Feature rich

Edgecam

Edgecam 2016 R2 delivers a number of new features – milling, turning and wire EDM users will benefit from over 30 important new and enhanced items of CAD and CAM functionality, with developers working on more for display at MACH. User experience developments include fast file loading for large assemblies, auto indexing when moving between features on different planes, and colour filter selection when selecting geometry and features. A number of machining cycles have been enhanced, including the ability to support a number of sharp corner profiling methods such as loop, break-corner, chamfer and others.

For turning, the rough grooving cycle has been improved to add control to manage ‘nibbles’ on corner radii by adding or removing intermediate cuts. This technology will provide the ability to better control the remaining stock for semi-finishing operations. Additional turning enhancements include the ability to manually edit a turning feature which has been detected by the feature recognition routines. This manual interaction allows the user to pick out additional machining areas on particular complex geometry.

Wire EDM developments include the ability to translate associative machining operations for multiple copies and support for rotary wire movements for features on different planes.

Visi

Major graphic enhancements include an updated GUI with quick access toolbars, live icon combinations on the mouse, improved hidden line removal and geometry selection by ‘free-shape’ brush. In addition, CAD translators have been updated to support the latest third party CAD formats including Inventor 2016, layer categories for NX and attribute hole mapping for Catia V5.

User efficiency continues to be a focus and major CAD developments include significant picking and sketching enhancements, associativity improvements for 3D dimensions, the ability to combine both solid and surface geometry in the same Boolean operations, and multiple plotview updates.

Visi Mould developments include improved cooling channel management with support for solid groups, CAD transformations and updated catalogue components such as plugs, connectors and baffles.

For those involved in sheet metal stamping, Visi Progress updates include a powerful new nesting facility which permits the ability to set minimum part quantity, gaps, relative orientation and also part placement on the sheet. The nesting parameters can be dynamically changed to preview the result. Other improvements include the ability to manage multiple strip designs within the same project, and the option for defining families of punches as instances; allowing for automatic updates of geometry if the parent punch is modified.

For 3D machining operations, the successful Waveform Roughing strategy has been implemented (explained below). Other CAM developments include improved analytic material removal, updated stock/model comparison and a new ‘toolpath enquirer’ tool to allow the operator to analyse the underlying toolpath data and search for geometry such as elements shorter than a given length or vertical arcs.

WorkNC

WorkNC 2016 benefits from the Vero best practice technology sharing concept and also introduces Waveform Roughing into the latest release. Sharing proven software code will free developers to work on other applications, significantly improving the rate of product enhancements.

In version 2016, the Auto 5 technology is now available as a standard module. Using Auto 5, operators can automatically generate 5-axis toolpaths based on existing 3-axis toolpaths while also taking into consideration the kinematics of the predefined 5-axis CNC machine.

Engineers can convert 3-axis and 3+2 axis toolpaths into simultaneous 5-axis toolpaths. The intelligent toolpaths are automatically checked in order to avoid collisions and manage the linear and rotational limits of the machine. The Auto 5 technology allows the use of shorter, more rigid cutters enabling most of the part to be finished in one single operation.

Radan

The latest release of sheet metal software Radan contains a number of major technological steps to improve Radan, Radbend, Radm-ax and Radtube functions.

Radan 2016 introduces a new interactive auto-tooling concept which allows users to specify which areas of the parts and nest to automatically tool, including individual variations of the parameters, such as the settings for a complicated aperture. This means users can be more creative with the automatic tooling routines.

Other developments include support for the latest 2D/3D file formats and a powerful new feature to automatically detect microscopic pieces of scrap. Interface improvements include a new GUI side panel which analyses the model straight after importing it, showing a bill of material-style parts list in a panel on the right side of the screen.

As well as identifying which parts are sheet metal for manufacturing with Radan, it can make the non-relevant parts of the assembly, such as bolts and screws, invisible. Radan 2016 also extends the ability of specifying the start condition of closed geometry laser cuts, to open profiles and sheet cuts. With the new open profile lead-in function, users can choose the start condition of their open profiles so they can start gently, or even try twice, to make sure the cut will work.

Radbend includes a number of major developments including improved simulation where the collision checking is more accurate as simulation can now be performed using modified part data rather than the designed part. In Radbend 2016 the software gives the press brake a better idea of what the manufactured part will look like. With previous versions, the simulation used the designed part, but it now uses the modified model, so it’s more accurate and flags up any issues much earlier in the process. Importantly, Radbend 2016 supports nine additional machine tools; either new controllers or models.

Finally, Radan 2016 launches a new application called Radmanager. A new tool which permits a simple way of entering customer order data and turning it into nest projects within Radan. This enables parts from different customer orders to be combined into one nest project in order to maximise efficiency and material usage.

VERO UK www.verosoftware.com
Hall 5, Stand 5710