Trochoidal roughing and simultaneous machining — the high-performance turning strategies of hyperMILL Turning Solutions are fast and tool-friendly

hyperMILL Turning Solutions were the hot topic for Bicester-based Open Mind at this year’s EMO Hannover exhibition held last month. Live demonstrations on a Grob G350T mill/turn machine were performed at the stand to display what the milling-turning technologies of the hyperMILL CAD/CAM solution are capable of. The demos also included milling, drilling and angle head support.

Technologies from HyperMILL Turning Solutions include turning, turn-milling and mill-turning, meaning they can be used for all corresponding machine configurations. Open Mind chose a housing component made using high-strength EN AW 7075 aluminium to demonstrate the capabilities of hyperMILL. The 372mm diameter component is 200mm high and engages in turning operations on the outer and inner contours. It also features various milled geometries inspired by typical requirements in different industries.

When roughing and finishing the external and internal contours, the benefit of simultaneous machining is impressively demonstrated alongside standard machining. Two areas that would otherwise have to be finished individually can be machined in one step with simultaneous turning and without a visible edge. Among the high-performance strategies shown was a trochoidal roughing path. A high material removal rate was achieved quickly and gently without any major lifting movements.

The advantage of three-axis simultaneous turning is also clear from the undercuts when machining the inner contour. Without this technique, these areas would be difficult to manufacture. For even better performance, simultaneous roughing can also be used with the HPC option.

The live machining demonstration at EMO Hannover contained an example of a five-axis half-pipe with finishing operations. Open Mind demonstrated how quickly optimised tool paths can be programmed for grooves and tubes that produce the highest quality surface finishes. Perfect surfaces were also shown in another geometry. To minimise the effort required for grinding and polishing steps, hyperMILL offers a machining strategy with gentle overlapping, creating perfect transitions that are barely measurable.