The ability to machine components in the shortest possible time is an issue of ever increasing importance. Any development in engineering which can give faster delivery, and at the same time improve quality, must, therefore be given serious consideration by the toolmaker.

For many years Delcam has been at the leading edge in the development of High Speed Machining (HSM) strategies. These use a combination of techniques to ensure rapid delivery of high quality machined components. There are many elements to efficient High Speed Machining including; the cutting tool, the CNC machine, the material being cut not to mention the use of a high quality CAM system.

Modern developments in cutting tool technology have led to a revolution in the way CNC programmers now tackle jobs. These specialist tools have totally different cutting characteristics to traditional tooling. Whereas traditional programming methods would consider machining a component from the top down, modern HSM tooling can sometimes prefer to cut from the bottom up.

PowerMILL leads the way with it's unique approaches to efficient area clearance. The main requirements of these machining strategies are to keep the load on the cutter as consistent as possible and to minimise any sudden changes in the cutting direction. One of the basic changes in strategy needed to achieve these conditions is the use of offset machining for roughing rather than the traditional raster approach.