The mold shop thrives on the latest technology in tools, software and machines. The success of the process usually depends on using first-class solutions from past and current developments. New methods of using old technologies often depend on advances in enabling technologies.

A typical example is the emergence of arc segment end mill technology for full five-axis profiling machining. Nowadays, a circular segment tool provided by any number of tool vendors must wait until the complete five-axis machining technology and CAM programming of software vendors such as Mastercam and Open Mind Technologies can handle it.

"The arc segment end mill is an effective alternative to the typical ball end mill used for semi-finishing and finishing molds," said Bryan Stusak, National Milling Product Manager, Iscar USA, Arlington, Texas. The cutting edge of the arc segment end mill is a large diameter arc, which can reduce the number of steps in the mold and the tip height of the processing path. According to Stusak, the end result is a smoother surface finish and up to 50% to 90% reduction in cycle time.

Iscar's circular segment end mill NEO Barrel is specially designed for finishing and semi-finishing. It can provide Multi-Master and solid tool configurations with diameters of 5/16, 3/8 and ½" (7.94, 9.53 and 12.7 mm) Different grades. "In addition to cores and cavities, applications include aerospace and power blisks, turbine blades, medical orthopedics, prosthetics and implants," he said.

For rough machining in mold processing, Iscar has expanded its small-diameter, fast-feed milling platform LOGIQ4FEED, and equipped with larger diameter tools. The LOGIQ4FEED small-diameter feed mill series of ½ to 2" (12.7 to 50.8 mm) sizes introduced two years ago has been expanded with the addition of 2 to 5" (50.8 to 127 mm) diameter tools.

The LOGIQ4FEED tool has a narrow bone-shaped double-sided insert with four cutting edges. This design is very suitable for rough machining of deep molds and cavities. "The narrow rectangular blade has a larger mass blade body, allowing more blades to be placed around the blade body, thereby increasing productivity," Stusak said. In mold manufacturing, productivity is the key. Adding more inserts around the periphery can achieve a higher feed rate per revolution, minimizing the step marks on the Z axis and the amount of material that must be removed during finishing.

"The shape of the bone provides side clearance for chip removal and avoids pinching the chips between the side of the blade and the wall cavity," he continued. "This is an aggressive tool geometry, almost like a spiral cutting edge that can actively cut into the workpiece, allowing it to cut very freely."

LOGIQ4FEED has a variety of tip geometries. The T-Land blade is suitable for general materials, and the high positive geometry is suitable for stainless steel and high-temperature alloys that are difficult to machine. The following geometric shapes with enhanced corner radii in T-Land are available: HP (Hi Positive); T-Land RM; and HP RM (enhanced cutting edge) to reduce the pressure on the smaller corner radius, resulting in a smoother finish and A stronger blade.

Lars Faller, an applications engineer at Siemens Industries in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, said the complexity of mold components is increasing across the board. "Control becomes more advanced, more reliable, even faster and more robust, which can improve the efficiency of customer operations. In addition, more and more customers are seeking transparency in their operations to maximize profits," he said. "For example, online workpiece detection allows them to fully verify the state of various machining processes and tools before the parts leave the machine.

"We know that when we design something in a digital environment, such as a CAD program on a computer, everything is perfect," Faller continued. "Lines, angles, and arcs enjoy the perfect geometric transition, but we also know that once we enter the ordinary manufacturing workshop, we rarely revel in the perfect world scene. The size of the machine tends to increase and increase with temperature changes. If you shrink, the tools will wear out and have to be replaced."

Historically, the three-axis VMC (Vertical Machining Center) was mainly used for mold processing because it provides a stable platform and helps ensure accurate surface finish, but at the cost of speed. "With the recently launched SINUMERIK ONE CNC platform, we can directly adjust the high-speed and contour tolerance settings in the control system without adverse mechanical vibration-this will inevitably appear in the surface finish of the workpiece," Fahler Say. "Compared to the old method, this allows for faster machining times and truly uniform free-form surfaces without the need for manufacturing engineers to reissue NC code."

He added that moldmaking programs are known for their extreme length and complexity, and it is not feasible to manually complete such programming and verify on machine control without access to the program. "Our built-in Moldmaker function allows the operator to open the program to obtain a 3D representation of the tool path wireframe. With this view, the control can help the operator quickly analyze the entire program to see if there are any irregularities in the point cloud distribution. This verification process goes a step further and we can simulate the entire manufacturing process, including 3D material removal, without the need for third-party verification software."

During the pandemic, Siemens developed a way to support its customers using tools originally developed for training. SINUTRAIN software tools allow machine tool manufacturers, distributors or customers to create digital twins of machine tools, analyze potential problems and troubleshoot or develop solutions before cutting the machine for the first time. Similarly, Siemens provides a virtual product expert program to set a 60-minute time period, during which they can help customers solve problems or problems related to operation and programming, as well as remote training on new Siemens controls.

Ingersoll Tool Company (ICTC) of Rockford, Illinois, is a member of the IMC family of companies, and it constantly seeks to improve to meet the challenges its customers face in improving mold efficiency and excellent quality. William Fiorenza, mold product manager. He added that advances in cutting edge life through blade geometry, valve seat blade design, coating, material and edge preparation are all aimed at extending tool life and higher material removal rates.

Ingersoll provides a range of milling options for the mold industry, including indexable tool options with indexable carbide inserts and integral circular cutting tool technology. "A new and more significant push for ICTC is to provide customers with smaller blade IC size products for roughing and finishing. New and selected existing product lines have been expanded to include smaller Insert size: 4mm and 5mm insert IC sizes allow indexable tool design, which can achieve tool diameter sizes as small as 0.25" [6.35mm]," Fiorenza said.

He said that the benefits of smaller indexable insert sizes include increased productivity through higher-density tools, lower tool costs, and improved performance due to reduced cutting forces. He added that it is comparable to solid carbide end mill solutions. In comparison, they are also cost-effective. "In many applications, these smaller diameter tools have a higher material removal rate and have advantages compared to solid carbide tools, considering that they have four indexing and the body is compared with solid carbide tools. ," Fiorenza said.

Ingersoll's DiPosFeed, DiPosDuo, GoldSFeed and HiPosSFeedV series milling cutters use smaller IC insert tools. Smaller IC tools are available in 4mm and 5mm insert sizes, with strong insert geometry and clamping force, and high-feed design features to speed up the milling process and reduce cycle time.

"Today, advances in high-feed tools use lighter cutting depths to increase productivity than in the past," Fiorenza said. "The new smaller IC size has a DOC range of 0.020 to 0.190" (0.5 to 4.8 mm). These smaller diameter tools are very suitable for small high-speed machining centers, but they also work well on large machines. Smaller IC blades and Ingersoll's advanced stamping technology and precision machining make precision machined seat pockets possible. "

Fiorenza pointed out that after the pandemic, stores are more willing to provide detailed information about the cutting conditions for their particular apps if allowed. According to his experience, due to the agreements in force during the pandemic, customers are more and more willing to have virtual meetings because of their experience in Zoom, Microsoft Team or other virtual communications. In these virtual meetings, various team members can hold meetings with them. One-on-one conversation. Other key personnel in the same session.

"This kind of communication and tool technology support process is becoming more and more accepted by our customers, who need to communicate and receive information more clearly. Being able to conduct virtual interactions in real time (remote), we can quickly digest and better understand the application And recommend solutions. These virtual meetings will also help lay the foundation for subsequent face-to-face meetings," he said. 

For example, ICTC is working with a large manufacturer that has been outsourcing its mold work for many years. For various reasons, it is bringing work back in-house and contacting ICTC through its distributors to request technical support and training. The initial e-mail communication created time for fruitful virtual meetings so that a clear understanding of the type of product support and training required. Therefore, Fiorenza stated that in addition to the one-day virtual customer training program currently under development, it also provides effective tool options.

Al Whatmough, director of digital manufacturing for product management at Autodesk Inc. in San Francisco, said that software is a key tool for building more advanced mold manufacturing processes. "In terms of design, we have analog products, such as Moldflow, and manufactured products, such as FeatureCAM, PowerMill, and PowerInspect. I call these first-class point solutions. Then we have some products that I call connective tissue products, For example, Vault and PLM connect data and processes," Whatmough said.

Autodesk developed the Fusion 360 platform to integrate the technologies in its point solutions so that they can work in connected workflows. "Fusion 360 can be configured to work seamlessly across functions across the entire product ecosystem," Whatmough said. "This includes advanced milling from PowerMill, automated machining from FeatureCAM, mold simulation from Moldflow, or inspection workflow from PowerInspect. This is a platform that combines the best design, simulation, and manufacturing."

He pointed out that there is always a healthy tension between engineering and design. "If you don't think about how it will be manufactured, you can't really design something. Understanding why it is equally important to design a product in a certain way when it is manufactured," Whatmough said. "A lot of what we do is to try to better promote cooperation between these disciplines in order to promote closer working relationships."

According to Whatmough, using CAM software for mold work, you cannot program without certain geometric creation elements, which occur on a subset of CAD. This can be the surface used to drive the tool path, or it can be the process of modeling the digital twin of the manufacturing process to ensure safe and collision-free output. He said that in order to support this work, manufacturing experts should have access to a complete set of modeling tools.

"For mold applications, our PowerMill customers want to ensure that the parts are of good quality before they are removed from the machine. They want the functionality of tools like PowerInspect," Whatmough said.

If the part is defective, it must be found before the geometry is locked and the tool is ready to run. According to Autodesk, the early mold simulation provides the ability to find problems early in the manufacturability process and design, so the molded parts can work normally in the first time, avoiding costly problems.

Molding simulation can help moldmakers and other molding professionals understand the risks early in the design process. It helps to solve these problems before they are fully invested in design, provide them with accurate digital prototyping solutions, and bring better products to market faster. Moldflow simulation can be used with other simulation tools, including mechanical stress, vibration, motion, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and multiphysics.

According to Whatmough, installing inspection equipment on the machine may not replace the final inspection process. However, the inspection equipment does help to verify parts early in the process and saves time if errors are not discovered until later.

Although faster, better and longer-lasting machine tools represent a significant improvement, "the more interesting trend is multitasking," Whatmough said. "For mold making, we are talking about the unusual situation of buying a factory that does not include probing. Just as importantly, it is almost crazy to buy a lathe today without at least some power tools, if not for full B-axis milling. In light of this, “purchasing factories without investigation seems to be just as crazy.”

He said that not long ago, these might be options that the store might guess again. "Much of it has to do with the combination of technology... This is becoming the norm. What's more, it seems that every store in the country has five-axis equipment."

Looking to the future, machines that combine additive and subtractive processes will become more and more common. "These emerging processes enable generative design to create geometric shapes for cooling molds and can only be manufactured using additive processes," Whatmough said.