CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

5 June 2013

Events News

Delcam to Show latest PowerMILL at MTA Vietnam

Delcam will demonstrate the latest release of its PowerMILL CAM software for high-speed and five-axis machining at the MTA Vietnam exhibition to be held in Ho Chi Minh City from 2nd to 5th July.  The new version includes major developments that will give better control of five-axis machining, smoother spiral machining and improved traceability of the project history.

The main change in PowerMILL’s extensive functionality for five-axis machining has been to increase the number of options for tool-axis definition.  For raster toolpaths, the lead and lean angles can now be defined relative to a contact normal.  In addition, better control is now possible for the tool-axis definition when using the To or From a Point, Line or Curve strategies.  These improvements will make it easier for users to control the contact angle between the cutter and the part, and so set the optimum cutting conditions for efficient machining and quality of surface finish.

The new algorithm for spiral machining produces smoother toolpaths that give a better surface finish and more consistent machine-tool motion.  This change will improve area clearance, steep-and-shallow finishing, 3D-offset finishing and optimised constant-Z finishing.

NC programs can be made more efficient by automatically reordering the toolpaths, using the tool number or tool diameter, to reduce the number of tool changes, or using a specific workplane, to minimise set-up changes.

A new surface selection tool can be used to select automatically all surfaces either below or exactly at a defined draft angle.  It can be used to select all flat surfaces, all vertical surfaces or all undercut surfaces within a model.  The most appropriate machining strategy can then be used on the selected surfaces.

To improve traceability of toolpath history, edits are now recorded and stored with the toolpath. Additional notes can be added, if necessary, explaining why the change was needed.  This will help communication when different users, for example on the day shift and night shift, are working on the same part.  It will also make it easier to return to a project if it needs to be repeated at a later date.

Projects involving multiple users will also benefit from a change to the default behaviour of boundaries so that each one is now explicitly linked to a specific toolpath.  The boundary automatically updates and recalculates if the toolpath’s parameters are modified, ensuring that it always remains in sync with the toolpath.

The collision detection within the simulation module has been enhanced so that the machine parts involved in the collision change colour to red.  This will make it easier to identify the affected areas and so to solve the problem.

Finally, the module for blades, blisks and impellors has been improved with a new trochoidal roughing option.  This maintains a more consistent load on the tool, so giving a better surface finish and longer tool life.  An extra pass is inserted automatically to avoid tool overload on entry moves.

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