CNC Machining Blog - Tips and Tricks for Machinists

Just like any other form of technology within our industry, 5-axis manufacturing has its very own vocabulary and list of technical buzz words. Although many of the features described below can be viewed as common, some are only found on the more advanced machine controls. For anyone looking into 5-axis machining, understanding these buzz words can be a huge benefit - and just might keep them from making an uneducated decision that they might live to regret later on.

A common misconception about the Hurco control is that it is a conversational control. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Although Hurco invented conversational programming, and arguably has the most powerful conversationally capable platform on the market, I would not refer to the WinMax® control as a “conversational” one. I would instead call it “multi-lingual."

CAM systems have a diverse selection of toolpath strategies to choose from, and each has an appropriate place in 5-axis machining. But just like everything else in multi-axis programming, the programmer's experience and the actual machine configuration will play a big part in the selection of the suitable toolpath for a particular application.

If you asked 10 different 5-axis programmers to program the same single part, you would most likely get 10 different machining strategies. Depending on experience, machine configuration, CAM software, tooling, workholding, and a myriad of other criteria, everyone sees the path they need to travel just a little bit differently. But they all lead to the same place: a successfully completed part. This article will be part one in a multi-part series about 5-axis programming. 

Is it possible to drill a square hole? Many will snicker at this age-old question and say, “Of course you can’t drill a square hole!” Well, it turns out you most certainly can drill a square hole… and a rectangular hole, and a hexagon shaped hole, a hole with splines, double keyways — the list goes on and on!

In an effort to keep this blog interesting and useful, I am asking for input from my readers. Please comment below with topic ideas that you would like to read more about, and that you would find helpful and informative. 

I was recently asked to explain the motion control system used in CNC machine tools to someone in my family. Realizing that this individual didn’t have a background in manufacturing, and certainly had no experience with anything this complicated and technical, I had to relate my explanation to something common and simple: like driving a car.

5-axis won't bite

For some reason, 5-axis machining scares people. While talking with people at trade shows, or when discussing the potential of a customer’s parts being a good fit for 5-sided machining, you can just see an uneasy feeling begin to overwhelm them and fear begin to well up in their eyes. The mere thought of all of those axes moving at one time sends them wanting to run for the hills. But if we take the time to look at it logically and break it down to what is really happening, it isn’t scary at all!