Cadalyst MCAD Tech News #131 (October 21, 2004)
20 Oct, 2004 By: Joe Greco
Last month we announced that every second monthly issue of Cadalyst's MCAD Tech Newsletter will
now highlight the CAM and CAE industries. We initiated this new focus by covering some of the
important announcements from the recent IMTS event held in Chicago. (Click here to view that
issue.)
Because that was such a huge show, this month we'll continue that coverage by detailing the
IMTS announcements of several more companies.
TopSolid/Cam v2005
About a month before IMTS, Missler Software,
a CAD/CAM company with its worldwide headquarters in France, announced TopSolid/Cam 2005. The
company used the IMTS 2004 event to demonstrate its new version, which features both
time-saving machining techniques as well as user interface enhancements.
In manufacturing, one way to achieve faster machining cycles is to adjust the stepover amount
between passes. TopSolid/Cam 2005 houses new Scallop Height Management capabilities that help
to calculate the proper step-over amount, thus saving time.
Removing large amounts of material is obviously time-consuming, so to combat this, v2005 adds
both trochoidal and plunge machining. The former moves the tool in small circles, which
facilitates removal of greater depths of material, while the latter is a vertical drilling
technique used to remove thick layers of material.
In addition to these new tools, the upgrade includes several other enhancements. For starters,
users performing a lot of turning operations on noncylindrical components will like the way the
software has been improved to automatically calculate the desired profile of revolution on
these parts. In addition, the helicoidal cycle operation has been improved so it no longer
requires a second operation to clean up material in certain vertical locations.
The user interface improvements referred to earlier don't involve pretty icons, but more
importantly, better user interaction and feedback. For instance, the program now allows an
operator to delete tool paths that are no longer necessary, and the software updates the
remaining tool paths without having to recalculate everything. New visualization capabilities
allow the operator to better understand the tool path when two parts of a work piece are very
close together, thus reducing the risk of collision.
FeatureCAM v2005
Another product announced just before IMTS 2004 was FeatureCAM 2005.
Developed by Engineering Geometry Systems of Salt Lake City, Utah, the most highly touted
enhancement of this version seems to be interoperability. According to the company, this is due
to three key additions: a new Import Wizard, support for more CAD formats when importing, and
advanced hole feature recognition tools.
While other CAM programs employ wizards for importing CAD files, EGS takes this to the next
level by helping the user set up key parameters regarding the model. For instance, the wizard
first inquires about the machining direction, which helps ensure that the part will be imported
into the proper orientation for machining. The next step of the wizard establishes the stock
size, which you can base on the model being imported or any other values you desire. The final
steps of the wizard determine the zero location and the center of rotation.
FeatureCAM 2005 can now import native Unigraphics files, from v11 to NX. This adds to EGS'
impressive compatibility list, which includes SolidWorks, Solid Edge, Inventor, Wildfire, CATIA
and AutoCAD, as well as STEP files.
Finally, for SolidWorks and Inventor users, FeatureCAM 2005 not only recognizes hole geometry,
but also maintains the data associated with the holes. This automates hole machining by
extracting the information required to make each one; including the location of the top and
center of the hole, hole depth, thread information, and more.
TurboCADCAM v2.5
While they weren't at IMTS, Novato, California-based IMSI
used the busy announcement period before the IMTS event to broadcast news of its own August
upgrade. Version 2.5 of its low-cost TurboCADCAM, with integrated 2½D milling and turning,
features several welcomed additions.
For openers, as with FeatureCAM, TurboCADCAM v2.5 improves interoperability, including new
support for STEP and IGES file formats via data translators from Spatial.
(Speaking of Spatial, TurboCADCAM's underlying geometry kernel has been updated to ACIS 11.)
When it comes to handling its visualization needs, IMSI relies on another third-party company,
Lightwork Design
of Sheffield, United Kingdom. TurboCADCAM v2.5 includes the latest LightWorks v7.4 rendering
engine. Finally, v2.5 also houses improved threading capabilities.
Other Products
In addition to these announcements around the time of IMTS, OpenMind Software
introduced a minor upgrade, hyperMILL v8.1, in August. It features improved drilling when
multiple tilt angles are involved as well as the ability to recognize features created in CATIA
and Wildfire. Finally, during the same month, VX
announced v10 of its flagship VX CAD/CAM software. It features a redesigned postprocessor as
well as other enhancements. I plan to review it in an upcoming issue of this newsletter.