CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

25 January 2008

Events News

Delcam to Highlight Five-Axis Developments at Industrie

Delcam will highlight new five-axis machining strategies in its PowerMILL and FeatureCAM CAM systems at the Industrie exhibition to be held in Paris from 31st March to 4th April. The company will also be promoting the range of services available from the new French division of its Professional Services Group. The UK division has been particularly successful with aerospace customers and the French division is planning a similar focus on the country’s aircraft industry.

The most significant of the new five-axis options in PowerMILL is a tool-axis editing function that allows the user to select any region of a toolpath and redefine the tool-axis vectors within that region. Previously, a single tool-axis specification was applied to a complete toolpath, although this could be adjusted automatically to avoid any collisions. The new ability to use different options in different regions of the toolpath will enable users to optimise cutting conditions and avoid any sudden machine tool movements that could result in a poor surface finish.

Five-axis swarf machining in PowerMILL has been improved by the addition of an option that forces the toolpaths to follow the surface internal lines where possible. This approach can be used to give smoother motion of the machine tool and more precise control of the machine, especially in tight corners and other areas where there could be rapid changes in the cutter orientation.

The new PowerMILL release also includes enhancements and speed-ups throughout the program. In particular, improved memory management within the software will give significantly faster calculation times, especially for large, complex components, like press tools for automotive bodywork, and for smaller, highly-detailed models, such as moulds for fine-tolerance and high-accuracy parts.

The new five-axis machining options in FeatureCAM 2008 offer a variety of methods for controlling the tool axis. The user is able to set a specific lead and/or lean angle – the lead angle is measured in the cutting direction; the lean angle at right angles to the cutting direction. This can be done either to access areas unable to be reached with three-axis machining or to give better cutting conditions. Alternatively, the tool angle can be set in an orientation either to or from a point, or to or from a line.

Many three-axis toolpaths generated in FeatureCAM are able to be converted to a five-axis equivalent by using automatic collision avoidance to change the tool axis when collisions might occur. The software automatically tilts the cutter away from the obstacle by the specified tolerance and then returns the cutting angle to the value set for the overall toolpath once the obstacle has been cleared. Various choices are available to control the direction in which the tool is tilted.

Other new options include five-axis trimming and swarf machining. These techniques can be used for the finishing of composite components and vacuum-formed parts, and for machining pockets in aerospace structures.

Five-axis drilling is also supported. This new functionality, coupled with the advanced feature recognition in FeatureCAM, makes it possible to create drilling programs in seconds for multiple hole types and sizes, oriented in a variety of directions.

 

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