Delcam will demonstrate the latest release of its PowerMILL programming software for five-axis and high-speed machining at the MECSPE/Eurostampi exhibition to be held in Parma, Italy, from 26th to 28th March. The company will also show the new version of the Delcam Electrode suite of software for the design, machining and inspection of electrodes.
PowerMILL incorporates the Vortex area-clearance strategy that produces safe toolpaths with a much deeper cut by using a controlled engagement angle to maintain the optimum cutting conditions for the whole toolpath. As a result, higher feed rates and material-removal rates are possible, making the cutting time shorter by as much as 70%. In addition, cutting is undertaken at a more consistent volume-removal rate and at a near constant feed rate, so extending tool life and protecting the machine.
PowerMILL now allows verification of a complete project in one operation
Two recent enhancements give even greater reductions in machining time with Vortex compared to conventional roughing. The first change allows toolpaths to approach the part from outside the stock at the cutting height, both for open pockets and in areas where earlier cuts have made this possible. Previously, all entry moves had to be made by plunging onto the surface or by ramping into the material.
The second change allows an increased feed rate to be set for non-cutting moves. The default value is set at double the rate for the cutting moves but this can be altered as required for each machine tool. The extra time that can be saved depends on the shape of the part but an additional saving of around 20% should be expected above the earlier releases of Vortex.
In another enhancement, PowerMILL can now undertake verification of a complete project for machine-tool issues such as collisions, rather than having to undertake verification of each individual toolpath in turn. Comprehensive verification is performed, checking for both machine-tool collisions and tooling collisions, as well as ensuring that the machine tool is capable of running the proposed strategy.
In related improvement, automatic collision checking of area-clearance toolpaths now takes into account any remaining stock on a model, both when checking the cutter and the tool-holder. In addition, all tool-holder collision checking for area clearance takes place during toolpath calculation, allowing the user to ensure that these toolpaths can be completely free of tool-holder collisions.
Simulation in PowerMILL has also been improved with the addition of the ability to simulate machine-tool movements as tool changes are executed.
With the new release, Delcam Electrode can produce multi-part electrodes or family electrodes. In addition, electrodes can now be displayed in the history tree of the tool on which they will be used, so simplifying the management of projects. Also, all electrode drawings will update automatically if the design is changed.
Multi-part electrodes can reduce the time needed for both machining and EDM compared to using several individual electrodes. In addition, using machining multiple electrodes from a single blank can save materials and single holder can be used for the combined electrode.
In family electrodes, the roughing and finishing electrodes for a single area are combined in the assembly. However, in these cases, the different machining offsets required for the rougher and finisher are applied when creating the various parts of the assembly.
These compound electrodes require more complex movement around the tool as they are used in comparison to standard electrodes. To ensure that collisions don’t occur, collision prevention technology from PowerMILL has been added into the simulation algorithms used by Delcam Electrode.
For further information on Delcam’s CAM software, please contact: -
Peter Dickin, Marketing Manager
Direct phone: 0121 683 1081
e-mail:
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Delcam Ltd
Small Heath Business Park,
Birmingham, B10 0HJ, UK
www.delcam.com