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Celeritive Technologies, Inc. has signed an agreement with Geometric, a leader in developing advanced manufacturing software, to offer the ultra-high-performance machining software program VoluMill™ as an option for its leading solid-based CNC programming solution CAMWorks®.
VoluMill toolpaths dynamically manage material removal rates to keep an even and user-controllable load on the cutting tool. Ideal machining conditions are established and maintained throughout the program for any combination of part geometry, material, machine, and cutting tool. Machine tools are fed commands that enable them to operate at peak efficiency levels, enabling the use of machining parameters that both reduce cycle times and extend cutting tool life.
“The combination of VoluMill and CAMWorks will allow our customers to fully leverage solids technology and provide better performance on the shop floor,” said Sunil Palrecha, Geometric’s Director of Product Marketing and Sales, who added, “We expect the addition of VoluMill to give us a sizable competitive advantage in the solids market segment.”
Lawrence Lynott, Celeritive Technologies’ vice president of sales, said, “This agreement will give VoluMill a strong partnership in the solids market segment and broaden its exposure and use in Europe and Asia.
The Volumill technology has already migrated north. Optima Manufacturing is located in Alberta, Canada. Ninety percent of the company’s business is machining components for the energy industry. But it also services customers in the aerospace, environmental control, agriculture, and telecommunications sectors by providing process design services, extremely close tolerance machining, and precision assembly.
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Jonathan Wang, Optima’s CNC programming supervisor, is responsible for adding productivity to the company’s commitment to quality. Having been introduced to the VoluMill™ toolpath engine by a colleague more than a year ago, he has put it to good use on more than 100 components for the oil and gas industry. Most of these are machined from nickel-based and other difficult-to-cut materials.
Wang’s group uses a CAM system that uses the traditional parallel offset method to generate toolpaths. Optima recently purchased VoluMill to improve productivity with simplified programming, shorter cycle times, and extended tool life.
“Our four programmers are very busy,” said Wang. “We can’t afford to spend a lot of time tweaking a part program. We estimate that the time to generate a part program using our CAM system’s toolpath engine took 10 times longer than it does now with VoluMill. Even then, we wouldn’t get the advantage of VoluMill’s controlled and consistent material removal rate.
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“One major area of improvement is the milling of inside radii on pockets and contours,” said Wang. “Traditional toolpaths would simply plunge the cutter into these corners, placing very high loads on the tool and spindle, often causing deflection and accuracy issues. VoluMill’s approach generates all motions in a sweeping pattern with a smaller cutter to mill these radii. As a result, VoluMill toolpaths remove the material much faster while putting far less stress on the cutter and machine.”
Still, management had to be convinced to invest in this revolutionary technology, so comparisons were performed on actual production parts for the energy industry. One was machined from Inconel® 718 using a 3/8" coated carbide end mill mounted in a Haimer® 40-taper shrink-fit holder for rigidity. Both toolpaths were run at 1,000 RPM, but that’s where the similarity ended.
According to Wang, the Inconel part took 40 minutes to rough with a 0.125 depth of cut using a traditional toolpath. Using a VoluMill toolpath, Optima was able to reduce roughing time to 17 minutes using the same size end mill and RPM, but a 0.5 depth of cut.
“Not only is the cycle time dramatically shorter, but the extended tool life is impressive,” said Wang. “By cutting 1/2" deep, we were able to utilize the full length of the flute of our end mill instead of concentrating the wear pattern at the corner, making the tool useless for the next part.”
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Another comparison was performed on an energy industry component machined from titanium 6Al4V using 1/2" diameter coated carbide end mills. Wang said the titanium part took 18 minutes to rough at 950 RPM, using a 0.08 axial depth of cut and a 0.2 radial depth of cut with the traditional toolpath. The VoluMill toolpath reduced roughing time to 11 minutes using the same size end mill and RPM, but with a 0.5 axial depth of cut and a 0.025 radial depth of cut.
According to Wang, when he factors in the cycle time reductions and improvements in tool life, Optima saved $100 per part using VoluMill toolpaths on the Inconel component and another $70 per part on the titanium piece. He estimates VoluMill paid for itself in less than a month.
“Management was easily convinced to purchase our first VoluMill license with such a quick return on their investment,” said Wang. “Now we have two workstations loaded with VoluMill, and ultimately, all of our programmers will have their own version rather than competing with each other for it.”
Wang also reports an improvement in Optima’s on-time delivery results. In addition to shorter cycle times, with improved tool life, operators spend less time changing tools and there are fewer incidents of having to re-run a job due to a tool failure. As a result, the machines are not only running faster, but with less interruption.
