hyperMILL provides MAXX results for Cutting Blue
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As the name suggests, Cutting Blue Ltd has a strong commitment to sustainable manufacturing. The Birmingham based business was founded by Piotr Parobczy as a consultancy imbued in the programming of complex high-value components for the F1 and motorsport industries. However, recently the subcontract company has commenced manufacturing, purchasing machine tools from Doosan and DMG MORI that are supported by the CAM software from OPEN MIND Technologies.
Cutting Blue has rapidly built a customer base in the EV and micro-mobility sectors, manufacturing drivetrain components, battery and electronic enclosures. The company primarily machines plastic and aluminium parts in batches.
Alluding to why the company opted for hyperMILL, Company Founder Mr Piotr Parobczy says: “hyperMILL stands way above any other CAM system. As a business, we are currently only running 3-axis machining centres but hyperMILL is perfect for this. OPEN MIND may be known for its 5-axis strategies, but as a completely modular system, we can ‘bolt-on’ additional features when we need them. This makes hyperMILL the most premium package available for your money. As hyperMILL is not a subscription model, it is far cheaper than other premium software.”
The consultancy division of the company undertakes programming of complex components. As Piotr continues: “We have hyperMILL fully loaded with strategies from MAXX machining and 5-axis through to tube machining, multi-blade, probing, turning and more. That is the beauty of hyperMILL, you can add features to suit your requirements.”
“Compared to other systems, we have found hyperMILL faster, more productive and easier to use. Alternate CAM systems can be unreliable with limited post-processor availability and collision avoidance that doesn’t always fill you with confidence.”
The components machined at Cutting Blue can have cycle times from 5 to 22 hours per part and hyperMILL generates considerable cycle time savings. As Piotr says: “By using strategies like the MAXX machining for roughing, we can use high-speed cutting tools and trochoidal milling to reduce cycle times by more than 30%. When you are machining batches of 100-off or more each month, this is a significant saving. In fact, the strategies in hyperMILL often shave one hour or more off the cycle times of many parts. Some parts that we have programmed for customers have also seen cycle times fall from 22 hours to 17.”
Piotr continues: “We have one customer that is 5-axis machining single blade impellers for the marine industry and we have yielded impressive cycle time reductions. By utilising the Multiblade feature in hyperMILL, the blades are easy to programme, as the strategy has a host of options that simplify the process while a lot of the other tasks are automated. The customer is applying conical barrel tools and as OPEN MIND are the pioneers in this technology, applying the tools and strategies is straightforward. This project has seen the client reduce the cycle times from one hour per impeller to just 20 minutes.”
Concluding on this, Piotr says: “The impeller is something that we will be machining in-house and we are currently investigating suitable machines to support us in doing this. By utilising hyperMILL, we can undertake such challenges with complete confidence. The CAM system is exceptionally reliable and consistent with post-processors and collision avoidance that is second-to-none. As our capabilities evolve, so will our application of hyperMILL.”
