Eddie Pevzner SolidCAM Global Channel Sales Manager on iMachining.

Eddie, thanks for joining us. To start, how would you explain SolidCAM iMachining to someone hearing about it for the first time, and what makes this technology stand out in the crowded CAM market?

iMachining is, in my view, SolidCAM’s flagship high-efficiency milling technology that turns standard CNC machines into much more productive assets without any hardware change. I explain it as “smart high-speed machining” that automatically finds the right balance between tool engagement, feed, and speed, so you can cut much faster while staying safe and stable. What makes it stand out is the combination of an intelligent toolpath and the Technology Wizard that actually calculates the cutting conditions for you, instead of leaving you to guess. For many shops, that means first-part-right results, fewer broken tools, and a very short learning curve compared to traditional HSM strategies. 

From your experience, what are the most significant performance improvements you’ve seen when shops adopt iMachining, in terms of cycle time reduction, tool life, or even postponing the purchase of new machines?

The most immediate impact is usually a dramatic drop in cycle time on existing parts, often measured in tens of percent, not single digits. At the same time, tool life improves because the cutting forces and chip thickness are controlled, so tools are working efficiently instead of being overloaded. When you add those two effects together, the real business result is that shops can run more jobs on the same machines and often postpone or cancel planned machine purchases. I’ve seen cases where one or two iMachining seats effectively “freed up” the equivalent of an extra machine shift.

One of the key elements of iMachining is the Technology Wizard. How do you describe its role to customers, and how does it change the way less-experienced programmers and machinists approach setting cutting conditions?

I describe the Technology Wizard as the brain of iMachining that continuously balances all the cutting parameters for you. Instead of manually tuning feeds, speeds, depths, and stepovers, the Wizard takes into account the material, tool, holder, machine rigidity, and then recommends optimized values. For less-experienced programmers, this removes a huge amount of trial and error and gives them the confidence to run aggressive but safe parameters. The Level Slider is a big help as well, because they can simply choose how aggressive they want to be and let the system handle the complex calculations behind the scenes.

You work closely with manufacturers who machine a wide variety of materials and geometries. Can you share a concrete example where iMachining, including its 2D or 3D capabilities, fundamentally changed the economics or feasibility of a specific job or part family?

A typical example is a customer machining hard materials, like tool steel or stainless, where traditional strategies forced very shallow cuts and long cycle times. After implementing 2D iMachining on pockets and contours, they were able to run full flute depth with controlled engagement, cutting cycle time by more than half on some parts. Later they extended this approach to 3D iMachining on complex surfaces, where the intelligent stepdown and rest-material strategies removed a lot of air-cutting. The combined effect made that part family much more profitable and also competitive enough for them to win additional, similar work.

Looking ahead, where do you see iMachining having the biggest strategic impact for machine shops—on the shop floor, in quoting and planning, or in long-term investment decisions—and what advice would you give to a shop considering their first iMachining project?

I see iMachining influencing all three areas, but the most visible change starts on the shop floor with higher spindle utilization and more predictable cutting. Once shops trust those gains, they can reflect the improved throughput and reliability in their quoting and delivery commitments. Over time, that feeds directly into investment decisions, because they can get more out of their current machines before adding new capacity. My advice to a shop starting with iMachining is to pick a known “painful” part, measure the baseline, and then run it with iMachining so the productivity and tool-life improvements are clear, quantifiable, and easy to communicate internally.

Eddie Pevsner