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Intelli-MAX™ Cutting Model Enhancements

In 1993, OMAX revolutionized the abrasive waterjet industry with unheard of precision and speed when we introduced the first and only abrasive waterjet precision velocity controller. This controller predicted and compensated for jet behaviors based on a built-in cutting model. For the first time ever, a novice operator was able to make high-speed and high-precision parts without a lot of programming and "black art" experimentation. Although this controller was introduced in 1993, it remains a huge leap forward in technology. It has been such a huge advance that the competition is still trying to catch up, ten years later.

OMAX hasn't been content to rest on this success for the last ten years, though. During that time, OMAX invested heavily in developing new cutting models and controller technologies for the next giant leap forward:

OMAX is proud to announce the next generation of precision and speed, courtesy of its revolutionary new set of software technologies: Intelli-MAX™

OMAX Intelli-MAX™ is a suite of new technologies that make higher tolerance parts faster—faster and with higher tolerance than any other abrasivejet system. The amazing thing about these new technologies is that not only does OMAX make the parts faster, but the parts are made with the same or higher precision than before Precision is no longer sacrificed for speed, and no special hardware is necessary. This is a free upgrade to all OMAX customers who are using the OMAX Windows 2000/XP-based controller.

(left) OMAX Make for DOS: OMAX's first generation controller. In 1993, OMAX invented precision abrasivejet machining, and introduced this controller. (right): In 2001, OMAX introduced OMAX Make for Windows, and revolutionized the industry again in September of 2002 with the introduction of the Intelli-MAX™ technologies.

Intelli-MAX™ also includes a second-generation precision cutting model. OMAX's first cutting model, from the doctoral thesis of Dr. Jay Zeng at the University of Rhode Island, was unquestionably the best in the industry. Over the years, this model has been extended to provide additional capabilities and precision. In 1998, Dr. Zeng joined the OMAX team to develop the next generation cutting model. Today, it is implemented in the OMAX Windows 2000/XP controller, which provides the cutting edge of prediction and compensation of abrasive waterjet behaviors, as well as a sturdy platform for future enhancements.

What do the OMAX Intelli-MAX™ enhancements include?

Intelli-Nest
Built directly into the controller software is Intelli-Nest, which provides just-in-time array nesting of part paths. Intelli-Nest can nest any OMAX tool path, and automatically sets rotation and spacing to optimize your material usage, whether you are running a single nozzle, or many. Intelli-Nest is just one example of many free software upgrades from OMAX.

Typical nested parts nested using Intelli-Nest optimized array nesting.

Intelli-Pierce
Intelli-Pierce is similar to traditional dynamic piercing, except that it uses a sophisticated pierce model built into the controller to provide the fastest possible pierce speed.

Traditionally, dynamic piercing has been a slow method of piercing when compared with wiggle piercing (another OMAX innovation). This is because it has been difficult to predict the best jet speed needed to perform the fastest pierce. It is also difficult to predict the ideal length of the pierce move.

With Intelli-Pierce, OMAX Make uses a sophisticated piercing model to predict the best distance and speed for dynamic piercing of the part and material. It then automatically positions the lead-in (pierce point) to its ideal distance, without interfering with other features in the part. If there is not enough room for the fastest possible pierce, OMAX Make automatically uses a shorter lead-in, and adjusts the speed of piercing to compensate. This facilitates easy piercing, and significantly speeds up nearly every pierce operation.
Intelli-Taper
With Intelli-Taper, specify certain regions of the part to be "minimum taper." This causes Make to slow down or speed up the cutting as necessary to provide the minimum amount of taper (in metals), which ensures that the part will be of higher tolerance. Taper is nearly eliminated.

(Left): Intelli-MAX™ optimized tool path. Line shading represents optimal cutting speeds for each point, adjusted automatically by the OMAX controller at over 2000 unique points per inch. (Right): Final precision part machined from two separate pieces and inlayed together.

Intelli-Corner
OMAX has always achieved the highest precision in the industry, compensating for corners using a built-in cutting model, and a highly sophisticated "velocity controller." Intelli-Corner is built on two exciting new corner compensation technologies: Advanced Corner Compensation, and Intelli-Pass automatic corner passing.
- Advanced Corner Compensation: OMAX has been making sharp, high-tolerance corners since 1993. New, however, is that the same high-tolerance corner is faster and more precise than ever. The sophisticated cutting model built into the controller now chooses corner models depending on whether the jet is entering the corner or exiting the corner, and whether the corner is an inside or outside corner.
  
  Instead of slowing for corners in an effort to compensate for jet behaviors such as "jet lag" and "kick-back," Make takes advantage of these to make the part faster and to higher precision. This results in a faster corner at the same, or even higher, tolerances than before.
- Intelli-Pass: In many cases, there is no need to slow down for a corner at all, if there is room for the nozzle to go past it. Corner passing cuts parts faster and to a higher tolerance, by cutting past outside corners, and then coming back to the cut. This means that for most outside corners, machining can be at full speed. The end result is that areas of the part path that would normally be very slow are now machined quickly, and the tolerance is improved by avoiding the slight kerf width growth that is caused by slowing down.

Corner passing is automatically used only used where it's needed, and where it won't interfere with something else.

The end result is faster and sharper corners.

Corner passing is set automatically by Make, so there is no need to program anything extra. The corner passing geometry and jet kick-back are optimized for speed and collision avoidance—parts are not marked by a long corner pass.

So, what does all this mean?

All the Intelli-MAX™ enhancements sound great in theory, but do they really work? In real world testing, results show speed increases ranging from 10% and 200% faster, with 25% speed gains typical. These speed increases are coupled with no loss of precision and in many cases even an increase in precision.

These improvements translate to a significant gain for OMAX customers. Typically, customers can expect savings between $5,000 and $50,000 per year, depending on how much they use their equipment, and the kinds of parts that they make.
Don't just take our word for it though—take the OMAX Challenge. A standard OMAX JetMachining^® Center with Intelli-MAX™ can make higher precision parts in less time and lower cost than any other abrasive waterjet system out there.

Address: 21409 72nd Ave South, Kent, WA 98032 | Telephone: 1-800-838-0343 or 253-872-2300
Fax: 253-872-6190 | Email: OMAX@OMAX.COM | Privacy Policy

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	OMAX Software › Software Home › Layout › Make › The OMAX Interactive Reference (OIR) › OMAX Utilities › Intelli-MAX™ A part machined from composite		Intelli-MAX™ Cutting Model Enhancements In 1993, OMAX revolutionized the abrasive waterjet industry with unheard of precision and speed when we introduced the first and only abrasive waterjet precision velocity controller. This controller predicted and compensated for jet behaviors based on a built-in cutting model. For the first time ever, a novice operator was able to make high-speed and high-precision parts without a lot of programming and "black art" experimentation. Although this controller was introduced in 1993, it remains a huge leap forward in technology. It has been such a huge advance that the competition is still trying to catch up, ten years later. OMAX hasn't been content to rest on this success for the last ten years, though. During that time, OMAX invested heavily in developing new cutting models and controller technologies for the next giant leap forward: OMAX is proud to announce the next generation of precision and speed, courtesy of its revolutionary new set of software technologies: Intelli-MAX™ OMAX Intelli-MAX™ is a suite of new technologies that make higher tolerance parts faster—faster and with higher tolerance than any other abrasivejet system. The amazing thing about these new technologies is that not only does OMAX make the parts faster, but the parts are made with the same or higher precision than before Precision is no longer sacrificed for speed, and no special hardware is necessary. This is a free upgrade to all OMAX customers who are using the OMAX Windows 2000/XP-based controller. (left) OMAX Make for DOS: OMAX's first generation controller. In 1993, OMAX invented precision abrasivejet machining, and introduced this controller. (right): In 2001, OMAX introduced OMAX Make for Windows, and revolutionized the industry again in September of 2002 with the introduction of the Intelli-MAX™ technologies. Intelli-MAX™ also includes a second-generation precision cutting model. OMAX's first cutting model, from the doctoral thesis of Dr. Jay Zeng at the University of Rhode Island, was unquestionably the best in the industry. Over the years, this model has been extended to provide additional capabilities and precision. In 1998, Dr. Zeng joined the OMAX team to develop the next generation cutting model. Today, it is implemented in the OMAX Windows 2000/XP controller, which provides the cutting edge of prediction and compensation of abrasive waterjet behaviors, as well as a sturdy platform for future enhancements. What do the OMAX Intelli-MAX™ enhancements include? Intelli-Nest Built directly into the controller software is Intelli-Nest, which provides just-in-time array nesting of part paths. Intelli-Nest can nest any OMAX tool path, and automatically sets rotation and spacing to optimize your material usage, whether you are running a single nozzle, or many. Intelli-Nest is just one example of many free software upgrades from OMAX. Typical nested parts nested using Intelli-Nest optimized array nesting. Intelli-Pierce Intelli-Pierce is similar to traditional dynamic piercing, except that it uses a sophisticated pierce model built into the controller to provide the fastest possible pierce speed. Traditionally, dynamic piercing has been a slow method of piercing when compared with wiggle piercing (another OMAX innovation). This is because it has been difficult to predict the best jet speed needed to perform the fastest pierce. It is also difficult to predict the ideal length of the pierce move. With Intelli-Pierce, OMAX Make uses a sophisticated piercing model to predict the best distance and speed for dynamic piercing of the part and material. It then automatically positions the lead-in (pierce point) to its ideal distance, without interfering with other features in the part. If there is not enough room for the fastest possible pierce, OMAX Make automatically uses a shorter lead-in, and adjusts the speed of piercing to compensate. This facilitates easy piercing, and significantly speeds up nearly every pierce operation. Intelli-Taper With Intelli-Taper, specify certain regions of the part to be "minimum taper." This causes Make to slow down or speed up the cutting as necessary to provide the minimum amount of taper (in metals), which ensures that the part will be of higher tolerance. Taper is nearly eliminated. (Left): Intelli-MAX™ optimized tool path. Line shading represents optimal cutting speeds for each point, adjusted automatically by the OMAX controller at over 2000 unique points per inch. (Right): Final precision part machined from two separate pieces and inlayed together. Intelli-Corner OMAX has always achieved the highest precision in the industry, compensating for corners using a built-in cutting model, and a highly sophisticated "velocity controller." Intelli-Corner is built on two exciting new corner compensation technologies: Advanced Corner Compensation, and Intelli-Pass automatic corner passing. Advanced Corner Compensation: OMAX has been making sharp, high-tolerance corners since 1993. New, however, is that the same high-tolerance corner is faster and more precise than ever. The sophisticated cutting model built into the controller now chooses corner models depending on whether the jet is entering the corner or exiting the corner, and whether the corner is an inside or outside corner. Instead of slowing for corners in an effort to compensate for jet behaviors such as "jet lag" and "kick-back," Make takes advantage of these to make the part faster and to higher precision. This results in a faster corner at the same, or even higher, tolerances than before. Intelli-Pass: In many cases, there is no need to slow down for a corner at all, if there is room for the nozzle to go past it. Corner passing cuts parts faster and to a higher tolerance, by cutting past outside corners, and then coming back to the cut. This means that for most outside corners, machining can be at full speed. The end result is that areas of the part path that would normally be very slow are now machined quickly, and the tolerance is improved by avoiding the slight kerf width growth that is caused by slowing down. Corner passing is automatically used only used where it's needed, and where it won't interfere with something else. The end result is faster and sharper corners. Corner passing is set automatically by Make, so there is no need to program anything extra. The corner passing geometry and jet kick-back are optimized for speed and collision avoidance—parts are not marked by a long corner pass. So, what does all this mean? All the Intelli-MAX™ enhancements sound great in theory, but do they really work? In real world testing, results show speed increases ranging from 10% and 200% faster, with 25% speed gains typical. These speed increases are coupled with no loss of precision and in many cases even an increase in precision. These improvements translate to a significant gain for OMAX customers. Typically, customers can expect savings between $5,000 and $50,000 per year, depending on how much they use their equipment, and the kinds of parts that they make. Don't just take our word for it though—take the OMAX Challenge. A standard OMAX JetMachining^® Center with Intelli-MAX™ can make higher precision parts in less time and lower cost than any other abrasive waterjet system out there.
		Address: 21409 72nd Ave South, Kent, WA 98032 \| Telephone: 1-800-838-0343 or 253-872-2300 Fax: 253-872-6190 \| Email: OMAX@OMAX.COM \| Privacy Policy