[entCNC]

I am being pushed at work look into "live tooling" and "dynamic live tooling". I have done google searches etc.. on this but come up with nothing but lathe related results. I have been told this relates to verticle milling also. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[mcphill]

I saw some amazing machining work being done at the research labs of the Fraunhoffer Institute in Germany. Mind blowing work.

In one lab, they were able to direct machine steels to a mirror finish ready for clear plastic molding lens work. This was done by controlling the Z axis with piezo controllers. Maybe something along this line might help you. This looks somewhat similar: http://www.kineticceramics.com/pdf/pec-kci-pr.pdf

Another lab was using lasers to "soften" hardened steels just before the tip of the tool got to the substrate so that normally "non-machinable" hardness materials could be machined.

All amazing stuff. I was like the kid at the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory!

[Andre' B]

Are they maybe thinking about angle heads, and speeders and stuff?
Something like in this video.
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSkwJwlyc8U"]YouTube- ‪How CNC Tool Change Driven Tooling‬‎[/nomedia]

There are many different types and brands. Some add 4th and 5 axis motions, some have little hydraulic motors in them that are powered by the thru spindle coolant.