New developments continue the focus on core capability, while introducing new technology in collaboration with Sandvik Coromant. GibbsCAM 2023 features a number of significant Turning enhancements including the highly effective implementation of Sandvik Coromant’s PrimeTurning strategies.

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The Boeing X-37B spaceplane is to begin executing a series of novel manoeuvres, called aerobraking, to change its orbit around Earth, the US Space Force has announced.

Thread Turning operations have been expanded with Face Threading, Variable Pitch Threading, Multi-pitch, and Position Tool Front options. Users can produce a spiral thread on the face of a part, vary pitch threads incrementally per revolution, or generate different pitches on a continuous thread, with easy control of exact start/end specs in the tool dialog.

The NeoMill-Alu-QBig indexable insert milling cutter from Mapal stands for top performance in high-volume milling of aluminium. The tool manufacturer thus offers a very economical solution for use on high-performance machines, such as those found primarily in the aerospace industry.

Dimensional accuracy, stability and process reliability are assured, as the torque generated during machining is dissipated into the body. Horn offers two body types, the first having a cutting edge diameter of 100mm. It is equipped with 14 type 406 indexable inserts, which produce seven effective cuts ranging from 9.6mm to a maximum of 12.9mm wide. Milling depth is up to 20mm. The second body type is equipped with 12 cutting inserts of type 409 and has a cutting edge diameter of 125mm. On this tool, the cutting width with six effective cuts can be adjusted between 12.9mm and 18.8mm. Maximum milling depth is 32.5mm. The successful 406 and 409 type indexable inserts have been chosen for the application. They are precision ground and achieve outstanding surface quality at the base of the groove and on the flanks. Double positive axial and radial rake angles ensure a soft cut. The tangentially screwed cutting insert's trailing chamfer produces a secondary cutting edge, resulting in outstanding machined surfaces. An additional free-form surface chamfer provides a stable wedge angle and very smooth milling. www.phorn.co.uk

In celebration of World Space Week, Space-Comm Expo has announced visitor registration is now officially live and open for the London ExCeL, event, running 11-12 March 2025.

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Walter has now launched its new X·treme Evo Plus drill from the DC180 Supreme product family that is now available up to 8XD for the first time.

Tooling manufacturer, Horn has introduced a new carbide insert grade, SG66, for turning components from steel that has been case hardened to 58 HRC.

Cylindrical milling in GibbsCAM 2023 is easier with direct selection of a ‘Slice’ in the CS depth axis -- select a closed profile to machine a cylindrical boss or pocket, or select two loops to machine a groove or ring without the need to extract edge geometry and unwrap the shape. New Spiral Boring functionality cuts a spiral out to the full diameter at each Z step, which substantially increases cutting feed rate and depth due to a more consistent tool load. In addition, Mill Roughing can now omit cavity areas to support high-speed mill tools that cannot plunge or ramp.

Commenting on the latest development, Åke Nilsson, Global Product application manager for Turning tools at Sandvik Coromant said: “We have now extensively tested the PrimeTurning cycle in GibbsCAM, and it's really good. The team have taken an innovative approach and I must say that they've made a tremendous job with the technology implementation.”

The successful 406 and 409 type indexable inserts have been chosen for the application. They are precision ground and achieve outstanding surface quality at the base of the groove and on the flanks. Double positive axial and radial rake angles ensure a soft cut. The tangentially screwed cutting insert's trailing chamfer produces a secondary cutting edge, resulting in outstanding machined surfaces. An additional free-form surface chamfer provides a stable wedge angle and very smooth milling.

Other enhancements include a new option in most Turning processes to control Cutting Load Variation in order to suppress resonance-induced chatter and improve chip breaking for CNC machines. This machine capability is also called variable spindle speed by Okuma, and low frequency vibration by Citizen. VoluTurn functionality has also been extended to manage the active control of chip thickness during the cut by varying the feed rate instantaneously with any changes in cut depth.

If you find this article informative, consider subscribing digitally to Aerospace Manufacturing for free. Keep up to date with the latest industry news in your inbox as well as being the first to receive our magazine in digital form.

Lastly, organising parts is easier than ever to match the way you work. GibbsCAM 2023 lets you categorise and organize workgroups and coordinate systems within a part, and specify active and inactive operations which significantly helps users to part information throughout the CAM workflow, especially with large complex machining processes. To improve ease of use, new tabs have been added to allow the setting of work areas limits on a part-by-part basis and assign to new toolpath operations. In addition, the Work Fixtures tab within the Post Processor dialog can now group offsets in use by operation coordinate system. This increases visibility and program safety when multiple coordinate systems are used on a single fixture offset.

The second body type is equipped with 12 cutting inserts of type 409 and has a cutting edge diameter of 125mm. On this tool, the cutting width with six effective cuts can be adjusted between 12.9mm and 18.8mm. Maximum milling depth is 32.5mm.

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Dimensional accuracy, stability and process reliability are assured, as the torque generated during machining is dissipated into the body. Horn offers two body types, the first having a cutting edge diameter of 100mm. It is equipped with 14 type 406 indexable inserts, which produce seven effective cuts ranging from 9.6mm to a maximum of 12.9mm wide. Milling depth is up to 20mm.

Babcock International Group (Babcock), the defence company, has been awarded a two-year contract extension by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) to continue to provide technical support services across the UK armed forces.

A new side milling cutter for stepless adjustment of groove width has been introduced by Paul Horn, and is available through the firm's UK subsidiary, Horn Cutting Tools, Ringwood. The milling body features a central sleeve that enables the required groove width to be adjusted easily on a pre-setter.

Alongside many other Turning enhancements, it is now possible to specify Rake and Back Relief for tool inserts to more accurately define the 3D geometry of the tool inserts to provide a tool representation that perfectly matches what the customer is experiencing. Also, the Elliptical Contour process may now be used for elliptical bores inside of solid parts, and supports a radial (Xr) stock offset, for both inner diameter (ID) and outer diameter (OD) machining.

GibbsCAM 2023 extends the default drill cycle types to include five more: gun drilling, variable peck (full out and chip breaker), and peck tap (full out and chip breaker). In addition, a new Multifunction Insert Drill type is supported which can be used to perform both turning and drilling/boring operations (such as the Sandvik Coromant CoroDrill 880 series). The Multifunction Insert Drill tool type can seamlessly switch between turning, lathe drilling, and mill drilling without retraction or tool change motions. Also included is a new option for Lathe Drilling with counter-rotating tools that instructs the live tooling spindle to turn in the opposite direction at a specified RPM to effectively increase spindle speed and significantly boost material removal rates.

In celebration of World Space Week, Space-Comm Expo has announced visitor registration is now officially live and open for the London ExCeL, event, running 11-12 March 2025.

Cambrio, a leading CAD/CAM innovator in the production machining industry has announced the new release GibbsCAM 2023. New developments continue the focus on core capability, while introducing new technology in collaboration with Sandvik Coromant. GibbsCAM 2023 features a number of significant Turning enhancements including the highly effective implementation of Sandvik Coromant’s PrimeTurning strategies. These new cutting methodologies permit turning and facing in all directions, delivering dramatic increases in high volume production. PrimeTurning has proven to deliver cycle time reductions of up to 50%, and more than 500% increase for insert tool life. PrimeTurning uses the slope of the insert for chip thinning to allow you to make heavy cuts and spread cutting forces and heat over a larger portion of the cutting edge, which in turn contributes to longer tool life. In addition, PrimeTurning adapts the feedrate (excellent for cutting on a taper) to constantly manage chip thickness which is ideal for high-volume and unattended environments. PrimeTurning supports two new tool types (CoroTurn Prime Type-A with three 35° corners for finishing and fine roughing/getting into grooves etc, and CoroTurn Prime Type-B with two strong corners for bulk roughing/heavy cutting) that both utilize a low lead angle to improve surface finish. Commenting on the latest development, Åke Nilsson, Global Product application manager for Turning tools at Sandvik Coromant said: “We have now extensively tested the PrimeTurning cycle in GibbsCAM, and it's really good. The team have taken an innovative approach and I must say that they've made a tremendous job with the technology implementation.” Other enhancements include a new option in most Turning processes to control Cutting Load Variation in order to suppress resonance-induced chatter and improve chip breaking for CNC machines. This machine capability is also called variable spindle speed by Okuma, and low frequency vibration by Citizen. VoluTurn functionality has also been extended to manage the active control of chip thickness during the cut by varying the feed rate instantaneously with any changes in cut depth. Thread Turning operations have been expanded with Face Threading, Variable Pitch Threading, Multi-pitch, and Position Tool Front options. Users can produce a spiral thread on the face of a part, vary pitch threads incrementally per revolution, or generate different pitches on a continuous thread, with easy control of exact start/end specs in the tool dialog. Alongside many other Turning enhancements, it is now possible to specify Rake and Back Relief for tool inserts to more accurately define the 3D geometry of the tool inserts to provide a tool representation that perfectly matches what the customer is experiencing. Also, the Elliptical Contour process may now be used for elliptical bores inside of solid parts, and supports a radial (Xr) stock offset, for both inner diameter (ID) and outer diameter (OD) machining. Cylindrical milling in GibbsCAM 2023 is easier with direct selection of a ‘Slice’ in the CS depth axis -- select a closed profile to machine a cylindrical boss or pocket, or select two loops to machine a groove or ring without the need to extract edge geometry and unwrap the shape. New Spiral Boring functionality cuts a spiral out to the full diameter at each Z step, which substantially increases cutting feed rate and depth due to a more consistent tool load. In addition, Mill Roughing can now omit cavity areas to support high-speed mill tools that cannot plunge or ramp. GibbsCAM 2023 extends the default drill cycle types to include five more: gun drilling, variable peck (full out and chip breaker), and peck tap (full out and chip breaker). In addition, a new Multifunction Insert Drill type is supported which can be used to perform both turning and drilling/boring operations (such as the Sandvik Coromant CoroDrill 880 series). The Multifunction Insert Drill tool type can seamlessly switch between turning, lathe drilling, and mill drilling without retraction or tool change motions. Also included is a new option for Lathe Drilling with counter-rotating tools that instructs the live tooling spindle to turn in the opposite direction at a specified RPM to effectively increase spindle speed and significantly boost material removal rates. A number of new features for machine support include the ability to set tool changes from alternate origins. This now includes the ability to set the tool change home location based on Part (as in previous versions), Part Station, Machine, or Tool Group. In addition, it is also possible to flag tool motions with abnormally high feedrates and provide a safety warning to the operator. Alongside new simulation modes such as Fixture Visibility, GibbsCAM 2023 significantly boosts its simulation feature set. Lastly, organising parts is easier than ever to match the way you work. GibbsCAM 2023 lets you categorise and organize workgroups and coordinate systems within a part, and specify active and inactive operations which significantly helps users to part information throughout the CAM workflow, especially with large complex machining processes. To improve ease of use, new tabs have been added to allow the setting of work areas limits on a part-by-part basis and assign to new toolpath operations. In addition, the Work Fixtures tab within the Post Processor dialog can now group offsets in use by operation coordinate system. This increases visibility and program safety when multiple coordinate systems are used on a single fixture offset. www.cambrio.com

These new cutting methodologies permit turning and facing in all directions, delivering dramatic increases in high volume production. PrimeTurning has proven to deliver cycle time reductions of up to 50%, and more than 500% increase for insert tool life. PrimeTurning uses the slope of the insert for chip thinning to allow you to make heavy cuts and spread cutting forces and heat over a larger portion of the cutting edge, which in turn contributes to longer tool life.

The Boeing X-37B spaceplane is to begin executing a series of novel manoeuvres, called aerobraking, to change its orbit around Earth, the US Space Force has announced.

A number of new features for machine support include the ability to set tool changes from alternate origins. This now includes the ability to set the tool change home location based on Part (as in previous versions), Part Station, Machine, or Tool Group. In addition, it is also possible to flag tool motions with abnormally high feedrates and provide a safety warning to the operator. Alongside new simulation modes such as Fixture Visibility, GibbsCAM 2023 significantly boosts its simulation feature set.

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In addition, PrimeTurning adapts the feedrate (excellent for cutting on a taper) to constantly manage chip thickness which is ideal for high-volume and unattended environments. PrimeTurning supports two new tool types (CoroTurn Prime Type-A with three 35° corners for finishing and fine roughing/getting into grooves etc, and CoroTurn Prime Type-B with two strong corners for bulk roughing/heavy cutting) that both utilize a low lead angle to improve surface finish.

Babcock International Group (Babcock), the defence company, has been awarded a two-year contract extension by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) to continue to provide technical support services across the UK armed forces.