Success Story 5-Axis Competitive Advantage with hyperMILL In 2004 in San Diego, California two experienced and motivated entrepreneurs, Steve Grangetto and Chris Taylor co-founded 5th Axis, Inc. As the company’s name implies, they recognized that 5-axis machining would... ... give their new company a competitive advantage and entry into demanding markets like Aerospace, Medical, and other challenging high-tech industries. About 5th Axis 5th Axis, Inc. was initially founded in 2004 as a CNC job shop with one machine. Recognizing the opportunity for growth in 5-axis machining, 5th Axis made it their specialty. They filled a void for competent CNC machine shops that could handle complex and ever evolving manufacturing challenges. 5th Axis spent years of research with some of the best engineering and machinist talent to develop manufacturing processes and patented tooling systems that allow them to stay efficient, competitive and cost effective successfully serving several industries including aerospace,medical and other challenging high-tech industries. > www.fifth-axis.com © OPEN MIND Technologies AG. Today, they not only offer complex precision machining to meet a broad range of custom requirements, but have also evolved to manuacture their own line of 5-axis workf holding products. The workholding line encompasses a wide range of vises, fixtures and adapters that complement a broad spectrum of CNC machines. “There weren’t many good 5-axis workholding fixtures available when we started.” Taylor said, “Out of necessity our team started designing and building our own fixtures. Those fixtures and workholding products matured, and we began selling them around five years ago. Now this product line is a substantial part of our business.” Taylor boils down their company’s philo sophy into one sentence: “From day one, 5th  Axis’ strategy has been to take advantage of the most advanced software, equipment and technologies available.” Today, their bustling shop floor is equipped with the “best of the best” 3- and 5-axis high-speed machining centers from Germany, Switzerland and Japan. To further sup- port the company’s philosophy to use the most advanced software, all of the machines are programmed with hyperMILL CAM software from OPEN MIND. But it wasn’t always this way. ® Smart Growth Business grew dramatically over their first three years. Their first machine was a HAAS. In order to meet the growing demand for complex 5-axis machining, 5th Axis began Advanced 3- and 5-axis machining centers from Germany, Switzerland and Japan are al

“hyperMILL MAXX Machining roughing module extends tool life by maintaining a constant chip load. The bottom-line is, using hyperMILL MAXX Machining results in super-efficient and fast tool paths.” ® Chris Taylor, co-owner 5th Axis, Inc. Grangetto added: “Our company goal was to find a CAM software solution that allowed us to take advantage of the benefits of high-speed machining. The results have been faster run times, better surface finishes and overall better part quality. Over the years we found that hyperMILL has fit our company’s strategy perfectly.” purchasing new high-speed 5-axis equipment...

Jesse Norton, 5th Axis, Inc. Director of Manufacturing and Senior Programmer has been programming with hyperMILL for seven years. Norton pointed out that hyperMILL is able to simulate the part in his fixture, in addition to the tool, the tool holder, the spindle and the entire machine envelope itself. “I can step through the tool path and watch it remove material, verifying that it clears the machine and there isn’t going to be any collision. To check clearances, this is an invaluable time saver since I don’t have to walk out to the shop floor and look inside a machine which has coolant flowing,”...