What types of parts are suitable for processing with a five-axis machining center?

A five-axis machining center can also be called a five-axis linkage machining center. This kind of processing has five coordinate axes, namely two rotational axes and three linear axes. Five-axis machining centers are more suitable for processing complex parts with multiple procedures, high precision requirements, a wide variety of commonly used machine tools, numerous tooling fixtures, and the need for multiple clamping operations.

What types of parts is a five-axis machining center suitable for processing?

Box-shaped parts

Five-axis machining centers can process box-type parts, mainly processing some multi-station holes and planes. The processing accuracy requirements for box-type parts, especially those with strict shape processing accuracy requirements. Generally, it needs to go through processes such as milling, drilling, reaming, boring, twisting and tapping. All kinds of tools are needed. I have used too many tools. Box-type parts are difficult to process on ordinary machine tools, requiring multiple clamping and alignment, and the processing accuracy is hard to guarantee. Generally, horizontal machining centers are more suitable for processing box-type parts, but five-axis machining centers can also be used for processing.

2. Complex curved surface parts

Complex curved surface parts often appear in the fields of machinery, aviation and aerospace. It is very difficult or even impossible to precisely process complex curved surface parts with ordinary CNC machine tools. Common complex surfaces include: impellers, spherical surfaces, blades on turbine engines, molds for various surfaces, Marine propellers, propellers of underwater vehicles, and some other freely combinable surfaces. For these parts with complex surface types, it is more appropriate to use a five-axis machining center for processing. Processing complex curved surface parts with a five-axis machining center requires a large amount of programming work. Automatic programming technology is adopted to program complex curved surface parts.

3. Irregular parts

Irregular-shaped parts refer to irregular parts, such as workpieces with a mixture of points, lines and surfaces. Generally, irregular-shaped parts have relatively poor rigidity and are difficult to process with ordinary CNC machine tools, or even impossible to process. During the processing, the clamping pressure is difficult to control and the processing accuracy is hard to guarantee. However, the usage of five-axis machining centers is different. By taking advantage of the reasonable technological measures of the five-axis machining center and the multi-station mixed processing characteristics of points, lines and surfaces of the five-axis machining center, multiple or all processes can be completed.

4. Mold category

Such as injection molds, rubber molds, vacuum forming and thermoforming molds, refrigerator foaming molds, die-casting molds, precision casting molds, etc.

When using a machining center to process molds, due to the highly concentrated process, the fine processing of key parts such as moving molds and fixed molds is basically completed in one clamping, which can reduce the cumulative dimensional error and the workload of rework. Meanwhile, the molds have strong reproducibility and good interchangeability. For assemblers, the workload of processing is relatively small. Therefore, as long as the tools can be used, they should process as much as possible.