Tebis CAD/CAM for Turning and Milling as Complete Machining

Machines that can do turning, milling and drilling reduce machining changes and re-clamping steps and decrease logistics cost en route to the finished workpiece. At the same time, precision increases because turning, drilling and milling are all performed in the same setup. If the machine has a primary and secondary spindle, parts can be completed on all sides without manual re-clamping. However, the safe and efficient operation of these options – which allow turning/milling machines to be operated with the least possible user intervention and monitoring –place special requirements on the CAD/CAM process.

For many parts, especially in mechanical engineering, their manufacturing requires multiple processes for turning, drilling, 2.5D milling and 3D milling, all the way up to 5-axis simultaneous milling. Modern complete machining centres for combined turning and milling are appropriate for manufacturing these parts as efficiently as possible with few setup operations and machine changes. However, because machines of this type are an expensive manufacturing resource, they need to deliver a high degree of value creation: In other words, they must be machining around the clock at the maximum possible capacity. A current study by the WBA Tooling Academy Aachen and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT shows that nearly 40 percent of turning programming is performed on controls on idle machines. It is therefore recommended that all processes be first represented digitally and simulated in a CAD/CAM process. This ensures that the part can be machined without interruptions after clamping the workpiece and the tool changer equipment.

Libraries with digital twins of all manufacturing resources
The part and blank are present as digital elements in the CAD/CAM process. Special attention must be paid to the manufacturing resources that Tebis manages as digital twins in libraries. In addition to the virtual representations of the machines with units and clamping devices, the tools also play a special role. All tools for turning, drilling and milling can therefore be managed in a common tool library in Tebis. Special tools like shaping, striking and side-milling tools are also supported. All individual components are available to the user in a true-to-life representation – from the cutter to the tool holder – and are assembled to form complete tools that enable the performance of all collision checks.

End-to-end Job Manager for all machining operations
The Tebis Job Manager combines all machining operations for turning, drilling and milling needed to produce the workpieces suitable for manufacturing. The large number of available machining functions and strategies ensures that all necessary machining operations can be programmed, resulting in a complete digital process. With the end-to-end material model, material removal in milling/turning is documented from the blank to the finished part. Then the currently available material can be used as the starting point for the next machining operation – from turning to milling and back again. The blank model is used to determine the location of the material to be machined for all machining operations with a high material removal rate. With material tracking activated, this blank is updated in real time following each cut. This allows you to visually follow the manufacturing progress at all times and realistically simulate all machining operations. In conjunction with the implemented automation, the machining functions also automatically find the geometries to be machined in the part and calculate the toolpaths. This significantly simplifies manufacturing of similar geometries.

High reliability with collision-checking
When calculating the toolpaths, there are different strategies for automatically avoiding collisions between the part and shank and the tool holder, depending on the function: turning, milling or drilling. These include automatic switching to a longer tool, automatic avoidance and automatic reduction of the machining areas until they are free from collisions. In addition, each machining operation can be planned in detail in the digital representation in order to find the optimal tools and tool tilt directions before calculating NC programs. Additional machining units like a tailstock with a quill or steady rest are frequently used in turning/milling. Their use is best specified and controlled using the Tebis Job Manager during NC programming. This avoids subsequent complex adjustments on the machine.

Complete simulation and complete NC program
As explained, Tebis rules out collisions with the tool components during program calculation for turning/milling. Subsequent collision-checking also examines the machine components like an equipped turret and the traverse paths between individual toolpaths. This results in an end-to-end collision-free NC program for all turning, drilling and milling operations. The NC program also controls the machine units, including clamping elements, tailstocks and steady rests. A complete digital representation of the manufacturing environment and virtual-collision checking of all machining operations ensure that the goal is achieved: The machines in real manufacturing operate without interruptions.

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