New features for simulation, 3-axis and 5-axis machining.
ModuleWorks is known for its CAD/CAM components for toolpath generation and simulation. Recently, the company announced that ModuleWorks 2016.04 is here—and it’s packed with some useful features. It’s the first update to the software package this year, and the company has focused on improving a few key areas in simulation, 3-axis machining and 5-axis machining.
By the way, if you’re not familiar with ModuleWorks, they are known in the CAM industry for toolpath creation and simulation, and they provide software components and development services for CAM vendors around the globe. Manufacturers of complex parts have been using ModuleWorks 5-axis and simulation software for more than 10 years now.
New Features for Simulation
When creating a machine definition for simulation, the updated version of ModuleWorks features a new object called Tailstocks. Tailstocks address bending and inhibitive vibrations while machining by centering a rotary part on a lathe. The way it works is that the entire tailstock can be moved along a linear axis until it comes in contact with a clamped workpiece or stock. Illustrating the total range of the stock‘s functionality allows users to avoid annoying and unforeseen machining errors by giving users strategic simulation options, such as the Tailstocks object.
Prior to the update, measuring functionality was used to determine the distance between points. The updated ModuleWorks of course still allows this functionality, but now you can measure points between components as well.
The update also addresses ease-of-use concerns users had with respect to the graphical area, which wasn’t so intuitive when trying to execute common commands. The update includes a new context menu to make this easier. Similarly beneficial for end users, in MachSim (a machine simulation module for building your machine from your assembly made of STL files, for example) it is now possible to highlight objects in the simulation environment by double right clicking on it. The same goes for objects in the Machine tree window.
5-Axis Machining
There are some new catch-all tilting strategy features that seem very useful, such as the “tilting to common direction” feature. This feature enables you to find a single tool axis orientation, either on the full toolpath or on an individual contour. Utilized for any tilting strategy, the tilting to a common direction feature sets the tool axis to a normalized, single direction for syncing up all toolpath points.
A new feature for toolpath creation that can be used inside milling machines or mounted on robots is called “laser aided manufacturing.” It allows users to create toolpaths to control the motion in manufacturing systems that employ milling machines and robots. This feature would be useful for building any good automation cell or lights-out manufacturing operations, for example.
Offsetting roughing strategies are incredibly important to ensure the stability of cutting conditions. The updated ModuleWorks has something called an “adaptive roughing strategy,” which yields a quicker material removal rate by avoiding full-width cuts and ensuring the load on the tool remains stable.
3-Axis Machining
Approach and retraction movements turn out better when they are nice and smooth. A new feature that enables this are the “lead-in/lead-out extensions,” which makes the movements as gradual as possible.
Another new feature is the “3D trimmer for triangle and mesh parallel cuts.” This feature was designed to enhance the accuracy of steep shallow boundary calculations and improve the overall quality of finishing toolpaths.
If you want to single out and machine just the pockets that allow you to perform the helical approach, there is a neat feature that allows you to do this called “avoiding plunge during adaptive roughing.”
If you use ModuleWorks or don’t, I’m curious to know what our readers think about this updated version.
