Japanese mill carves perfect helmet from metal block (video)
Singularity Hub reports of the extraordinary capability of a milling machine from Daishin Seiki Corporation. For its 50th anniversary last year, the Japanese company used a 5-axis mill to carve out a full-face, fully detailed motorcycle helmet out of a single aluminum cube.
As you can see in the video below, the machine, guided by Open Mind's sophisticated 3D design software - HyperMill, simply turns the workpiece in five axes of motion (any more would be redundant) to remove material in every conceivable spot to end up with a seamless, intricate sculpture as illustrated in the above image.
In IT circles, discussion around rapid prototyping typically means personal fabrication with 3D printing. The mill demonstrates equal advances made in traditional CNC subtractive manufacturing.
To that end, Singularity Hub adds:
...this level of production is becoming the new standard. Your average industrial company got hi-tech in a hurry and now we have machines that can transform computer designs into the highest quality professional metal objects, seemingly at a push of a button. Human machinists are left in the dust.
The Daishin helmet was strictly developed as a showpiece for Machine Tool World Exposition, a biannual trade show of machining companies.