Matt Coulson, the company’s technical sales manager, explains: “To program and machine an M10 threaded hole, the programmer must input parameters such as the centre drill, drill, tap and chamfer tool. hyperMILL will enable the customer to automate this process by saving the complete process as a ‘macro’ in a database, one that can be recalled in future for subsequent jobs. By automating processes, the customer can significantly cut programming times.”
It is a feature having particular use for Midland Aerospace, a manufacturer of aero engine and wing structure components that uses hyperMILL for its recently acquired fleet of equipment from DMG Mori UK (0247 651 6120), Hermle (Geo Kingsbury, 023 9258 0371), CMS (0115 977 0044), plus metrology equipment from Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence (01952 681300) and sheet metal systems from Amada (01562 749500), all operating in a purpose-built 45,000 ft2 Nottinghamshire factory.
Managing director Eamon Lyons says: “Five-axis machines are a necessity for leading aerospace suppliers and to ensure our machines run at their optimum we invested in hyperMILL. We wanted to protect our machine investment with 5-axis software that guaranteed collision avoidance; Open Mind was the only company that could meet our needs.”
Four seats of hyperMILL help Midland Aerospace to develop, prototype and batch manufacture parts for customers; anything from 50 to 100, or more, components are being programmed every month. Continues Lyons: “Our choice of CAM vendor was more than justified with the ‘mirroring’ feature that is used for wing parts that are up to 30% of our business.” This feature reduces programming times on making mirror-reversed parts and removing programming bottlenecks. Another boon for the company is the software’s anti-collision features.
He also praised new capabilities, for example the hyperMAXX machining module. In fact, Midland Aerospace was invited to try out the new module on one of its titanium structural parts, which consists of six pockets on each side, at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing (0114 222 1747). Here, the hyperMAXX package reduced the cycle time for each 18 mm deep pocket from 40 minutes to just three. Overall, the 40 hours of machining time required to make the complex part has become less than 10 hours. The hyperMAXX roughing module trebled the recommended feed rate and almost doubled the spindle speed, delivering a large productivity gain. Despite the change of parameters, tool life with the solid carbide Dormer (0870 850 4466) end-mill was improved from 30 minutes to over two hours.
Open Mind has recently rebranded the package as Maxx Machining and added new features that include a 5-axis tangent plane cutting strategy that employs barrel cutters that support increased tool stepovers, and a 5-axis helical drilling strategy that employs trochoidal toolpaths with face-mills or large end-mills.
Says Midland Aerospace’s managing director: “Having hyperMAXX machining on the shopfloor certainly streamlines our production and eliminates any bottlenecks. With up to 75% of our work consisting of brackets and rib parts, such as A-frame wing components, hyperMAXX has proven invaluable.”
