Uncovering potential savings in tool and mould making

Related Vendors

HASCO Hasenclever GmbH + Co KG

Renishaw plc

Ramada Acos

OPEN MIND Technologies Schweiz GmbH

What exactly is the innovation?

Our method essentially consists of two elements: the 5-axis tangent plane machining strategy and the conical barrel cutter. The idea behind the technology is to facilitate the perfect interplay between these two elements. Barrel cutters have a large radius. We have enlarged the radius even more for the conical barrel cutter. A section of the circumference is mapped at the cutter, making it possible to achieve very large radii from 250 to 1500 mm at the tool. The special tool geometry ensures that the conical barrel cutter is very stable.

Furthermore, barrel cutters and ball mill tips are excellently suited for machining corner radii. This way, these tools can be simultaneously used as barrel cutters and ball mills. In other words, the conical barrel cutter incorporates the advantages of ball mills and barrel cutters in a single tool. This means that users no longer need to switch cutters when machining fillets.

The perfect interplay between tool and strategy allows you to fully exploit the potential of this method. This makes it possible to use 5-axis tools with large line increments from 3 to 8 millimetres instead of only 0.2 to 0.4 millimetres while achieving the same or better surface quality. The 5-axis tangent plane machining strategy harnesses all of the advantages of the new tool and makes it possible to achieve the optimal tilt angle against the plane being machined. As a result, the user enormously reduces manufacturing times, achieves a high level of surface quality, increases tool life and uses fewer tools.

CNC Software

Additional function package for machining software

What are the areas of application?

The 5-axis tangent plane machining strategy allows you to finish all components that feature hard-to-reach planes very efficiently and free of collisions. The barrel cutter is generally superior to the ball mill when it comes to finishing connecting radii and planes. The extremely short machining time allows you to reduce thermal influences, for example, tolerance deviations due to heating of the spindle and machine drives. Furthermore, little axial deviations of the machine are smoothed, thanks to the large barrel radius, which in turn prevents markings at the transition. The tangential tilt angle ensures constant tool engagement and constant machining forces. This in turn ensures a very high level of repetition accuracy. As I mentioned earlier, the user can carry out tangential milling and machining of adjacent areas without needing to switch tools. Hypermill supports ball mills and barrel cutters from the same parametric cutter definition.

Is it financially worthwhile for the user to purchase the new cutter type?

Contrary to popular belief, the conical barrel cutter is not a specialised tool. Rather, it is a new type of standard tool that will continue to become more important and prevalent. The somewhat higher purchase costs pay off in a very short amount of time if you implement the tool correctly.

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