BETTER PRODUCTION
Shops Using Technology
Reprinted From: Modern
Machine Shop Magazine
Job Shop Thrives
on Specialized Software
W
ith a history of taking on challenging jobs and learning the
best way to complete them, ABEN Machine Products was
confident it could make aluminum and Inconel impeller prototypes
using five-axis machining—an operation that was entirely new to
the company. By upgrading its GibbsCAM software to an easy-tolearn five-axis version, the company was able to reduce programming
time and quickly begin machining.
ABEN Machine got its start in 1998 when Esdras Giron, vice
president of engineering and manufacturing, Nabeel Saoud Ph.D.,
president, and two other partners rented a 1,000-square-foot space
that housed a Yang three-axis CNC with a licensed seat of GibbsCAM.
As the company grew and began to develop a good reputation for
solving manufacturing problems, it moved to different facilities. Its
current 6,000-square-foot facility in Canoga Park, Calif. includes
seven CNC mills, six CNC lathes and assorted support equipment
used primarily to make mechanical components and circuitry hous-
ABEN MACHINE PRODUCTS
PROBLEM Needed five-axis software to make prototype
impellers out of aluminum and Inconel
SOLUTION GibbsCAM 5-Axis MultiBlade
RESULTS Ability to program, faster machining, improved
part quality, reduced errors
GibbsCAM MultiBlade simplifies the five-axis interface presented to
the user, eliminating several model-preparation steps, and
automating several programming steps. An impeller with single
splitter is shown here in GibsCAM Cut Part Rendering.
EDITOR
EMILY K . PROBST, eprobst@mmsonline.com
ings for first-tier aerospace and microwave telecommunications
suppliers. ABEN has become more than just a job shop—it takes
projects at the concept stage, makes prototypes, and helps its
customers develop and engineer projects. The company employs
17 people, running a full day shift and a partial night shift.
Last June, ABEN added three machines and a trunnion for a
Haas VF-4, partially in preparation to help a long-term friend with a
job machining prototype impellers for natural gas powered turbine
engines. To make the parts and keep costs low, the shop acquired
an economical five-axis software. However, the software was not
sufficiently intuitive for even an experienced CNC programmer to
understand. With a lack of support from the manufacturer/publisher
and only very basic training available, the company needed to find
another five-axis software solution.
Already familiar with GibbsCAM software from Gibbs and Associates (Moorpark, Calif.), ABEN turned to its representative and
upgraded the shop’s three-axis wireframe software to solids-based
GibbsCAM 5-Axis MultiBlade, a package designed for turbomachinery parts.
MultiBlade is an automating interface option accessible through
the Surface Paths drop-down menu within the GibbsCAM five-axis
parameters. It uses the underlying five-axis processes and algorithms,
but saves a considerable amount of time in programming, the company says, especially for users who do not program and machine
bladed parts regularly.
For example, without MultiBlade, a user would have
to go through eight steps of geometric model manipulation just to prepare the model for programming,
and then go through multiple screens of parametric
settings. By contrast, MultiBlade eliminates all of these
tasks because it automatically recognizes part features,
eliminates all the five-axis machining variables that
are not applicable to turbomachinery parts from the
interface and provides easy interaction through just
five context-sensitive parameter-entry screens.
With just three partial days of training from the
GibbsCAM representative, Mr. Giron was up to date
with solids modeling and machining. Even though he
had missed the most recent five-axis training session
at Gibbs, Mr. Giron was confident that his knowledge
of machining and the representative’s knowledge of
using five-axis software would enable the two men to
figure out MultiBlade together.
“It was easy to figure out,” Mr. Giron says. “We followed a sample
and tested the program, made some adjustments to the toolholder
rotation angles to prevent collision, and we started machining.”
Each of the natural gas powered turbine engines requires four
small impellers, two of aluminum and two of Inconel. While the fiveaxis work was new to Mr. Giron, his greatest challenge was determining the feeds and speeds for the tiny cutting tools needed to reach
BETTER PRODUCTION
Shops Using Technology
Here are three stages of an aluminum impeller, with
the finished (polished) part in front, a matching blank
at center right and an unpolished impeller in back.
Aside from the programming challenges overcome
with GibbsCAM MultiBlade, an
additional challenge for ABEN is
machining between the blades
and splitters. To reach between
them, the shop roughs with a
0.093-inch ball end mill, finishes
blades with 0.078-inch ball end
mill and finishes the floor radius
with 0.062-inch ball end mill.
Finished, this aluminum impeller is 1.750 inches in diameter,
with 0.700-inch blade height and
0.025-inch blade thickness.
Esdras Giron’s dual-monitor workstation shows an impeller model in a
GibbsCAM Feature Manager screen (left), and the “Surface Toolpaths”
screen of MultiBlade (middle top) next to a PDF drawing of the part.
between the impeller blades and achieve the tiny floor radius. “I broke
a lot of tools before I found the right feeds and speeds,” he says.
The aluminum impeller is 1.750 inches in diameter with 0.700-inch
blade height. Mr. Giron uses three ball end mills to cut the impeller:
0.093-inch for roughing, 0.078-inch to finish the blades and 0.062inch to finish the radius. As a result, the final blades are 0.025-inch
thick. When the run of aluminum impellers is complete, he will begin
with the Inconel, which he expects to take three times as long to
machine, although he’ll be able to increase tool diameters to 0.156
inch, 0.093 inch and 0.078 inch.
While the predominant reason for ABEN to implement five-axis
machining processes was to take on the impeller application, Mr.
Giron began to find other applications in which the software would
be beneficial. He quickly discovered that the software enabled
other parts to be programmed and machined more efficiently
because he could program two rotary axes, lock either or both
axes, and have unrestricted control of the tool axis relative to the
workpiece.
MLR155/PDF/0214
While ABEN can now machine parts it wasn’t able to take on
before five-axis motion, the greater benefit is faster machining and
improved part quality using the five-axis software. Many parts that
would require multiple setups on different machines can be made
in one or two setups, reducing handling time and opportunities for
error. Furthermore, using one or two axes strictly for rotation and
location, while machining in three axes, enables ABEN to use shorter
tools for greater rigidity and improved surface finish.
The move from basic functionality to solids machining using the
new software was a major time-reducing leap, Mr. Giron says. “I don’t
need to create geometry, and what it does with solids is amazing,”
he says. “I only select a pocket or some other feature, and the software
just does it. I don’t need to tell it how many degrees to move. It just
goes to the location, rotates and machines it.”
In a recent application, ABEN produced a sensor designed to go
down 15,000 feet for a supplier of fiber-optic-based seismic monitoring systems for oil and gas companies. The housings are made from
metals including aluminum, brass, bronze and 17-4 H1150 stainless
steel, and in order to protect the fiber optics, they cannot have sharp
corners or edges, Mr. Giron says. The part is 25.5 inches long with
two eccentric ODs (4 inches being the larger), and multiple pockets,
grooves and holes. The part took about 7 hours to program, but
according to Mr. Giron, the five-axis software saved him about 70
percent programming time compared with a similar part he programmed before implementing the new software. It also saved him
a lot of machining time—he was able to lock down an axis and machine
the part in one shot. “It’s amazing,” he says. “I’m doing five-axis
machining, but my scheduled five-axis training is two weeks away.”
Five-axis machining capability has opened the doors to even
more work for ABEN. Although it cannot add another machine to its
current location due to space, it is confident that its philosophy of
little profit from a lot of work, fairness to customers and a reputation
for reliabilit y and qualit y will help as it considers options
for expansion.
For more information from Gibbs and Associates, a
Cimatron Company, please visit. www.GibbsCAM.com
or call 805-523-0004
Reprinted from the February 2014 MODERN MACHINE SHOP Magazine and
Copyright © 2014 by Gardner Business Media, Inc., 6915 Valley Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45244-3029.