Open Mind Technologies, Haimer Join Forces to Five-Axis Machine an Aluminum Panther

Open Mind Technologies AG, a global developer of CAD/CAM software solutions, has teamed up with Haimer to take on the challenge of five-axis machining a panther out of aluminum.

Haimer is a partner of the German Hockey League’s Augsburger Panther professional hockey team. With capabilities in designing, manufacturing and selling high-precision products including tool presetting machines, solid carbide cutting tools, toolholders and more, Haimer reports that it had the tooling aspect well covered. Dedicated to using advanced high-end technology, Haimer contacted its longtime CAD/CAM software partner, Open Mind Technologies for its hyperMILL software suite and programming expertise. Providing worldwide CAM solutions, Haimer says Open Mind was the ideal match for programming complete, freely shaped contours required on the panther.

It took the Haimer and Open Mind team approximately three intensive weeks to complete the first free-standing panther. Once the machining parameters were in place and optimized, the approximately 20-inch (500-millimeter) long panther was machined in just under 13 hours. In addition to being showcased by the Augsburger Panther hockey team, the panther model will be on display in Haimer and Open Mind trade show booths at future events.

“A model such as this one was a great opportunity to put the versatility and flexibility of our software to the test,” says Christian Neuner, Open Mind manager of globaly engineering services. “hyperMILL has a wide range of functions that allow CAM users to truly optimize a machine’s capabilities to achieve the desired goal, including making intricate, challenging parts.”

Jakob Nordmann, application engineer at Open Mind, worked with Haimer Applications Engineer Daniel Swoboda to develop the ideal programming and machining infrastructure. Due to the highly detailed mouth and incisors, and the long and thin shape of the filigree tail section, two set ups were required on a linear five-axis DMG MORI HSC70 machining center. A four-flute cutter with a corner radius from the Duo-Lock Haimer MILL Alu series was selected for the roughing, and for the finishing process, the full radius version of the solid carbide end mill from the Haimer MILL Alu series was used because of its micro-geometrical properties, which are designed for smoothness and top surface quality.

“For detailed areas, such as the mouth and tail section or with the creases of the joints, we generated additional surfaces that can be combined with the STL network in hyperMILL,” says Nordmann. For this, hyperCAD-S, the “CAD for CAM” system specially designed by Open Mind to help meet all the needs of programmers, was used.

Equally imperative for milling the panther was the hyperMILL VIRTUAL Machining Center, a process-safe NC simulation solution where virtual machine movements fully mimic real movements and ensure reliable collision detection. The VIRTUAL Machining Center preemptively recognized that the component could not be processed in a basic orientation due to X-axis limited and automatically generated a solution for a workable position.