside pockets, the inside recess (including bottom) and the top of the workpiece – applications often found in the aerospace industry, the tool and mould-making sector, motorsports and the automotive industry, to name but a few.

Neuner uses a conventional ball mill to calculate an initial reference time. With a zig-zag strategy and a step-over of 0.1 mm, the traditional finishing process takes 36 minutes for a 90 mm x 70 mm pocket side.

This is then compared to the performance of a conical barrel cutter with a 1,000 mm radius. The cutter is easy to program: Users simply select the tool they wish to use and the face(s) they wish to machine, then enter the depth infeed recommended by the tool manufacturer. Since the cycle calculates all the approach and retract routes itself, all that remains to be done is to submit and launch the program.

In our example, the conical barrel cutter completes its task with a step-over distance of 8 mm, allowing it to finish one side in just 18 seconds. “Of course, the surface quality is also excellent,” says Neuner. In this comparison, the newer tool reduces the process time by approximately 99%.

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