Where will the next major advances in material removal efficiency come from? Mastercam’s Stas Mylek and Jesse Trinque delved into this subject in their article, “Cutting Tool and CAM Collaboration,” published in a recent issue of

Cutting Tool Engineering.

They said, “New, ultra resilient workpiece materials with high strength-to-weight ratios have cutting tool vendors and CAM developers scrambling to design new tools and toolpaths to efficiently cut them. To succeed, the vendors and developers must collaborate with unprecedented frequency.”

Trinque says that he and other applications engineers at Mastercam’s Manufacturing Laboratory routinely work with their counterparts at cutting tool design facilities. These interactions range from simple information requests to lengthy projects involving teams of specialists.

The article details a number of joint initiatives that have provided significant advantages to mutual customers:

• Iscar Metals, Inc: HEM (high-efficiency machining) libraries that incorporate Iscar’s line of solid-carbide endmills and Mastercam’s Dynamic Motion toolpaths.
• Kennametal Inc.: qualifying efficiency and wear reduction advantages of a new ceramic endmill design for cutting Inconel.
• RobbJack Corp: Optimizing cutting parameters for a family of endmills using Mastercam’s Dynamic Motion Technology.
• Sandvik Coromant Co: Pairing a ceramic button insert with a unique Dynamic Turning toolpath to reduce notching and improve cutting efficiency.
• Emuge Corporation: Developing tool-specific cutting motions for the company’s circle segment tools that can simultaneously improve surface finish while reducing cycle times.

Many similar collaborations are currently under way at Mastercam. Some will result in incremental improvements to the cutting tools and software, others will be big wins providing customers with big productivity improvements. Click here for more third party solutions.