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| State Of The Art in 3+2 and 5-axis Machining |
A few years ago 5-axis machining was considered a mysterious and unexplored
process used primarily in the aerospace industry. Today, moldmakers understand using multi-axis
machines will improve part quality, decrease costs, and eliminate time consuming setups that
traditionally require highly skilled operators.
ESPRIT Mold meets the challenge of making 5-axis technology accessible to everyone by focusing
on the automatic generation of optimized 5-axis toolpaths. As a result of the close
coordination of ESPRIT with today’s machine tools, the product is easy-to-use, even for
the novice programmer or machinist. Users have confidence in the resulting G-code
programs due to the consistent and reliable results the software produces, along
with the built-in 5-axis solid simulation and verification system. |
| ESPRIT Mold 3+2 Features |
| The ESPRIT Mold 3+2 adds 5-axis positioning capability (inclined cutting tools)
to all of the 3-axis machining strategies available within ESPRIT. The 3+2 product provides an
innovative simple approach to managing the travel limits of the machining and an easy-to-use
method to control the tool inclination and indexing angles. The automatic definition of the
approach and retract movements between the machining zones with different indexing angles
is complete with comprehensive collision avoidance. |
| Trim APL |
The Trim APL function of ESPRIT Mold optimizes any 3-axis toolpath,
minimizing the required tool length by indexing the part (inclining the cutting tool).
By reducing the tool length, the rigidity of the tool assembly is greatly increased.
The use of the Trim APL function results in the ability to run the machine at greater
speeds (high-speed machining) and produces significant improvements in the resulting part quality.
With ESPRIT Mold a previously calculated 3-axis tool path is automatically converted
into an optimized 5-axis toolpath. Trim APL automatically produces a set of possible
tool axes (index positions) and then automatically subdivides the original toolpath
into several different toolpaths, each machined with a different optimum 4th and 5th
axis index position.
After a pre-calculation, the original toolpath is redrawn with various colors, each
associated to a different tool inclination. This display provides a clear understanding
of which portions of the toolpath will be machined with the different index angles, and
if any zone is unreachable. From this preview, the user can accept the proposed
solution or introduce additional tool axis inclinations or varied tool lengths. |
| Removal of Residual Material in Undercut Areas |
| Roughing operations are now simplified thanks to the execution of any
3-axis operation with tilted tool axis on a continuous 5-axis machine. This allows for the removal
of residual material in traditional undercut areas with automatic rest material roughing provided
by ESPRIT Mold. |
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3D machining with indexing to different tool orientations...
3D Machining with indexing to machine an undercut...
3D Machining before Trim APL...
3D Machining after Trim APL with a shorter tool...
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