Delcam to preview fastest-ever CAM at EASTEC

PowerMILL 10 will offer even faster calculation times for large, complex parts

Delcam will preview the forthcoming release of its PowerMILL CAM system at the EASTEC exhibition to be held from 19th to 21st May in Springfield Massachusetts. This new release, version 10, offers the fastest-ever toolpath generation on multi-processor computers, giving greatly increased user productivity. It incorporates the latest background-processing and multi-threading technologies and so uses the full power of recent hardware developments to reduce calculation times and increase output dramatically.

Other enhancements to further increase productivity include reduced memory usage when programming the largest and most complex parts, and improved ordering to give faster cycle times on the machine tool.

With PowerMILL 10, users can prepare data in the foreground while calculating toolpaths in the background. This eliminates the need for the user to wait for each calculation to be completed before he can start preparing the next operation. While this approach can be used with single core equipment, there may be a slowing of the calculation times. The benefits are much greater with computers having two or more cores as there will be no degradation of the processing speed.

Calculations can be queued by the operator and the software will automatically start the next operation as soon as each toolpath is generated. For example, it is no longer necessary to wait for a complete roughing path to be produced before work starts on programming the rest-roughing operation. Similarly, the user can be setting the parameters needed to machine one area of a part, while toolpaths are being calculated in the background for a second area with a different strategy.

The new multi-threading capabilities allow calculations to be divided between the cores in a multi-core machine. This improves calculation times significantly so increasing user productivity, reducing any down-time where machine tools are waiting for NC data and minimising lead times.

The extent of the savings will depend on the size and complexity of the part being machined and on the programming strategies being used. Tests at Delcam indicate that a dual core computer will perform raster machining calculations in around 55% of the time taken by a single core machine. A quad core machine will complete the calculation in around 35% of the time and an eight core machine in around 25% of the time.