Helical x Mastercam: Continuous Time in Cut (CTIC)

Don Grandt, Harvey Performance Company National Application Engineer, met up with Jesse Trinque at the Mastercam Manufacturing Lab to demo some Helical Solutions End Mills and discuss Continuous Time In Cut (CTIC).

Continuous Time in Cut (CTIC) is the amount of time that a tool is engaged with a material. When an end mill is in a cut for too long, the friction can build and surface foot can be sacrificed, greatly affecting the performance and wear of a tool.

Check out this video to watch Jesse and Don test out how different levels of CTIC directly affect tool life and performance. This series of tests, which were facilitated by Mastercam, were conducted in Okuma’s GENOS M560-V, and utilized tool paths from Mastercam. For tooling, a standard ½” Helical Solutions HEV-6, a 6 flute, variable pitch end mill with a .03” corner radius, was used to machine 17-4 stainless steel.

All tests used the same cutting parameters, setup, material, and tool, with altered CTIC.

Take a Deeper Dive Into CTIC

Tune into this episode of In The Loupe TV to learn how you can manipulate Continuous Time In Cut (CTIC) and surface foot to reduce heat in your machining applications.