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Machining 46 MoldMaking Technology May 2015 physically on the machine tool. Then the program is created with the use of the postprocessor and tested on the machine. If any positional adjustments need to be made, the solid model must be repositioned in the CAM space, the program must be reposted, and the entire process must be repeated as many times as necessary. After all of this, the program will finally be ready to run successfully, and the job can be completed. However, even after all of this preparation is complete, once the workpiece is removed from the machine, this tedious process will be required to complete a future repeat job for that part. The entire process is not efficient. Tool center point management grew out of the need to ease the implementation and use of five-axis technology and increase its efficiency. Machine tool manufacturers realized that the machine control itself should accommodate all of the machine's kine- matics and movements as well as auto- matically control the correlation among all necessary data points (machine center line, spindle gage line, tooltip and workpiece zero point). Tool center point management accomplishes these goals. Better Control and Simplified Setup Tool center point management makes the entire machining process more efficient, quicker and easier for the pro- grammer and machine operator to com- plete. It streamlines the programming process. The programmer does not need FIGURE 2 Each rotating or tilting axis in fve-axis machining has its own unique centerline or rotation, around which that particular axis rotates. On multi- axis machines, the point in space where these center lines converge is very important when tracking tooltip locations and calculating machine kinematics and movements. FIGURE 3 The workpiece is located on the machine table at a specifc measurable distance away from the center line of rotation for each rotating axis. This distance is important and must be accounted for during machining. LEARN MORE Visit our Machining Zone for more information about both traditional and advanced machining techniques, including milling, drilling, grinding, high-speed machining, fve-axis machining, hard milling, micro- machining, large-mold machining, multitasking, waterjet and laser. Go to moldmakingtechnology.com/ zones for a complete list.