Optima Manufacturing

Roughing this INCONEL part previously took Optima’s machinists 40 minutes. This time has since been reduced to 17 minutes by using new toolpath generation software.

With recently expanded headquarters in Calgary, Optima Manufacturing has located itself in the heart of the nation’s oil and gas industry. A $39-billion-per-year industry in Alberta alone, this sector supplies 90 percent of the company’s business in machining components for the energy industry.

Optima was formed in 1990 by five experienced principals sharing a commitment to the highest design, precision machining, and assembly standards. Today the company’s facility contains state-of-the-art, CNC, multiaxis machining centers and turning centers; CNC EDMs; grinders; and other manufacturing support equipment.

Quality is maintained through the use of gauging equipment, including a coordinate measuring machine, optical comparators, as well as surface and hardness testers. The company also prides itself on operating an efficient, open organization with company-sponsored continuous-learning programs to keep employees abreast of the rapid changes and improvements possible through the application of technology.

Although most of Optima’s business is in the oil and gas industry, it also serves customers in the aerospace, environmental control, agriculture, and telecommunications sectors by providing process design services, close-tolerance machining, and assembly.

Strict adherence to ISO standards throughout the manufacturing process benefits customers both in the domestic and export markets.

Programming Techniques

As one of his duties, Optima’s CNC Programming Supervisor Jonathan Wang is responsible for adding productivity to the company’s processes through programming techniques. One way he has done this is by adding new software technology.

Introduced to the VoluMill™ toolpath engine by a colleague more than a year ago, Wang has put it to use on more than 100 components for the oil and gas industry, most of which are machined from nickel-based and other difficult-to-cut materials.

Wang’s group uses GibbsCAM® software to import and create part designs. Like other CAM systems, this software contains tools to develop a milling strategy from the CAD design and convert it into a machining path. Specifically, this system uses the traditional parallel offset method to generate toolpaths.

Optima purchased this CAM software with the VoluMill toolpath engine option to create programs more quickly, reduce cycle times, and extend tool life.

“Our four programmers are very busy,” explained Wang. “We can’t afford to spend a lot of time tweaking a part program.”

Optima Manufacturing, Calgary, is located in the heart of the country’s oil and gas industry. With many CNC machines producing a variety of parts, reducing programming time is important to business success.

With this combined setup the company estimates that it can generate an optimized program in less time while still seeing a controlled and consistent metal removal rate.

“One major area of improvement is the milling of inside radii on pockets and contours,” said Wang. “Toolpaths generated [previously] would simply plunge the cutter into these corners, placing very high loads on the tool and spindle, often causing deflection and accuracy issues. [Our new] approach generates all motions in a sweeping pattern with a smaller cutter to mill these radii. As a result, [the] toolpaths remove the material much faster while putting far less stress on the cutter and machine.”

Still, management had to be convinced to invest in this technology, so comparisons were performed on actual production parts for the energy industry. One was machined from 718 INCONEL® alloy using a 3/8-in. coated carbide end mill mounted in a Haimer® 40-taper shrink-fit holder. Both toolpaths were run at 1,000 RPM.

According to Wang, the INCONEL part took 40 minutes to rough with a 0.125-in. depth of cut using the original toolpath generation technique. With the new setup, the programmers were able to reduce roughing time to 17 minutes using the same end mill size and RPM, but with a 0.500-in. depth of cut.

“Not only is the cycle time dramatically shorter, but the extended tool life is impressive,” said Wang. “By cutting 1/2 in. deep, we were able to utilize the full length of the flute of our end mill instead of concentrating the wear pattern at the corner, making the tool useless for the next part.”

Another comparison was performed on an energy industry component machined from 6AI4V titanium using 1/2-in.-diameter, coated carbide end mills. Wang said the titanium part originally took 18 minutes to rough at 950 RPM, using a 0.8-in. axial depth of cut and a 0.020-in. radial depth of cut. Now the company sees a roughing time of 11 minutes using the same-sized end mill and RPM, but with a 0.500-in. axial depth of cut and a 0.025-in. radial depth of cut.

According to Wang, when he factors in the cycle time reductions and improvements in tool life, the company is saving $100 per part on the INCONEL component and $70 per part on the titanium piece.

Wang also reports an improvement in Optima’s on-time-delivery results.

In addition to achieving shorter cycle times, operators spend less time changing tools and create less scrap because tool life is improved. As a result, the machines not only run faster, but also run with fewer production interruptions.

“Our first approach was to tackle new parts and offer the most competitive price we could to get the business,” Wang said. “But then I asked the guys to scour the shop floor for more opportunities to convert processes into VoluMill toolpaths to make them more efficient.”

For more information, visit www.optimamfg.com.