High-efficiency roughing with HPC milling machines

The goal of every roughing operation is to remove as much material as possible within the shortest possible time. This is an enormous stress test for the cutter, which often ends up in full contact. Tebis therefore uses options for full-cut handling as well as for full-cut avoidance. In full-cut handling, feed rates are automatically reduced, or full-cut areas are machined trochoidally. In full-cut avoidance, the path layout is automatically adapted to the geometry without full cuts.

Full-cut avoidance is used in adaptive roughing. This is where it really counts: Compared with conventional roughing, special HPC cutters achieve extremely high material removal rates at constant cutting conditions with higher cutting speeds and feed rates, smaller lateral stepovers and very large cutting depths – and time savings of over 60 percent are easily possible. Adaptive roughing strategies for HPC milling are especially suitable for parts with many deep cavities. Hard materials can also be machined very easily in this way. 

Adaptive trochoidal roughing strategies can be implemented in Tebis in 2.5D, 3D and 5-axis machining operations. The tool can be quickly repositioned, even at high feed rates. Integrated blank transfer enables a simple combination of all milling operations. 

Without a doubt: The adaptive roughing strategy is the one that achieves the highest material removal rate. In many cases it is also the most efficient strategy – but not always. Because how a part is best machined depends on the geometry, the material and the machine tool. Technology parameters such as cutting data and feed rates must exactly match the machining operation. 

In our practical test, we compared different roughing strategies taking part geometry and the technology parameters into account. Results: The right combination is critical!