Delcam’s FeatureCAM joins SolidWorks Tour de France

Delcam France will be promoting the FeatureCAM feature-based CAM system as guests on the SolidWorks 2010 launch meetings across France during October and November. The tour will visit 11 venues in France, and also cross the border into Switzerland with an event in La Neuveville on 22nd October.

Introduced in 1995, FeatureCAM was the world’s first Windows- and feature-based milling system. The product range has grown significantly to include turning, wire-EDM and mill-turn packages, plus feature recognition for imported CAD files. At each of the SolidWorks events, Delcam France staff will demonstrate the latest enhancements across this complete range of functionality, reflecting the increased investment in product development following Delcam’s acquisition of the software in 2005.

An important area for development has been increased support for mill-turn equipment. These machines are becoming more popular because of their ability to complete parts in a single set-up on one machine instead of having to use multiple set-ups on two or more different pieces of equipment. FeatureCAM development has focused on support for the more complex machines, those featuring multiple turrets and/or multiple spindles. Additional post-processors for these types of machine have also been introduced.

Another key area has been increased options for five-axis machining, where technology from Delcam’s industry-leading PowerMILL software has been incorporated. FeatureCAM now supports both positional and continuous five-axis operation, five-axis trimming and five-axis drilling. All these options allow productivity to be improved by enabling parts to be produced in one or two set-ups that would otherwise require multiple set-ups and/or special fixturing.

Developments have also continued with the more fundamental machining operations, including turning, 2D machining, three-axis milling and wire-EDM.

FeatureCAM was awarded "Certified CAM Product” status by the SolidWorks Partner Program some years ago. This followed an extensive evaluation by SolidWorks Corporation, including user reviews to confirm that the combination of FeatureCAM and SolidWorks was working successfully in a variety of industries.

Approval under the SolidWorks Certified CAM Products Program assures companies using SolidWorks for design that they can select FeatureCAM for their manufacturing with complete confidence that it offers best-in-class functionality and interoperability.

Full details on the meetings can be found at http://kickoff.axemble.com/axemble/easysite/go/04r-00001s-002/accueil