OPEN MIND Technologies recently participated in the Seco Tools Open House in Alcester and used this opportunity to announce the new working relationship between the two companies. The three day event focused on the aerospace sector and how Seco has partnered a number of aerospace manufacturers to provide sustainable improvements in production costs, strategy and product quality.

Providing these benefits to companies such as Rolls Royce, Airbus UK and Messier Dowty is credit to the Seco ‘JetStream’ technology and the compatibility of its product range to work with 3, 4 and 5-axis applications, such as the machining of blades, blings, blisks and impellers. At the Open House, the 5-axis philosophy was supported by 5-axis specialists such as Mazak, Renishaw and OPEN MIND Technologies.

The three day event included aerospace presentations from Seco, Rolls Royce and Airbus UK engineers. Delivered to subcontractors and 1st tier aerospace suppliers, the presentations provided an environment ideal for OPEN MIND to discuss the benefits of its software packages, especially hyperMILL.
The OPEN MIND presence at this aerospace event follows an extremely successful appearance at the recent Farnborough Air Show. The increasing interest in the hyperMILL system from aerospace manufacturers is justified with its major competitive edge through fast setups and increased machine tool productivity that is unrivalled in the industry.
hyperMILL is ideal for almost every machining operation, but most importantly it is suitable for the manufacture of demanding components such as blings, blisks, impellers and blades.

The high performance geometry oriented CAM software offers 2.5D, 3D and 5-axis machining strategies under a single interface. Most importantly, the hyperMILL package has unprecidented collision avoidance protection. This eradicates the requirement for a customer to employ CAD/CAM software and then run each process through a separate collision detection package. The built-in collision detection not only avoids all potential accidents, it also provides alternate cutter paths.
“We are now working with Seco to automate the 5-axis machining processes. Working with aerospace manufacturers, the relationship with Seco enables OPEN MIND to look at projects from a software perspective while Seco discuss the same project from a tooling standpoint. Once we have both conducted our relevant projects, the customer can come to the Seco facility and view the solution on a Mazak, Mori Seiki or Hermle machining centre. From this we can work to implement a complete turnkey solution for the customer. These three days mark the start of a relationship with Seco that could potentially be of great significance to both parties,” says Richard Nolan, Sales & Marketing Director, OPEN MIND Technologies UK Ltd.

OPEN MIND Technical Director Adrian Smith comments: “The problem that many customers have with packages from alternative vendors is collision detection. Our system interrogates the surface and guides the tool around the geometries in 5-axis taking into account any obstacles. With alternative packages this is not guaranteed, and if an obstacle is found the package will need to re-calculate the toolpath with different settings input by the user and re-run. This time consuming series of events will perpetually repeat itself until a suitable path around the obstacle is found. With hyperMILL, the toolpath will avoid any collision automatically without the need for additional user input and without the need for additional simulation products to assist tool collision avoidance.”

hyperMILL uses logic based cycles to drive the cutting tool around the component. One customer previously used an alternative package that required manual programming of impellers. This took the customer 10 days from project start to finish machined part, he now uses hyperMILL and can program and machine an impeller in one day.

hyperMILL simplifies the CAD/CAM process with 40 dedicated 5-axis cycles that enables manufacturers to select the operation best suited to the job in hand. This ensures the user does not have to rely on the 5 or 6 generic 5-axis cycles typically offered by other CAM vendors.
Encompassed within the forty 5-axis cycles is what OPEN MIND calls ‘Logic Cycles’. These logic cycles are dedicated to single and/or multi-blade machining and tube machining. Taking ease-of-use to a completely new level, the logic cycles are dedicated templates that provide the CNC control programmer the ability to be cutting highly complex 5-axis, simultaneous parts in next to no time.

About OPEN MIND
OPEN MIND Technologies UK Ltd is a subsidiary of OPEN MIND Technologies AG, which is part of the Man and Machine Group. Formed in 1994, OPEN MIND Technologies AG is the developer of hyperMILL CAM software. It has over 7,500 installations worldwide, served through a global distribution network. The company offers a comprehensive range of 2D, 3D and 5-axis modules providing a fully integrated manufacturing concept which covers the entire manufacturing process.

OPEN MIND Technologies UK Limited Richard Nolan John Eccles House Robert Robinson Avenue Oxford Science Park
Oxford OX4 4GP          Tel: 01865 338026 Email: Email Contact Web: www.openmind-tech.com