Innovative Tool Technology
Conical Barrel Cutters – For highly efficient finishing strategies
For many years, the technology for finishing surfaces was considered mature. However, this did not stop us from finding new ways of speeding up this time-consuming process. The result was well worth the effort: a new type of milling cutter combined with highly efficient finishing strategies.
Thinking ahead means developing technology of the future. The conical barrel cutter represents a completely new type of milling tool geometry that was developed by OPEN MIND. With conventional barrel cutters, only medium radii of 50 mm to 100 mm are possible. Our approach, however, works with radii of 1,000 mm and larger. This allows for large line increments with the same surface quality. The advantages of the conical barrel cutter can only be leveraged with a high-performance CAM system such as hyperMILL®. Its innovative 5‑axis technology sets virtually no limits to machining.
Dynamic contact point control
hyperMILL® MAXX Machining is able to fully control the contact point automatically during machining. The angle of the milling cutter is continuously changed. The result speaks for itself: safe machining of the entire surface and uniform utilization of the cutting radius.
Tested surface quality
Compared to machining with ball milling cutters, the theoretical scallop height does not change significantly with larger line increments. This was proven in real-life applications using surface testing methods. A reference surface was machined using a ball cutter with a radius of 3 mm and a barrel cutter with a radius of 350 mm. While the quality of both surfaces was nearly the same, the machining time was 90 percent shorter using the barrel cutter.
Simple tool management
Any barrel cutter can be parametrically defined in hyperMILL®. It is not necessary to create free blade geometries or to design the milling tool based on 2D contours. Simple tool management and a CAM system that maps the barrel cutters 100 percent ensure safe and reliable use of these tools.
