Customized Process Feature
CAM automation must also be tailored to the individual requirements of a company. OPEN MIND has developed a special form of feature technology for its hyperMILL® CAM software: Customized Process Features (CPFs).
Customized Process Features are an efficient tool for solving recurring machining tasks automatically. Even very complex machining sequences can be programmed easily and quickly with this automation support. This is based on the process-oriented linking of characteristic geometries with freely definable sequences of various machining strategies – from 2.5D and 3D to 5-axis milling and turning.
Individual solutions – Customized Process Features
A Customized Process Feature is used when standard features for holes or pockets are no longer sufficient. The CPF acts as a sort of collector of specific, machining-relevant information for a CAD model that was defined via colors, names and shapes, for example. The CPF technology in the hyperMILL® CAM software allows individual elements to be selected not only manually but also automatically via a selection script. Various filter criteria such as element color, layer, frame and element type can be defined in the selection scripts. These criteria can also be combined as required.
The geometry information that is collected is linked with a machining mode and technology parameters, and the required toolpaths are then generated from this. A CPF can be used to very efficiently combine recurring programming job steps in order to allow them to run later fully or partially automated in combination with the Automation Controller (AC).
Automation for company standards
Customized Process Features also allow the definition of special company standards for related geometries, thereby automating the programming process even further. Established workflows are saved as technology macros and can be applied again to similar machining tasks. A CPF that has been generated once without errors functions for all provided component shapes and their variants.
CPF features
➤ CPFs are ideal for all component families, recurring machining operations and are safe to use
➤ Can be applied to 2.5D, 3D, 5-axis milling and turning
➤ CPFs are extremely flexible to use
➤ CPFs make it possible to transfer NC programming knowledge to other tasks
➤Repetition accuracy remains at a high level even after a number of years