SPM 2010

PowerMILL Competitor Update

• Developed by OPEN MIND Technologies AG
• Owned by Mensch und Maschine
• Corporate headquarters : Munich, Germany
• 8 international subsidiaries
• 9,500 Industrial seats installed
• 140 employees, 28 of which are developers
• 2008 revenues US$ 28 million, compared to US$ 68 million
for Delcam. First half 2009 down 15%
• Development spend reduced from 3.4 million Euros to 2.5
million (US$ 68 million, compared to US$ 31 million)
• How has PowerMILL reacted to the 2007
HyperMILL analysis?
• In 2007 PowerMILL calculated toolpaths faster than HyperMILL
(See graph)
• PowerMILL2010 significantly increases this advantage!
• multi-threading
• reduced memory usage
• more efficient algorithms.
• Background Processing
• PowerMILL had cumbersome 2D pocketing, Profiling etc.
• New Curve Machining Strategies : Pocketing, Profiling, Facing,
Chamfering ensure that PowerMILL competes on equal terms
• How has PowerMILL reacted to the 2007
HyperMILL analysis?
• HyperMILL won many sales due to their superior 5 Axis
Collision Avoidance
• PowerMILL2010 adds similar functionality
• PowerMILL2010 adds superior toolaxis smoothing (Hopefully!!)
• HyperMILL used their UNDERCUT CONSTANT Z function to
kill PowerMILL on many 5 axis applications
• PowerMILL2010 enhances CONSTANT Z to allow UNDERCUT
machining
 The major strengths of PowerMILL

• Limiting, Leads/Links, Move Start Points

• Cad Data import. Fastest and very robust
• Ease of Use: Clear and Consistent layout
• Toolpath Processing Speed
• Most tool types supported for most
operations
• A winner in complex 3 axis machining and a
very strong competitor in 5 axis machining
 OpenMIND History
1994 Company founded by Werner Schwenkert, Josef Koch and
Christine Fitz.
1995 Open Mind appointed Autodesk’s global CAM partner
2001 OM purchases 1,000 seats of Think3’s thinkdesign
Still used as CAD component HyperCAD
2002 Think3 purchase and high development expenses
practically bankrupt company.
Company sold to Autodesk reseller Mensch und Maschine
for 600,000 MuM shares then valued at 6.9 million euros
(now 3.3 million)
 OpenMIND History
Key facts on acquisition 2002
Annual Sales 8.5 million euros (US$ 11 million)
Seat count 5,000
Staff 90
Key facts for 2005
Annual sales 14.1 million euros (US$ 18 million)
Seat count 7,400
Staff 96
 Distribution of sales
Germany 45%
Other Europe 20%
Japan 15%
USA 10%
Korea/Taiwan 5%
Rest of world 5%
 OpenMIND Future
• MuM makes most revenue and profit from Autodesk
• Open Mind is less than 10% of total revenue
• MuM has been selling its other technology to focus on
Autodesk and reduce its debt
• MuM faces a potential penalty to be paid on 1st April 2007 to
original Open Mind shareholders of 2.9 million euros
• Open Mind could be sold to avoid penalty and further reduce
MuM debt
 OpenMIND Summary
• Delcam have 4 times the staff of OpenMIND
• More global coverage and support
• Delcam have over 300 reseller offices in over 60 countries!
• Delcam end user sales are over 2.5 times that of OpenMIND
• Diverse range of solutions
• PS Fixture
• OMV
• Adaptive Machining
• This is a real strength in the aerospace Industry and means that we can
undertake projects that OM could never do.
• Delcam stability
• Although profitable OpenMIND are only 10% of MUM turn over
• Due to acquisition MUM may have to pay out Euro 3M penalty
• Delcam is acquiring more companies to increase its range of software. MUM
is selling assets to reduce debt. OM could easily be sold to different owners.
 hyperMILL toolbar

The hyperMILL toolbar can be

embedded into the following
products:
• hyperCAD (Think3)
• Autodesk Inventor
• ProENGINEER Wildfire
• Catia V4
GUI
 GUI
• All Graphical Edits relate to the host software, NOT to
hyperMILL
• hyperMILL toolpath edits are made in a separate
software called TOOLPATH.EDIT
• Stock Removal and Machine Tool simulations are
made in a separate software called hyperVIEW
• Online Help does NOT describe many of the
functions of V9.0 or V9.5. The online help shipped
with V9.5 is actually written for V9.0
3 Axis Calculation Times

X1700mm
Y670mm
Z380mm
 3 Axis Calculation Times
PowerMILL/hyperMILL
Calculation Time Comparison

45

40

35

30
Time (Minutes)

25

20
hyperMILL
PowerMILL
15

10

0
Roughing Constant Z Raster Rest Finishing

Roughing Constant Z Raster Rest Finishing

hyperMILL 4 44 9.6 16
PowerMILL 3.2 23 3 5
 Boundary Capability

Strategy Shallow Selected Sketched

Surface CompCurve
Constant Z Yes Yes Yes
Constant Z Spiral No Yes Yes
3D Offset No No Yes
Parametric Offset No No Yes
Pattern Finishing Yes Yes Yes
Pencil Yes No Yes
Automatic Corner Yes Yes Yes
 General Toolpath Limitations
• Roughing
Maximum Stepover = 0.5xTool Diameter
No Trochoidal
No Raceline (Arcs in corners are possible) No fast
recalculations (E.g. Edit Stepover)
No Spiral or Tangential links between segments
 Limitations of Finishing Toolpaths

• Boundaries
No Editable Boundaries
No Silhouette/Rest Boundaries
• Modifying Leads and Links requires a full
recalculation
• Poor Quality Rest Finishing Toolpaths
Reference Tool must be Ballnose
Rest Machining Comparison
The quality of the
PowerMILL “Corner
Automatic” proved
to be much better
quality on this
model than the
hyperMIL hyperMILL
L
equivalent toolpath.

PowerMIL
L
 5 Axis Machining
• Similar to PowerMILL, most of hyperMILL’s “5X
Cavity Cycles” are limited to Ballnose cutters

Roughing
Constant Z
Raster, Radial, Spiral, Patternmaker
Rest Finishing
 Tool Axis Control
• Automatic
User keys in desires A/B angle
hyperMILL automatically calculates the C Axis rotation
• To/From Curve
User creates a curve in Host Software
• Offset Curve
hyperMILL automatically creates the curve by offsetting
toolpath segments (Used primarily for Constant Z)
Excellent for multi-features but suffers excessive tool axis
motion
• Lead/Lean
Only applied to parametric surface
machining and “5X Contouring” (Embedded Pattern)
• Manual vector alignment
5X Contouring (Embedded Pattern)
Wireframe Swarf Machining
* hyperMILL does not have Surface Swarf Machining! Could be the
surface!
 Tool Axis Control
• hyperMILL tries to keep a stable A/B axis whilst
moving the C axis
• Collision Avoidance Options:
Only adjust C axis
Prefer C axis to A/B
Prefer A/B axis to C
hyperMILL does not have To/From Point/Line/Curve
• Collision Avoidance is unreliable. When it fails,
hyperMILL does not produce any toolpath
• Tool Axis Vectors automatically smoothed for fluid
A/B and C rotations
 OpenMIND Summary
• Delcam have 3 times the staff of OpenMIND
• More global coverage and support
• Delcam have over 300 reseller offices in over 60 countries!
• Delcam end user sales are over 5 times that of OpenMIND
• At least 50% of this is PowerMILL revenue
• Add in FeatureCAM and PartMAKER and this figure will further increase even
further Delcam's total CAM dominance
• Diverse range of solutions
• PS Fixture
• OMV
• Adaptive Machining
• Delcam stability
• Although profitable OpenMIND are only 10% of MUM turn over
• Due to acquisition MUM may have to pay out Euro 3M penalty
 Vertical Markets: Tube Cycles
• Typically used for Engine Ports
• Spiral Roughing (Lollipop and Ballnose Tools)

• Spiral or Parallel Finishing

(Lollipop and Ballnose Tools)

• Rest Finishing (Lollipop and Ballnose Tools)

Spiral or parallel machining of the tube's
remaining rest material areas. The areas to
be machined are additionally specified through
a reference curve.

*hyperMILL Tube Cycles typically generate excessive

rotary motion when compared to similar toolpaths
generated in PowerMILL
 Vertical Markets: Blade Cycles
• Typically used for Turbine Blades
• Roughing

• Top milling is a continuously

circulating finishing

• The strategy for swarf cutting can consist of three job steps:

Machining the remaining rest material between blade and side

surfaces using spiral paths from the outside inward and/or
laterally in the direction to the wall.

Milling the radii between blade and side surfaces

Swarf machining for the side surfaces During machining, the

tool contact continuously transitions from top milling the blade
surface to swarf cutting for the side surfaces.
Vertical Markets: Multiblade Cycles

hyperMILL has a range of functions

specifically designed for machining Blisks
and Impellers.

Prior to generating toolpaths, a ‘Feature’ is

created for the Impeller/Blisk. Within the
feature, the user will specify which surfaces
are used for:

Number of Blades
Blade Surfaces
Splitter Surfaces
Hub Surface
Shroud Surface
Blade Curves
Trim Curves
Vertical Markets: Multiblade Cycles
Overview of the cycles
 Vertical Markets: Multiblade Cycles
hyperMILL has 2 options for Collision Avoidance on the Multi-Blade strategies:

The Collision Avoidance appear to be the main problem for users trying to use hyperMILL for
impeller/Blisk Machining.

If hyperMILL is unable to find a collision free toolaxis, then it fails to calculate any toolpath at all. It
simply reports an error similar to the following:

Error: Splitter Edge collision: check lead angle around splitter and/or edge tolerance.
Info: Maximum angle freedom = 0.065791
Error: Tool holder collision detected
OPEN MIND Info: Cycle “5X MB Hub Finishing” ended with an error!
 Vertical Markets: Multiblade Cycles
Toolpath that were created by HyperMILL on this impeller were of questionable quality:

A Zoomed View
 Thank You
Click to edit Master title style
Delcam plc | Small Heath Business Park | Birmingham | B10 0HJ | UK
[email protected]
• Click to edit Master text styles
• Second level
• Third level
• Fourth level
• Fifth level

09/09/2020 30