OPTIMIZATION MODULE TACKLES TOUGH MATERIALS

It is now possible to visualize excessive forces, inefficient cutting parameters, metal removal rate, power consumption, torque, and tool deflection.

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Most anyone who’s worked in a machine shop for any length of time has at some point attended a trade show or machine tool distributor’s open house. There they

see canned demonstrations of CNC machines busily carving up chunks of brass, mild steel, or aluminum into business card holders and tic-tac-toe games. While these giveaways are fun stuff, wouldn’t it be refreshing to see some real parts being machined, preferably from a difficult-to-machine material?

That’s what took place at the Okuma Winter Showcase, an annual event the machine builder hosts for 600+ attendees. At the event, attendees were treated to more than two-dozen CNC machine tools under power, most of them making chips. These included an MU-8000V LASER EX super multitasker with laser metal deposition and the GENOS M460V-5AX, a trunnion-style, five-axis vertical machining center offering high productivity, a small footprint, and a surprisingly low-price tag.

There was also an LB3000 EX-II lathe with barfeed vibration detection, a MULTUS B300II turn-mill center with collaborative robot part handling, MA500HII horizontal and MCR-A5CII double-column machining centers, and a MULTUS U3000 multitasking machine.

An impressive lineup, to be sure, but there was one demo that had a large number of show attendees talking, even those responsible for setting it up. “It was pretty cool to see, especially when you consider that we were cutting titanium, a very hard and difficult-to-machine material,” says Okuma Applications Engineer Lee Johnston.

He’s talking about CGTech’s Force, a physics-based NC program optimization module that works within the company’s flagship VERICUT toolpath simulation software. Working with representatives from CGTech and Sandvik Coromant, Johnston programmed a Ti6Al-4V titanium bracket being made for an aerospace customer, then optimized its toolpaths with VERICUT Force.