Blisks, Blades and Port Programming Services
Advanced programming for difficult shapes and forms
These types of part are usually only machined on multi-axis CNC machines
Blades & Blisks
Blisk is a word blended from bladed and disk and is usually refers to a component consisting of a rotor disc and blades made from a single piece. They are generally used in compressors and turbines.
Machining blisks and fan blades present several challenges.
- They will normally contain thin forms that are not very rigid and thus very susceptable to vibration or bending when being machined.
- They will often have areas that are shielded by other blades so the cutter angles required can be quite extreme.
- Root radii for the blades can be small, requiring the use of small cutters.
- Long cutters can be required to reach into deeply shielded areas.
These issues can make blisk and blade programming difficult. Powerful software and user skill is needed to achieve good results.
Port Machining
Programming for port machining represents a particular challenge. Port shapes generally quickly become occluded from the initial cutter entry direction. Port shapes often curve away dramatically from their initial direction.
Sometimes special ‘lollipop’ cutters are needed to machine the deeper areas of the ports. These cutters have a cutting diameter that is larger than the shank diameter. The cutters can then reach into difficult areas without fouling the shank on the sides of the port.
Manoeuvring the cutters around these curved shapes without the cutter shank or chuck fouling the sides of the ports can usually only be performed by specialist software programs.
Cutters used in port machining are usually far less rigid than standard cutters and need an experienced programmer to judge the correct metal removal rates and not overload the cutter.
Alphatech have the software and the experience to provide quality programs to machine ports.
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