Delcam to show machining and inspection developments at Autosport

Delcam will demonstrate the latest developments for the motorsport industry in its machining and inspection software at the Autosport Engineering exhibition to be held at the NEC, Birmingham, on 8th and 9th January. Delcam software has been adopted by many leading manufacturers of engines and other components, including ATR, Brembo, Cagiva, Crosby Composites, Lotus Engineering, Silverhorse Racing, Wegner Motorsports and Zytek Engineering. However, the company still remains best known in the industry as a result of the use of its PowerINSPECT inspection software to check vehicle conformity by both the FIA and NASCAR.

Delcam’s award-winning PowerMILL CAM software is the market leader for high-speed and five-axis machining across a wide range of industries. The latest release offers a more comprehensive solution for parts that require a combination of machining strategies, from simple 2D milling to complex five-axis operations, in a single component. The new version also provides more control for experienced machinists that know exactly how they wish to machine a particular part. In addition, the release incorporates a number of improvements to reduce calculation times, together with some simplification of the user interface that makes programming faster and easier. Finally, toolpath ordering has been made more efficient, especially for roughing and rest machining, so ensuring that the cutter spends more time machining and minimal time making air moves.

Delcam’s FeatureCAM software is a highly-automated, feature-based CAM system that offers faster and easier programming of production machining operations. The 2009 version incorporates enhancements across its complete range of functionality, reflecting the increased investment in product development following Delcam’s acquisition of the software in 2005. An important focus has been increased options for more complex machines, such as mill-turn equipment, and four- and five-axis mills. This allows users to tackle more sophisticated parts than could be programmed before. Developments have also continued to increase the efficiency of the more fundamental machining operations, including turning and three-axis milling.

Delcam’s PowerINSPECT is the world’s leading hardware-independent inspection software. It has gained this position because of its unrivalled ability to check prototypes, tooling and production parts against CAD data and generate comprehensive reports that can be understood by all engineers, not just specialist metrologists. Version 5 further increases the extensive range of hardware with which the software can be used by adding support for five-axis scanning with Renishaw’s REVO probe. The new release also features the ability to use multiple alignments within parts or assemblies, improved CMM connectivity and more flexible report generation.