Delcam to highlight medical machining at SIMODEC

Delcam will highlight the latest developments in its CAM systems for the medical and dental industries on booth A16 at the SIMODEC exhibition to be held from 2nd to 6th March at the heart of the French Alps in la Roche sur Foron. SIMODEC is the leading exhibition for Swiss-type lathes and other multi-tasking machining equipment, bringing together manufacturers, suppliers and users of these machines at the heart of the Arve Valley – the world’s highest geographical concentration of screw-cutting companies.

Multi-tasking machines are being used increasingly in the medical and dental industries, to the extent that over 70% of Delcam’s PartMaker software, the company’s dedicated system for this class of equipment, is being sold into the sector. Applications include the manufacture of all types of medical and dental screw, prosthetics, and components for medical equipment.

PartMaker is a knowledge-based machining system, allowing it to provide a substantial gain in programming efficiency by remembering the tools, material and process information necessary to machine individual part features. It thus relieves the user from re-entering the same information for subsequent parts.

The software is based on two patented technologies. The "divide and conquer” approach to programming allows the user to divide complex parts into individual features that can be handled quickly and easily. Then, the unique synchronisation technology in the software helps allocate these operations to the various spindles within the machine to give the optimum cycle time.

PartMaker also incorporates extensive simulation capabilities. The complete machining process can be simulated on the computer to ensure safe, efficient production. In addition, the resulting part can be compared against its CAD model with any differences being highlighted automatically. Carrying out these checks on the computer helps to minimise set-up times on the machine and so increases overall productivity.

Visitors to the Delcam booth SIMODEC will be able to see demonstrations of the 2010 version of PartMaker. Major highlights of this release include the ability to perform five-axis simultaneous milling on multi-axis lathes, more powerful milling functionality, enhanced grooving routines, faster tool path creation, improved solid model-based programming tools and better programming of thread whirling.

Also on display will be the latest release of Delcam’s DentMILL knowledge-based machining system for the manufacture of restorations for the dental industry. This includes extra five-axis machining functionality that will make it easier to program the manufacture of dental bars, implant bridges and customised abutments. In addition, the previous options for the production of copings, bridges and abutments in ceramics and titanium have been enhanced. In particular, calculation times have been reduced for users with multi-processor computers.

DentMILL makes it easy for technicians with minimal experience of computer-aided manufacturing to produce restorations using the latest machining technology. It is based on Delcam’s award-winning PowerMILL CAM system, which is widely acknowledged to be a leader in high-speed and five-axis machining. This allows the software to offer a far wider range of proven machining strategies than is available in other dental CAM programs.