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EDGECAM Global Community Launches Alongside 2013 R2
EDGECAM has launched a new global Customer Community at the same time as the latest release of the market-leading CAD CAM software.
As well as the game-changing Workflow, EDGECAM 2013 R2 contains a number of other powerful items of new and enhanced functionality, including modern redesign of dialogs, four-turret support, free loading of CAD files into Part Modeler, quicker simulation, and improvements to the Wire EDM Feature Finder.
EDGECAM’s global Customer Community went live at the same time, for all users to share their experiences. General Manager Raf Lobato says: “It will be a great start for users to feedback information on the new release.”
The most far-reaching enhancement in 2013 R2 is Workflow, enabling CAD CAM engineers to apply toolpaths within seconds. The new tools aid in loading and positioning the component, choosing the manufacturing method and suitable machine tools, adding user defined stock or stock from a database, importing fixtures, selecting a machine and toolkit, and managing strategies to automate manufacture. At each stage Workflow takes decisions or makes suggestions as to how the goal is best achieved. However, the user can easily over-ride the decisions if required making the whole process flexible.
"It will be a great start for users to feedback information on the new release."
Raf Lobato, EDGECAM General Manager
All EDGECAM dialogs have been updated to include a set of buttons for selecting data interactively. These buttons at the top of the dialog indicate what data is required:
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As geometry is required the appropriate buttons are highlighted.
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If the geometry is mandatory and must be selected then the button is marked with an underline.
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When the data is picked, the appropriate button is ticked to show successful selection.
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If the geometry selection is not required the appropriate button is greyed out.
If any buttons are left without data after the OK button has been clicked, a prompt will be displayed and the user will be asked to select the geometry. These new buttons guide the user through geometry selections making all EDGECAM cycles much easier to use.
Part Modeler now comes with free CAD Model Loaders for Parasolid, STEP, NX, ACIS, Inventor, CATIA V5 and Creo Parametric files. A Move hole and Faces command allows the repositioning of features from models designed in another CAD system. They can either be moved from the original CAD datum position or relative to a user defined position. To modify features, for example, holes, grooves, pocket walls and boss heights on a third party model, individual features can be moved to create a “Manufacturing Model” from a design model, allowing for mid tolerancing models to be created and manage conditions created, such as expansion, when using heat treatments.
Simulator now runs as a separate process to EDGECAM providing the following benefits:
- Simulator starts instantly on second start up; a major benefit when simulating large parts
- Simulator starts from where the simulation last finished; no need to run simulation from the start each time
- Update Stock is up to 50% quicker than the previous release.
Simulator rendering has been enhanced. By default, stock surfaces are rendered with a metallic look. And a Flat Rendering option has been added to render the surfaces with a non-metallic look. Rapid Result has been improved for this release and Tool graphics are now displayed, with Toggle Tool and Toggle Tool Holders buttons enabled.
A new Wire Profile Feature command has been added to find features suitable for Wire Erosion from a solid. This facility removes the need to extract the edges from the solid to make the wireframe fences. Other improvements to the Wire EDM include:
- Faces can be picked individually, by window or chained
- Selected faces can have differing levels and heights; they do not need to be on parallel planes
- It is possible to control the XY and UV Profile Height of the feature using controls on the feature dialog
- The identified Wire Features appear in the feature list and have their own list of properties.
The new global eSupport community is a one-stop shop for sharing technical information, comprising forums, online documents, searchable databases and technical videos. Wiki will be continuously updated with topics from the forum to build a comprehensive knowledge base and Frequently Asked Questions database, as well as showing “What’s New” from each release, and resolved issues.
Current maintenance users can access the Customer Community Forum through the already popular Customer Support Portal, where uses have access to EDGECAM releases and updates.
