AI to guide cutting tool selection in the future

Engineers who currently ask humans for advice about cutting tool selection will one day direct their questions to advisers derived from artificial intelligence. So says MachiningCloud Inc. (www.machiningcloud.com), a single-source provider of digitized product data gathered from manufacturers of cutting tools and workholding devices.

Selecting the best tool for a job from the vast universe of available products can be overwhelming. Adding to the challenge is the need to choose the proper tool geometry, coating and cutting parameters. That information typically is gathered via a telephone conversation with an applications engineer at the cutting tool manufacturer.

MachiningCloud connects cutting tool users with the latest digital product data available from tool manufacturers. Information and application knowledge is readily available to power CAM systems, simulation and tool-management software, cutting tool presetters, machine tools and other shop equipment.

“It can be done human to human very quickly,” said MachiningCloud Managing Director Chuck Mathews, adding that “there’s no software that serves that need.” MachiningCloud’s goal is to “take the process of advising people about tools—artificial intelligence, to use a fancy word—and put it into software.”