I can vividly remember the fi rst time I used an expert
software package for blisks. The software add-on I used was one devised by ModuleWorks. It was ultimately incorpo- rated into Mastercam (from CNC Software Inc.) as the Blade Expert add-on, as well as used in a number of other general CAM software packages. I selected a blade that I had written a program for previously with conventional software. I followed the instructions and programmed the blade based on data imported from a CAD fi le. I completed this program in about 20 minutes and simulated it on the model for one of a fi ve-axis CNC machine using Vericut. There were no fl aws in the program. This was a very emotional experience for me. When I originally wrote the program to manu- facture this part, it had taken me a week and the program I wrote was not as good as the one generated by the expert software. I immediately thought of all the angst and lost time I had experienced as a manufacturing process consultant writing fi ve-axis blisk manufacturing programs like this one.
How It Works
In spite of their geometric complexity, there are many things multibladed disks have in common. The blisk is com- posed of blades of various shapes and sizes, distributed in a pattern around the perimeter of the disk base. The blade design is encompassed within the workpiece and the job of the expert software is to liberate it by cutting out all the mate- rial that does not belong, so that only the blisk remains.
The program I wrote was not as good as the one generated by the expert software.
The expert blade software can do this very effi ciently because it relies on numerous blisk-specifi c rules to cre- ate the various blade shapes, splitters, half splitters, and surfaces, based on the imported CAD model and a small amount of data entered into the program. These fi ve-axis cutting routines allow the tool to reach all of the areas where
written with a conventional fi ve-axis CAM programming package.
The bottom line is that days of programming time are
reduced to hours or minutes and blades can be cut up to four times faster with the fi rst iteration of the CNC program. Suc- cess is almost guaranteed, but not quite. You have to do a few important things before you can begin using your expert blade software with complete confi dence.
Prerequisites for Success Blisk manufacturing is a very sophisticated simultaneous
fi ve-axis CNC machining process. Expert blade software makes this process faster and easier but only after all of the other best practice considerations for simultaneous fi ve- axis machining are in effect. This is a particularly important understanding for fi ve-axis owners who have been using their equipment for positioning only. They may be surprised to learn that simultaneous fi ve-axis work requires adherence to a higher set of standards. Here is a brief description of the steps required to ensure
61 — Energy Manufacturing 2015
material needs to be removed without colliding with the other blade elements. In addition, the software has rules that direct it to automatically trim the toolpaths as they are generated to eliminate 60–70% of the air cutting that would normally occur when proving the fi rst generation of a bladed-disk program
Blisk-specifi c rules incorporated in expert software make writing blade-cutting programs fast and easy and they perform effi ciently on the CNC machine.
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