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“Intelligent” CAM System Adapts to the Job

SolidCAM’s iMachining CAM software features an algorithm designed to eliminate potentially time-consuming, trial-and-error approaches to optimizing cutting parameters.

Matt Danford
Matt Danford
Former Senior Editor, Modern Machine Shop

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iMachining uses what the developer calls a “spiral morphing” tool path. This path is designed to keep a constant load on the cutting tool while avoiding air cutting and reconditioning moves that can stress the cutter and add time to the process. 
 
Most modern CAM systems offer strategies for machining certain types of geometry into certain types of materials with certain types of tools. Sometimes systems even offer recommended cutting parameters. Nonetheless, even the most sophisticated software can’t take into account all the different variables that accompany a real-world manufacturing situation.
 
Consider the case of a delicate prototype part. Even if the part could be machined very quickly at aggressive feeds and speeds, a shop might opt to proceed more cautiously to avoid the potential expense of scrapping it. Likewise, consider how a shop on a tight delivery deadline might proceed with only a limited supply of breakage-prone cutting tools to do the job, or perhaps a case in which a workpiece is held by less-than-rigid fixturing. The point is, there are many issues in various scenarios that software simply can’t anticipate. This might prompt a manufacturer to deviate from recommended parameters and start making manual adjustments.
 

These potentially time-consuming, trial-and-error adjustments happen every day in shops of all types and sizes—a fact not lost on SolidCAM when it developed its iMachining CAM system. This software is designed not only to provide effective tool paths, but also to enable users to efficiently apply those toolpaths according to their own particular preferences and application circumstances. Read this article to find out how.  

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