Technologies That Make Your Life Easier
Ron Raniszewski 02.15.2017
At a recent Okuma Open House I ran a demo on an MB-4000H that showed a variety of technologies from Okuma and Partners in THINC. The part was a hydraulic valve for an airplane, with some tricky features that allowed us to show how technology can help handle them. The internal diameter had some pretty complex contours, so we demonstrated how Turn-Cut, one of Okuma’s Intelligent Technologies, could be used to make the process easier.
Turning on an HMC
It’s interesting to note that, based on the shape we were machining, we’re probably one of only two companies in the world that can use a horizontal machining center to do a turning operation. Most people would have to put this on a traditional lathe. So the Schunk workholding and the Kennametal tooling we were using could be a lot more simplistic. This is more of a unique feature from Okuma, and it’s something we’ve been doing for 15 years. If we had used a traditional milling method, our cycle time for this part would’ve been quite long using ball end mills. Where with a traditional turning tool and using out Turn-Cut programming option it was a lot easier to generate the code and to get the nice smooth finish you see in the photo here.
Read our White Paper: Turn-Cut Enables Turning on Horizontal Machining Centers
Tool Center Point Control
We also used Tool Center Point Control (TCPC) on this part. Before TCPC, in the older methodology of using multi-axis tool packs, you had to know where the part was prior to programming. With the Tool Center Point and the output from my CAM system, I could put the part anywhere and it makes the code a lot simpler. If I move the part in or out in the X-axis or Z-axis or even to Y, I didn’t have to repost the code. TCPC makes your part program more universal. It can be run on multiple machines without having to reestablish its pivot and reposting. If you have multiple Okumas on your shop floor you can really create efficiencies using TCPC.
Fixture Offset Function
We also used Fixture Offset Function so we could have one work offset with multiple indexes. The part had two holes on one side, and on the other side it was pretty symmetrical. So I would set zero in the center of the part, rotate 90 degrees one way, run the command line for the option, and it would rewrite my work offset to enable me to have one work offset and the machine calculates it for me. It made my life a lot easier.
More Functionalities
For this demo we used PowerMill from AutoDesk. We designed it, we programmed it and we even used another function called PowerInspect to check it when we were done. It was all done by Autodesk: the design, the programming and the inspection. So this is a complete solution from one CAM vendor, from design to inspection.
We used the Renishaw GUI, their interactive probing software for setup and setting tools. It made the setup of the tools, and even dividing the work coordinates, a whole lot faster than using edge finders. It’s all interactive, so it makes life a lot easier.
As you can probably tell, this demo was all about making life easier for the operator and reducing cycle time. When you have the right technologies, that’s pretty easy to do.
Ron Raniszewski is Senior Applications Engineer, Okuma America Corporation.
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