
With many of EDGECAM’s waveform roughing parameters being outside the traditional machining comfort zone, Mach One’s skilled machinists were unsure originally that the process would work without damaging the tools. That has now been increased to a 12mm depth cut using the same tool, with a 20 percent stepover. Prior to waveform, the 8mm ripper created a depth cut of 4mm. An aluminium casing for a person-to-person communication unit is produced with a feed rate of 5.4 metres/min, up from two metres/min. With waveform we were able to take a 29mm depth cut with a stepover of 20 per cent.”Īlthough they did not increase the feed rate too much for that particular job – taking it to 2.5 metres/min, the feed rate for another component has more than doubled. “Traditionally we roughed the open pockets with a 16mm cutter making 6mm depth cuts at a feed rate of 1800mm a minute.
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Other satellite communications equipment that the ISO 9001-accredited company now manufactures with waveform includes a component which houses electronics for a HD television broadcasting unit. But we can push the indexable insert cutter particularly hard, and we ended up moving from 2.4 metres/min to 4.5 metres/min – just under double the feed rate.” We’d expect even better results from using solid carbide, because it would give us more flute length. “We went from a 4mm depth cut to 15mm using a 25mm indexable insert cutter, and we reduced the stepover from 50 per cent down to 20 per cent. Chris Bentley highlights how it reduced the cycle time from two hours five minutes, to one hour 36 minutes, for an aluminium 4G broadcast amplifier casing. It is proving to be invaluable in Mach One’s machining operations for their biggest customer base: the satellite communications industry. Chip load stays constant, and the depth of cut employs the cutter’s entire flute length. Waveform creates its toolpaths so that when viewed from above the distance between the roughing passes – also known as stepover – varies, but this variation allows the actual width of cut to stay the same and at the optimum level, meaning the spikes are removed. It produces rough milling toolpaths that deliver shorter cycle times, greater tool life, better surface finish and are kinder to machine tools. And because we can also increase feed and speed rates it reduces our cycle times considerably.”ĮDGECAM’s waveform roughing strategy has been designed to maximise material removal rates while prolonging both tool and machine tool life. “We find it a very powerful tool because it enables us to do much deeper depth cuts than before. It does work, and is actually pushing the boundaries of traditional milling."
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EDGECAM’s Waveform “Pushes Boundaries of Traditional Milling”Īn engineering subcontractor says the revolutionary waveform roughing strategy in EDGECAM CNC software is pushing the boundaries of traditional millingĬhris Bentley, Managing Director of Mach One Engineering, says: “It’s exciting when new technology comes along that changes things so much for the better.
