forward-thinking when evaluated in
re ection. “Without having the possibility
of carrying out simulations in the
embryonic phase – before the beginning
of the actual production cycle – we could
not be sure that the nal machined part
was perfectly in line with requirements,”
Mauro Pini explains. “But above all, we
realised that, thanks to virtual simulation,
it became possible to reduce the testing
times of the machine programs and
almost completely negate human error.
If the latter had not been corrected in a
virtual environment, it could have led to
collisions with modest, but signi cant
damages. Instead, in a virtual
environment the costs of the crashes are
obviously zero.”
So, to cope with this imminent need,
the company decided to integrate
VERICUT into its production process. The
software simulates the exact real-world
machining environment, including rapid
movements, multi-axis movements,
multiple placements, complex tool
shapes, collisions of tools and tool
holders, machine kinematics, complex
control functions, workholding and so on.
“Today, all Brawo’s NC programs are
certi ed with VERICUT before entering the
shop oor and being run on the machine
tools,” continues Mauro Pini. “This applies
to both the tooling and the programs for
mass production. Also, those intended for
transfer machines, machining centres
and workstations.”
Like Brawo, sister company Emmebi
has also gone in the same direction,
implementing simulation with VERICUT in
all of its production processes. “Programs
for the processing of very complex
freeform shapes such as those of the
moulds,” explains Mauro Pini, “consist of
hundreds of thousands of program lines.
This means that it would be practically
impossible to simulate them block by
block on the machine. Furthermore, we
must consider that chip removal is a very
sophisticated and delicate process, and it
is essential to be able to transfer a
congruence of tool movement to steel, so
that the nal result is of excellent quality.
“VERICUT is unsurpassed in this area
as it allows you to optimise the toolpath
even in terms of quality, effectively
eliminating any possible defects that
would be unacceptable on the surface
of a mould.”
Mauro Pini adds a further advantage
Accurate machine models are the
essential foundation on which
VERICUT builds its capability
VERICUT Force fi ne tunes the metalcutting process to make sure tools are neither
over- or under-used, which also protects the machine tool, too
to those already mentioned: “I can say
that the evolution of VERICUT has been
hand-in-hand with the increase in the
complexity of the machines that we
gradually introduced into our production
plants, and this has been essential for
us. Not to mention that the continuous
innovations of the software have gone
far beyond mere kinematic simulation,
involving new areas that have always
been absolutely relevant. And the Force
module is a concrete example of this.”
The new VERICUT Force module
allows users to optimise tool feedrates,
based on the experimental
characterisation of the material to be
processed, without altering the trajectory
provided by the CAM software.
In addition to the toolpath, the software
also controls the physical properties of
parameters related to force, spindle
movement, chip thickness and material
removal rate.
Mauro Pini dedicates his last thoughts
to VERICUT Force: “As far as obtaining
high quality machining is concerned,
VERICUT Force allows you to move to the
next level: that is, to dynamically keep
tool de ection under control when
removing material, and to avoid force
peaks that can be generated on the tool
that would cause imperfections on the
surface of the mould, but could also
have repercussions on the tool life itself,
and even that of the machine tool in the
long run.”
Translated from Open Factory Edizioni Srl – Tecnè © 2020
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