Cutting tool and CAM collaboration

New, ultraresilient workpiece materials with high strength-to-weight ratios have cutting tool vendors and CAM developers scrambling to design new tools and toolpaths to efficiently cut them. To succeed, the vendors and developers must collaborate with unprecedented frequency.

These interactions range from simple information requests to lengthy projects involving teams of specialists. The vendors and developers do the work while parts manufacturers reap the benefits of increased efficiency and cost reductions. Following are some examples.

Taming Inconel: Inconel is notoriously difficult to cut, but it isn’t really “cut” at all. The cutter geometry, at elevated surface speeds, generates enough heat to turn the material into a plasma. The gummy, abrasive material can then be flung from the cutter’s flutes. Normal cutting strategies call for conservative feed rates with slight step-overs and step-downs. Material-removal rates are low. Tools wear quickly.

Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, Pa., introduced a ceramic endmill to cut Inconel with greater efficiency and less tool wear. The toolmaker’s engineers were confident their tool would produce good results when paired with CAM software that could consistently maintain the desired chip loads.

CAM software developers and tool manufacturers work closely together to help ensure new toolpath technology adheres to a toolmaker’s optimal chip-load recommendations. Image courtesy of CNC Software.

They approached CNC Software Inc. (developers of Mastercam CAD/CAM software), which assigned an applications engineer to create an optimized program for cutting Inconel. The engineer designed the test part and developed programs for the new cutting tool. Using the technology to maintain consistent cutting action, he pushed feeds and speeds to the limit of safe cutting parameters.

Normally in this situation, an end user would change a carbide endmill after about 10 minutes of cutting. The new design held for 20 minutes. Material-removal efficiency was improved considerably. At CNC Software’s manufacturing lab, the tool vendor learned how to advise customers about the best ways to use this new design.

Qualifying Tools and Building Libraries: A turnkey applications engineer from toolmaker RobbJack Corp., Lincoln, Calif., learned at the lab about constant-chip-load programming with Mastercam. He optimized and confirmed cutting parameters by performing test cuts using 30 different endmills.

Once users have obtained optimal cutting parameters, they can capture that information in the CAM software’s cutting tool libraries, a powerful tool for improving machining effectiveness. Vendors and developers sometimes collaborate to capture these parameters, helping CNC shops machine more effectively.