The event included live machining of aerospace components using the latest technologies, such as a newly developed swarf milling function for difficult-to-cut materials. In keeping with the company’s strong Industry 4.0-focus, all of the machines on display were network-connected to mimic production in a smart factory.
During the event, Okuma, represented in the UK by NCMT, illustrated its approach to cutting aerospace components live on a fleet of machines. To integrate Okuma products into an industrial-internet-of-things-based production environment, each machine status was trackable via a central monitor.
Workpieces included turbine discs and aluminium impellers as well as parts made from difficult-to-cut materials, such as titanium blisks machined on Okuma’s 5-axis machining centre MU-6300V.
Okuma showed the results of industrial partnerships. A new swarf milling technology was developed in cooperation with Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, whose line of barrel tools was especially designed for machining aerospace components. CAM solutions developer Open Mind presented hyperMILL MAXX Machining that includes three modules for efficient roughing, finishing and drilling. The roughing module offers numerous cycles for milling in trochoidal tool paths, resulting in fast and reliable HPC machining. The 5-axis tangent plane machining CAM strategy is claimed to achieve time savings of up to 90%.
By utilising Sandvik Coromant’s InvoMilling 1.0 software, Okuma’s intelligent multitasking machine Multus U3000 machined spur gears and a variety of different gear profiles on-site.
While an Okuma horizontal machining centre MB-4000H was cutting aluminium flat track, tool monitoring control TMAC by Blum Novotest was shown to be able to monitor the machine’s spindle, ensuring process efficiency and security. Okuma also employed a roughness gauging touch probe by Blum in machining demonstrations.
The threading function Machining Navi T-g, one of Okuma’s ‘Intelligent Technologies’, was used to produce threaded drive shafts on Okuma’s LB3000 EX II lathe. Its 5-axis Auto Tuning System was shown to provide highly accurate on-site tuning even when cutting demanding materials such as titanium.
Okuma will demonstrate additional aerospace solutions during a dedicated Lunch & Learn event in the Paris ACE to complement their Paris Air Show presence (19-25 June).
