Technology in Action
Fast Turns on aerospace parts such as this have been driving robust business growth for Absolute Machine Company.
Stepping Up Productivity Early in 2014, to expand his horizons even further, Grana-
towski bought a second Haas VF-2, this one with a fourth (rotary) axis. Te new machine will allow him to more than double his personal productivity and bring in work that could not be produced economically on the three-axis machine. Tis purchase brought him to another decision point. To program more complex parts and keep a steady stream of CNC programs flowing to double the equipment, he would need to implement a more sophisticated CAM programming solution than the simple two-axis soſtware he had been using. He came to this conclusion aſter he tried to use his original soſtware to clone the machining strategies that appeared in a part program someone else had created for him using Master- cam soſtware. Tat program’s Dynamic Motion technology intelligently
altered feeds, speeds, entries and dwells during the cut to maintain a constant chip load for optimal material removal and minimal tool wear. Granatowski worked for hours try- ing to replicate these actions with his 2D soſtware until he concluded that it would be impossible. He purchased a seat of Mastercam X7 Mill 2.5 because of that experience and, also, because it was the same soſtware his customers were using.
Off on the Right Foot Granatowski had no previous experience programming in
Mastercam and he needed to overcome that deficiency quick- ly. He purchased his soſtware with a Maintenance license from Cimquest, his local Mastercam reseller and it was packaged with free upgrades, training and as needed “Fast Support,” over the phone, and online. Te reseller wanted Granatowski to come for three days of formal training in Mastercam,
58 Aerospace & Defense Manufacturing 2014
Ultra-realistic machine simulation allows Granatowski to immediately detect and correct interferences.
but there was no way he could find time to do that. Instead Granatowski took a single day of training at the Cimquest facility and then Cimquest agreed to send a trainer to spend another day working personally with Granatowski to help him program his own parts in his own shop. Ten Granatowski took the reseller at his word about as-
needed support. “It’s just like anything new, the first week or two was frustrating because I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know how yet. So every time I got stuck I would call Jim at Cimquest. He would say ‘No problem!’ and we would both get onto my desktop via online meeting soſtware. He would answer my questions and, better still, talk me through the places where I was stuck. I did the programming as he watched on his own computer back at Cimquest. It usually took just a few minutes and I was back in business. Doing it this way built up my muscle memory for programming in Mastercam, so I got a good feel for it quickly.”
One Month Later Tis approach was enough to get him started off without
falling behind with his workload. Within the first month he was already investigating the ways he could use the more ad- vanced features of Mastercam to improve his productivity and reduce operating costs, such as: Solids: Instead of creating his own geometry in the CAM
soſtware, he imports CAD models sent by the customer when- ever he can. He then works in Solids, which allows him to rotate the part and create programs to machine the part from various operating systems, shiſting at will from one orienta- tion to another via Mastercam’s Work Coordinate System. Simulation: He routinely uses Mastercam’s simulation features to verify material removal and detect clearance issues
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