CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
19 January 2012
Events News
Delcam to Launch PartMaker Modeling at WESTEC 2012
Delcam’s PartMaker Division will launch PartMaker Modeling on booth 2812 at the Westec exhibition to be held in Los Angeles from 27th to 29th March. PartMaker Modeling has been made available as part of the recently released PartMaker 2012, which will make its West Coast debut at the exhibition.
PartMaker Modeling is a 3D design tool developed specifically for the needs of CNC manufacturers. It lets users create, repair and modify 3D CAD data of any origin or level of quality and make flawless solid models they can use for the most efficient level of machining, CNC programming and 3D simulation.
“The engineering demands being faced by part manufacturers are becoming greater and greater in today’s increasingly competitive global manufacturing arena,” says PartMaker Division President, Hanan Fishman. “To help our customers compete and thrive, we are providing them with a powerful yet easy-to-use tool to help them keep pace with these demands.”
PartMaker Modeling is a hybrid modeler working with surfaces and solids. It incorporates Parasolid™, the world’s most widely used solid modelling kernel, to provide high quality solid models that can be used at any level of the supply chain.
PartMaker Modeling gives PartMaker users the most powerful 3D design tool of any PC-based CAD system, allowing for 3D modelling, direct modelling of dumb solid models and data repair in a manner other CAM systems simply do not and cannot offer.
PartMaker Modeling is a very easy to use, yet versatile and powerful CAD system, delivering state-of-the-art tools directly to the desktop. It is based on Delcam’s proven PowerSHAPE 3D design package and has been specifically tuned to the needs of part manufacturers.
PartMaker Modeling integrates with PartMaker. 3D models can be quickly cut and pasted between the applications. PartMaker Modeling is developed and supported directly by Delcam, making Delcam a ‘one stop’ solution for customers’ CNC programming and design applications, eliminating the need to hunt for multiple CAD and CAM vendors or to pay multiple maintenance agreements.
In addition to PartMaker Modeling, PartMaker 2012 includes a host of new functionality across the entire suite of applications including improved visualization, more powerful simulation of vertical and horizontal machining centers, support for the latest breed of multi-axis bar-fed mills, turn-mill centers and Swiss-type lathes, greater flexibility and control in process development and much, much more.
“PartMaker 2012 will help our customers continue to ‘raise their game’ to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive manufacturing landscape,” says Mr. Fishman. “PartMaker 2012 includes an array of new features and functionality that will benefit every PartMaker user. There’s just so much for PartMaker users to be excited about.”
Variable Depth Cylindrical Milling
A new, powerful 3D surfacing strategy has been added as an enhancement to the Surface Machining Wizard (SMW) module. This new strategy allows the user to perform 3D surface machining using cylindrical interpolation. This powerful, new rotary machining functionality allows for creation of more complicated part features for complex parts being made on 4-axis Mills, Turn-Mill Centers and Swiss-type lathes.
Simulation of B-Axis Gang Style Swiss-Type Lathes
PartMaker 2012 supports the simulation of the latest generation of Swiss-type lathes, those equipped with a programmable “B-Axis” on a gang slide. This allows users to take advantage of the newest breed of B-axis enabled gang-style Swiss lathes, to better understand the benefits of using B-axis gangs for their ability to add more live tooling in a single set-up, and to simulate and collision check complex 5-axis simultaneous tool paths. This improved simulation supports models from the leading Swiss-lathe builders offering machines with this unique architecture.
Full Machine Simulation for Milling
PartMaker 2012 extends the software’s powerful Full Machine Simulation technology to vertical and horizontal machining centers as part of the new Kinematic Milling Simulation (KMS) module. This new functionality in PartMaker Mill simulates the kinematic motion of a CNC Milling machine’s programmable axes. It supports 3, 4 and 5-axis vertical mills as well horizontal and vertical tombstone set-ups, and provides more realistic simulation and more comprehensive collision detection.
Set-Up Assemblies for Milling
Fixture models can be imported into the PartMaker programming environment to simulate toolpaths for vertical and horizontal milling machines in a more realistic manner, helping to avoid collisions between tools and work holding. The new Set-Up Assembly Feature, part of the new Kinematic Milling Simulation (KMS) module, allows the user to quickly designate the various components as a stock, fixture or machining table in a visual and intuitive manner. Fixture models can be imported from virtually any 3D CAD system or directly cut and pasted from Delcam’s PowerSHAPE.
Multiple Process Drag and Drop Selection
PartMaker 2012 allows the user to optimize and rearrange machining processes faster and easier than ever before. The new version allows processes to be simply dragged and dropped into place on PartMaker’s Process Table. It also lets multiple processes be selected and moved at the same time, rather than having to move processes individually, as was the case before.
Support for New Bar-Fed Mill and Multi-Axis Lathe Architectures
PartMaker 2012 supports a number of new, cutting-edge architectures found on today’s latest bar-fed mills and turn-mill centers. This new technology has been developed in concert with a number of the industry’s leading machine tool builders. It includes support for unique machine tool architectures such as the Star SF and Mori-Seiki NTX, where the sub-spindle can work at articulated positions in addition to the articulation of these machines’ tool head in the B-axis plane.
Enhanced Tool Path Visualization and Control
Much improved visualization is now available across the entire PartMaker applications suite. This enhanced visualization includes the ability to display a 3D model of the stock being machined at any time without having to import a solid model, as well as the ability to see toolpaths and toolpath verification on a 3D stock model even when no 3D model is available. Doing so allows the user to see the part in 3D before going to machining simulation, speeding up programming and reducing the chance of error. Additionally, the visualization and creation of tool path Approach and Escape points have been improved by allowing these points to be quickly defined with convenient snap modes. Approach and Escape points can also be much more clearly visualized after creation.
Additional Productivity Enhancements
In addition to the improvements mentioned above, PartMaker 2012 includes a host of other productivity enhancements including the ability to directly output PartMaker’s graphical set-up sheets to Microsoft Excel, a direct Copy/Paste functionality from PowerSHAPE, 64 Bit version availability, tapered thread milling support, improved, more robust network licensing, more flexible sub-spindle control for twin-spindle machines, improved CAD data translation, crisper rendering of imported solid models and improved 4- and 5-axis milling table definition.
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