November 2010 Feature Article
Ultra High-Performance Toolpath Engine Delivers 200%
Precision Machining Productivity Boost
Aerospace, Medical and Other High-Tech Parts Made
Faster at Less Cost with New Volumill Software,7000 RPM at
252 IPM vs 1200RPM at 16 IPM
Advanced Machining Systems, a full-service CNC machining
and design shop that specializes in precision-machined
components for several industries including firearms,
semiconductors, aerospace, and medical, recently embarked on
a top-to-bottom analysis of its operations to determine why
it was having trouble winning new business.
Formed in 2002, the company’s philosophy is to partner
with customers through the design, modeling and prototyping
phases of product development, culminating in optimized
production. AMS employs 2010 SolidWorks CAD software and
Mastercam X4 with solids capability to support its business
model. A new, 10,000-square-foot plant was dedicated in 2006
to house the entire operation including CNC machining
centers, turning and turn/mill centers, plus extensive
quality-control equipment and all business processes.
AMS has streamlined its work flow, moved from single
work-holding devices to gang setups to minimize set-up times
and has invested in dedicated preset tooling since early
2009. In addition, the company decided to focus machines and
areas of the shop for certain types of parts, families of
parts and sizes of parts to maximize handling efficiency.
The shop specializes in the machining of incubators for
medical research companies, aerospace hydraulic systems,
interior parts and life support systems for medical
transport helicopters, control surfaces for general aviation
aircraft, as well as parts for experimental aircraft and
firearms.
Big Benefit from New Toolpath Generation
The change that has had the greatest impact, according to
AMS Manufacturing Engineer Mark Christiansen, has been the
addition of VoluMill™, the high-speed-machining toolpath
engine from Celeritive Technologies. Since VoluMill runs as
a direct and fully integrated plug-in to Mastercam, AMS was
able to incorporate its use without missing a beat.
Christiansen says, “I use VoluMill wherever I can now:
profiles, slots, pockets, steps. I have been able to save at
least 50 percent on my cycle time, even up to 80 percent in
many cases, and we’ve slashed programming time, especially
on complex parts. As a result, AMS is now more profitable on
current work, much more competitive on new business quotes,
and more responsive to customers’ needs.”
VoluMill is a CAM-neutral, ultra-high-performance,
easy-to-use, plug-in toolpath engine to be used in place of
traditional roughing methods when ease of programming,
reducing cycle times, extending tool life, and reducing the
stress on machine tools is a priority. This single-algorithm
software program allows the programmer to determine and
utilize the optimum material removal rate for any
combination of part geometry, material, machine and cutting
tool quickly and easily. VoluMill generates a dynamic
toolpath that delivers the most consistent cutting
conditions possible and allows the use of the entire flute
length of the tool. The use of VoluMill can significantly
reduce cycle times and wear on cutting tools and machines.
Christiansen learned about VoluMill from a colleague who
told him how much it was reducing his company’s programming
and cycle times. “So I went to the VoluMill website, tried
it, and discovered it did everything they claimed, plus it
reduced my tool inventory by allowing me to use solid end
mills versus indexable face-milling cutters,” he reveals.
“Well before the end of the 15-day trial, my bosses were
saying ‘buy it!’ So I did.”
Firearms Industry
Precision machining is critical in the manufacture of
fire arms and their internal components. AMS produces
compensators for 9-mm pistols from 7075 aluminum. VoluMill
has allowed AMS to realize a huge reduction in cycle time on
the compensators by taking a full, 1.6” depth of cut with a
.5” five-flute end mill. Taking a full-flute-length-deep cut
was not possible before.
“We went from machining this part in 9 minutes doing one
at a time before VoluMill to 3 minutes doing three at a time
with VoluMill,” Christiansen says. “That’s a 200%
productivity improvement, which was achievable not only
because VoluMill allows us to use higher feeds and speeds,
but in this case, the use of the full length of flute
eliminated the need for multiple stepdowns.”
Christiansen reports that he’s also using VoluMill for
several other operations when machining the compensators.
“I’m not just using it to mill pockets,” he says.
“Programming with VoluMill is so easy, it’s saving me tons
of time on programming open and complex parts that are so
difficult and time consuming to program with Mastercam. On
one open part, for instance, VoluMill takes the side profile
and allows me to use dashed lines to designate where the
stock boundary is to define the area to machine. VoluMill
just programs the part after that. It’s so simple. And it
knows how to remove the material much more effectively than
any Mastercam toolpath. It always starts out of the
material, which is a lot better on the cutting tool, and
it’s much faster, too. With Dynamic Mill, I have to create
dummy geometry, and then do some additional manipulation
just to prepare it to generate a toolpath. Before we started
using VoluMill, it took me 30 minutes and a lot of
frustration to program the part with Mastercam, but it took
me only 15 minutes to program it with VoluMill, and then
VoluMill roughed the part out better, too.”
Another firearms component on the AMS production schedule
is a part made of A6 tool steel that is used for rifle
testing. “It used to take 75 minutes to program the part and
35 minutes to rough out the first of two operations. With
VoluMill, it took only 45 minutes to program the part and
then 9 minutes to rough it out,” Christiansen notes. The
smooth and fluid tool motion in the VoluMill toolpath allows
AMS to machine the part at 7,000 RPM and 252 IPM with a
6-flute end mill. “I was only able to run the machine at
1,200 RPM and feed it at 16 IPM with a 1/8” step down
before, so now I’m getting much higher machine utilization
efficiency,” Christiansen explains.
AMS used to wear out two end mills per month on this part
that it produces regularly. Now, in the month that AMS has
been using VoluMill on this part, the shop has yet to change
the end mill. “We have seen hardly any wear on this tool,”
Christiansen says. “And it was a used end mill to start
with, actually a regrind.”
AMS also produces a 7075 aluminum part used in testing by
the semiconductor industry. The part took nearly 11 minutes
to machine using a traditional toolpath. Now, using a
VoluMill toolpath, the actual run time for the part is “3
minutes flat,” according to Christiansen.
VoluMill Adds Responsiveness
In addition to making it faster, easier, and more cost
effective for AMS to produce parts, VoluMill also allows the
shop to be more responsive to its customers. For example, an
engineer from a local construction company recently walked
into the shop needing four different spacers that were to be
used in a concrete mold for a building project his company
was working on at that time. He told Christiansen he was in
a rush so he needed the parts immediately.
“He was a new client; we’ve never done business with his
company before,” Christiansen recalls. “He needed the job so
fast that we didn’t even go through our usual new product
design and order processes. We designed and programmed the
four parts from hand sketches and then machined them in less
than an hour. We never would have been able to be that
responsive before. The programming and machining process
would have taken us at least 5 hours before VoluMill,”
Christiansen claims.
One of the parts was a 44x2.125” piece machined from 1045
steel bar stock. The run time was 2 minutes using a ½”
diameter, 5-flute carbide end mill run at 315 IPM and 10,000
RPM. AMS programmed a 1” axial DOC with a .125” radial DOC.
Christiansen indicated that before VoluMill, he probably
would have used a three-flute indexable milling cutter at 58
IPM with a .118” depth of cut. He estimates that it would
have taken 18 minutes to machine, or about nine times
longer.
In addition to the savings of time in programming and
machining, Christiansen also reports that the use of
VoluMill toolpaths is substantially reducing the wear and
tear on his tools and machines, and its use is changing the
type and number of end mills AMS keeps in its inventory.
“The biggest thing for me is the reduced wear on the end
mills, and the ability to run our operation while stocking
fewer tools,” says Christiansen.
Before AMS started using VoluMill it kept a large supply
of different sizes of end mills in inventory. This was a
natural requirement of the practice of starting with large
tools to remove as much material as possible from an area,
followed by a series of sequentially smaller tools to remove
the material where the previous, larger tools could not fit.
With VoluMill, AMS has found that removing all of the
material with smaller cutting tools that fit everywhere is
significantly more efficient than with prior methods. So,
with the company’s adoption of VoluMill, AMS purchased just
a few, smaller 5-flute end mills. Since then, Christiansen
says he “has not had to order any new end mills. With
VoluMill, they just don’t wear out, even on A6 tool steel.
“I have been able to push the boundaries on our end mills
and even push the conservative speed and feed estimates
provided by VoluMill,” he adds. “Moving forward, as we add a
new machine – which we do about once a year – we will look
for higher spindle speed and feed rate capability. I never
thought we’d need more than 8,000 RPM to cut steel, but with
VoluMill toolpaths, we can easily use much more than that.”
VoluMill also has had a tremendous impact on AMS’s
ability to win new business. According to Christiansen, many
of its competitors have slashed their shop rates in an
effort to attract new jobs, or even keep existing jobs, but
AMS hasn’t needed to follow suit. “With the increased
productivity and reduced costs that VoluMill has brought to
us, not only have we not lowered our shop rates, but we are
able to win bids against shops whose rates are now half of
ours, and still attain higher margins than we had before.
With VoluMill, our success rate on bids has improved
dramatically.”
While AMS made many changes to its operation since early
2009, it’s clear that the addition of VoluMill has had the
most impact. By reducing part programming and machining time
with VoluMill toolpaths, especially on complex parts, AMS is
more profitable, more competitive on new business quotes,
and more responsive to customers. Those are results that
breed success.
Want more information? Click below.
Celeritive
Please rate this article:
Very interesting, with information I can use
Interesting, with information I may use
Interesting, but not applicable to my operation
Not interesting or inaccurate
Comments: