Delcam to show world's easiest-to-use five-axis CAM software at Metalex
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10/7/2007 5:49:00 PM
佳工机电网
Delcam will demonstrate the world's easiest-to-use five-axis CAM software at the Metalex exhibition to be held in Bangkok from 15th to 18th November. The company's FeatureCAM 2008 release, the latest version of this leading feature-based machining system, offers extensive support for continuous five-axis machining together with the high level of automation for which the software is famous.
"Many Asian companies can see the benefits of moving to five-axis machining but they are intimidated by the complexity of the CAM systems that support the technology,'' claimed Delcam's Asian Business Development Director Tim Mitchell. "With the new release of FeatureCAM we have made five-axis programming easier than ever, making the benefits accessible to a much wider range of companies, especially smaller production machining subcontractors.''
FeatureCAM 2008 offers a variety of methods for controlling the tool axis for many of the software's finishing strategies. The user can set a specific lead and/or lean angle - the lead angle is measured in the cutting direction; the lean angle at right angles to the cutting direction. This can be done either to access areas unable to be reached with three-axis machining or to give better cutting conditions. Alternatively, the tool angle can be set in an orientation either to or from a point or to or from a line.
Most three-axis toolpaths generated in FeatureCAM can be converted to the five-axis equivalent by using automatic collision avoidance to change the tool axis when collisions might occur. The software automatically tilts the cutter away from the obstacle by the specified tolerance and then returns the cutting angle to the value set for the overall toolpath once the obstacle has been cleared. Various choices are available to control the direction in which the tool is tilted.
Other new options include five-axis trimming and swarf machining. These techniques are used for the finishing of composite components and vacuum formed parts, and for machining pockets in aerospace structures.
Five-axis drilling is also supported. This new functionality, coupled with the advanced feature-recognition in FeatureCAM, makes it possible to create drilling programs in seconds for multiple hole types and sizes, oriented in a variety of directions.
The new five-axis functionality in FeatureCAM is, of course, fully-integrated with the existing extensive line of CAM options, including the mill-turn products. This will minimise the training time for existing FeatureCAM users that are looking to move into five-axis machining.
Delcam will demonstrate the world's easiest-to-use five-axis