FEATURE ON CNC & CAM

Next-generation product development tools

Siemens has announced the latest release of Solid Edge, a portfolio of software tools for all aspects of the product development process, including mechanical and electrical design, simulation, manufacturing, technical documentation, and data management.

Solid Edge 2019 adds best-in-class electrical and PCB design technologies, new requirements-management capabilities, fully integrated simulation analysis, the latest tools for subtractive and additive manufacturing, and free, secure cloud-based project collaboration. The expanded portfolio is said to make it even easier for customers of all sizes to take advantage of the end-to-end digital twin.
Siemens’ latest release of Solid Edge provides new modular plant design capabilities, with Solid Edge P&ID Design and Solid Edge Piping Design. Providing 2D flow diagram and symbol support for P&ID creation, Solid Edge P&ID Design supports strict governing requirements for factory design. Combined with Solid Edge Piping Design capabilities, such as automated 3D piping design with comprehensive 3D part libraries and fully automated isometric drawing output for plant design, these new features can help reduce design errors.
New design for additive manufacturing capabilities include better control of shapes, weight and strength, and specific factors of safety to enable customers to develop new designs that were previously not possible. Solid Edge also automates print preparation, including multi-colour, multi-material printing capability, which reduces bill of material size and parts inventory, and decreases dependency on costly manufacturing equipment. Additionally, these new capabilities enable manufacturers to produce low batch sizes very quickly and affordably,
says Siemens.
Also new in Solid Edge 2019 is Solid Edge CAM Pro, a system that uses the latest machining technology to program CNC machine tools, helping to confirm parts are manufactured as designed.
For further information www.siemens.com/plm/solidedge2019

Highest technical solution for QDM specialist

A quick-delivery mould (QDM) specialist says the ‘Draft Analysis’ function in VISI software from Vero is an important time saver for its business, and has played a major contribution towards meeting customers’ increasing demands for rapid turnaround.

Based at Incheon in South Korea, Polyhitech uses VISI as its CAD system for designing a variety of plastic injection mould tools for medical, automotive and IT products, and says it has slashed surface editing time by up to half.
Polyhitech’s mould design manager Jisung Li says as well as fast delivery times, customers also demand high precision, and that is where VISI comes in.
“The main reason we invested in VISI was that our previous CAD system couldn’t fully deliver our customers’ needs for shorter delivery times,” he says. “When we received data from them, we used to edit the surface before starting the mould design process. However, we found it difficult to meet deadlines because we were spending a lot of time editing where surfaces were corrupt or missing, and working on complex geometry where a high graphic performance was required.”
Li says the Draft Analysis function in VISI is perhaps the most important tool for the company’s mould design and production process. “I often use Draft Analysis after finishing the design. It’s so easy to check if there are any undercut areas. Our previous CAD system didn’t fully support that function, so I had to enlarge each part and check them one by one. Now, using VISI, I can quickly find any undercut areas through the colour display by draft angle, and it’s possible to split the parting line according to that.”
For further information www.visicadcam.com

Maintaining control choice for XYZ heavy-duty VMCs

XYZ Machine Tools’ philosophy of offering ‘what the customer needs’ has led to its Heavy-Duty (HD) range of vertical machining centres being made available with the Heidenhain TNC 620 control.

“We offered Heidenhain as a control option many years ago, but found it a slow seller due in part to the additional cost and complexity of the system,” says Nigel Atherton, managing director at XYZ Machine Tools. “However, with recent changes to the Heidenhain control, such as the addition of touch-screen technology, along with a more modern and compact user interface, we see opportunities that fully justify adding it to our HD series of machines. Our independence as a machine tool supplier means that we are free to adapt our machine range to suit changes in customer demand, such as giving them a choice of control.”
The Heidenhain control option will initially be available on the XYZ 660HD, XYZ 800HD and XYZ 1100HD vertical machining centres. XYZ’s move will allow the company to access business from which it was previously excluded (where Heidenhain controls are popular), such as mould and die and aerospace, as well as in the education market.
“We recognise that control choice is important to customers, and that they tend to be loyal to a particular CNC due to their expertise and familiarity with it,” says Atherton. “Extending our use of Heidenhain controls to the HD series – we already offer Heidenhain on our flagship UMC-5X machine – was a logical step. It was encouraging that before the first machines arrived at our factory we had already received orders for machines with Heidenhain controls fitted, which fully justified our decision to pre-order 50 machines for stock.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com

Widespread CAM software use at MACH

Partnership arrangements with machine tool manufacturers, along with considerable interest in its new Designer CAD for CAM system, were Vero Software’s highlights at the recent MACH 2018 exhibition.

With a total of 18 partner hotspots around the show, Edgecam programmed 12 CNC machines on nine manufacturer stands, demonstrating five-axis simultaneous machining, Waveform turning and milling, mill-turning, wire EDM and certified posts.
For instance, DMG Mori ran Edgecam on its DMU 60 Evo Linear machine with a five-axis simultaneous program, and an NTX 2000 for mill-turning operations.
“The linear machine is especially dynamic, moving at 80 m/min, and we created an impeller from an aluminium block which was the maximum size for our handling system – 410 mm wide and 200 mm high,” explains DMG Mori’s UK showroom manager Christopher Cooper (pictured). “We used Edgecam to produce code which would show the machine’s full capabilities, moving the part around and removing material in the most efficient way.”
Edgecam also reported considerable interest in its new Designer module – a direct modelling system which is intended to fill the gap between CAD and CAM, focusing on the specific needs of machinist programmers.
As a stand-alone, optional application, Designer enables users to create new designs or modify existing geometry from third party CAD systems. As it
is not dependent on having a series of parameters that drive it, or a feature tree, it is said to provide a quick and dynamic editing and modelling environment, where users sketch, drag, hold, push or twist, to create and modify models.
As well as Edgecam, Vero also demonstrated VISI, Radan, WorkXplore and its ERP systems, generating strong leads from increased footfall in comparison with the previous MACH.
For further information www.verosoftware.com

Fast and simple tooling data solution

CNC Software Inc, developer of Mastercam, has collaborated with carbide tooling specialist Widia, to provide a solution that enables CAM users to quickly import tool assemblies from Widia Novo directly into Mastercam 2018.

Mastercam developers worked closely with Widia to let users import 3D tool assemblies directly into Mastercam, validate them, and save them in their Mastercam file and/or tool library. Features such as automated filtering ensure that the holders and tools which are selected can work together for the particular job. Users of Mastercam benefit from having the correct tooling for the material and type of machining operation, plus an accurate 3D model that can be used for visualisation and collision checking, in addition to the time savings.
“We found that in the past, our customers complained of having to search through big complicated catalogues to find related parts, then having to request or build the assemblies from scratch for use in systems such as Mastercam,” says Rich Taft, product owner at CNC Software. “With the integration of Widia Novo and Mastercam, customers save significant time searching for desired tools and building 3D tool assemblies that can be brought directly into Mastercam for easy use by most shops.
“Accurate tool definitions are a critical factor in modern CAM applications. Tool-path algorithms take advantage of these definitions to provide safe and efficient motion. In addition, the models that we import from Widia Novo help us to generate accurate in-process stock models that can be leveraged in subsequent operations. Customers can also make use of these models in verification and machine simulation to catch programming errors before the program ever gets to the machine tool.”
For further information www.widia.com/novo