For all the options, PowerMILL makes five-axis programming much easier than is possible with the more complicated software traditionally used by the large corporations in the aerospace and automotive industries. This combination of flexibility and ease of use has enabled it to be used successfully in a wide variety of applications, including the manufacture of complex blades, blisks and structures by smaller aerospace sub-contractors, port machining and composite trimming by autosport companies, and the engraving of bottle moulds in the packaging industry.

Five-axis drilling in particular is very much simpler. PowerMILL includes more comprehensive hole recognition from a wider range of CAD systems than other CAM systems, as well as automatic capping of holes to prevent any milling cutter entering them.

For milling options, the software incorporates automatic adjustment of tilt angles for both lead and lean (Lead is measured in the cutting direction; lean at right angles to the cutting direction.). Control of lead angle gives better cutting conditions, while the lean angle can be used to avoid collisions.

PowerMILL also includes many safety features to ensure that five-axis machining can be programmed easily and efficiently, without any risk of gouging either during cutting moves or during the leads and links. For example, five-axis collision checking is automatically undertaken for the tool holder as well as for the cutter, while contact point analysis allows the user to ensure that only the cutting surface touches the component and that rubbing with the shank is avoided. Furthermore, the machine simulation option for PowerMILL includes collision checking between the various parts of the machine tool and the model, and also ensures that the machine does not attempt to move outside its operating limits.

An important advantage of five-axis machining with PowerMILL is that the software works with the full range of different cutting tools, including end mills, tapered tools, and ball-nose, tipped-radius and off-centre, tipped-radius cutters. Many of the other systems currently available are limited to using only ball nosed and end mill cutters, which are not always the most efficient.

Another impressive feature is that the stock model supports positional five-axis rest roughing operations. As with the three-axis calculations found in other systems, the PowerMILL stock model can be used to ensure that the maximum possible material is removed with each tool, when machining a component with a series of progressively smaller tools.

For further information on Delcam's PowerMILL, please contact: -
Peter Dickin, Public Relations Manager
Direct phone: 44 (0)121 683 1081 e-mail: marketing???delcam.com

Delcam plc,
Small Heath Business Park,
Birmingham, B10 0HJ,
UK