CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
3 May 2011
Events News
Delcam’s Latest PartMaker to be Demonstrated at EASTEC
Delcam’s PartMaker Division will demonstrate the latest version of PartMaker software for programming CNC mills, lathes, wire EDM, turn-mill centres and Swiss-type lathes on booth 5326 at EASTEC. EASTEC is the largest machine tool show in the North-East USA to be held this year in West Springfield, Massachusetts from 17th to19th May. Major highlights of PartMaker Version 2011 include more powerful milling functionality, more vivid set-up documentation, a more flexible tooling library, improved simulation of unique machine tool architectures and a host of additional productivity enhancements.
At EASTEC, PartMaker will be demonstrated alongside Delcam’s other manufacturing software products, including the PowerMILL, PowerSHAPE, FeatureCAM, ArtCAM and PowerINSPECT ranges. The Delcam booth will be the largest CAM booth at the exhibition, where the most comprehensive range of CAM products at the show will be on display.
The PowerSHAPE Companion for PartMaker is an optional module to allow users to design 3D models, repair poor quality 3D data and modify 3D geometry to improve “Design for Manufacturability”. This new module features the “Solid Doctor” utility, allowing users to read and repair models from all sources and tackle the common problems that can be found when translating low-precision and incomplete 3D data by detecting and repairing faults in engineering models and generating a valid, high-precision solid model ready for programming in PartMaker.
PartMaker 2011 lets users manage their tool inventory in a new, more universal manner through the use of “Master Tools Databases.” Master Tools Databases can be edited, manipulated and stored through external database programs like Microsoft Excel and individual tools can be imported for specific jobs. This new approach makes programming more productive because it allows users to quickly choose tools created previously faster than before.
Bar-fed mills are a new breed of machine tool technology that is growing more popular for the production of small, complex parts for such applications as medical devices, aerospace, fluid power and any other industry that requires small, complex parts. In many ways, these machines represent the future of complex, low volume, small parts manufacturing. With Version 2011, PartMaker aims to establish itself as the market leading system for automating the programming of bar-fed mills by introducing a number of new features for handling the unique programming issues presented by these machines. PartMaker Version 2011 simulates the unique architectures and machine kinematics of bar-fed mills in its 3D simulation module and supports the bar-fed mill offerings with post processors and vivid simulation of such machines from leading builders like Willemin-Macodel, Bumotec, Chiron, Mazak, Star and others.
PartMaker 2011 features a host of improvements to the PartMaker Documentation Wizard module including a number of new standard set-up sheet templates as well as the ability to automatically create “mid process” set-up sheets. “Mid process” set-up sheets display a picture of the part being machined at each step in the machining process as well as a graphical view of the tool used in that process. Such set-up sheets can be a great way to communicate to shop floor personnel exactly how a part should be processed, and can thus speed-up setup time and reduce the possibility of errors.
PartMaker Version 2011 includes a number of enhancements to the software’s surface machining strategies. These improvements include the addition of a more powerful Surface-Swarfing strategy which makes programming of swarf machining easier and more accurate. The new version also includes the addition of 4-axis swarf machining, which allows more sophisticated milling on machines only capable of 4-axis cutting. This includes most Swiss-type lathes on the market today.
3D simulation in PartMaker 2011 is much faster than previous versions; more than 50% faster in many cases. This increase in speed is particularly helpful for the cutting simulation of complex parts with a number of features. The new version also lets users see and verify all their tool paths at once when programming on a solid model. By simply clicking on a hole or profile on a solid model, PartMaker will place the user into the profile or hole group where that feature has been defined.
In addition to the improvements mentioned above, PartMaker 2011 includes a host of other productivity enhancements including increased input precision, user-defined fonts for engraving, more powerful and flexible turning and 2D milling tool paths, simulation of pinch milling, improved geometry import functions including support of SolidWorks 2011, DWG import and a free STEP translator, and many enhancements to make the PowerMILL Interface faster and more efficient, plus new and improved context sensitive help and much, much more.
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