There is provided a manufacturing facility diagnosis support apparatus that can support efficient diagnosis of a manufacturing facility even when past operation information on the manufacturing facility is not present. The diagnosis support apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store operation information in each of processes of a manufacturing facility for processing a material and information on a position of the material in association with each other, and an extraction unit configured to extract, when a range including the position of the material is designated, operation information changed at a position corresponding to the designated range, from the operation information stored in the storage unit. According to the diagnosis support apparatus, it is possible to support efficient diagnosis of the manufacturing facility even when the past operation information on the manufacturing facility is not present.

The desktop milling machine with an ovate-shaped bridge is a desktop milling machine of the computer numerical control (CNC) type having a portion of the bridge or frame structure configured to alleviate bridge deflections and deformations that are caused during the high-speed milling processes. Preferably, the bridge has an ovate arch, or has a rear face having an ovate contour.

An apparatus and a system comprise a collet comprising a top portion and a bottom portion. The top portion comprises a threading means. The bottom portion at least comprises means for holding the collet from rotating and means for retaining an end mill. A master comprises a top portion and a bottom portion. The top portion is configured for engagement with a spindle of a milling machine. The bottom portion comprises a threading means for engagement with the threading means of the collet, wherein the master is retained by the spindle and the collet engages and disengages the master by rotation of the spindle. The milling machine operates under computer control during engagement and disengagement of the collet from the master.

A method is provided for material-removing machining when moving a tool of a machine tool along a tool path, including providing a workpiece comprising a first workpiece portion and a second workpiece portion adjacent to the first workpiece portion, wherein the tool path comprises a first path section comprising path segments adapted to a geometry of the first workpiece portion, and a second path section comprising path segments adapted to a geometry of the second workpiece portion. The method comprises determining the first path section to cover the first workpiece portion except for a first edge section, determining the second path section to cover the second workpiece portion except for a second edge section, and determining a transition section of the tool path to cover the first edge section and the second edge section, such that the first and second path sections and the transition section cover the entire first and second workpiece portions.

The machining station can include a table; at least three robots each having a multi-axis mover secured to the table, and a gripper opposite the table, the robots being interspaced from one another on the table; and a controller. The controller controls the robots to hold a workpiece in a coordinated manner. The computer numerical command (CNC) machine-tool system machines the workpiece while the workpiece is held by the robots. The workpiece can be moved into and out from the machining station with a trolley which slidingly engages a trolley path formed within the table.

This invention provides a novel tool path planning method for five-axis flank milling by imposing the constraints of curve interpolation on the tool path. The tool motion is described in the form of spline curves during its optimization-driven calculation process, instead of discrete cutter locations in CNC linear interpolation. The coefficients of the curve equations are generated by minimizing accumulated geometrical errors on the machined surface using optimization algorithms. The continuity imposed by the spline motion reduces uneven modifications of cutter locations during the optimization process. The resultant tool path yields superior.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including medium-encoded computer program products, for computer aided design of physical structures include: obtaining a density-based representation of a modeled object and data specifying a starting element for each of multiple different subsets of elements; processing starting elements having milling depths associated with layers below a top most layer, the processing including, for a current starting element for a current layer, identifying other starting elements that have milling depths associated with a layer above the current layer and are closer to the current starting element than an amount at least equal to a radius of a smallest available milling tool, calculating a maximum angular difference, and moving the milling depth for the element subset of the current starting element to a layer above the current layer, responsive to the maximum angular difference being greater than a threshold, to remove a non-manufacturable corner.

An end milling apparatus has an end mill and a support member. The end mill has a cutting portion and a non-cutting portion. The support member supports the non-cutting portion in at least one direction toward the periphery of the end mill. The width of the support member as measured in the direction orthogonal to the direction of the center axis of the end mill and to the direction in which the support member is located as viewed from the end mill is smaller than the outer diameter of the end mill.

The invention relates to a method for monitoring a milling process of a printed circuit board, having the steps of: (a) detecting (S1) the rotational speed of a milling head (2) of a milling machine (1) and at least one other operating parameter of the milling machine (1) during the milling process, wherein the other operating parameter is an electric supply current for operating the milling machine, and (b) analyzing (S2) the detected rotational speed and the detected operating parameter using a trained adaptive algorithm for detecting anomalies during the milling process.

A machine tool includes a linear movement axis for moving a main spindle, at least two linear movement axes for moving a table, and a rotation table including at least one rotation axis, the rotation table being placed on the table. A numerical controller performs machining by executing a machining program for tool center point control where the tool orientation is fixed to a certain axis or a certain surface, and by changing the tool orientation by controlling each axis of the machine tool based on set tool use range and tool orientation change waveform pattern.