ModuleWorks to demonstrate latest release at Euromold in Frankfurt

ModuleWorks will be demonstrating its latest release, version 2011.12 at Euromold in Frankfurt, Germany (Hall 11, Stand B152) from 29th Nov – 2nd Dec 2011.

ModuleWorks is at the forefront of 5-Axis machining and Simulation technology, providing the machining and CNC simulation technology that powers many of the popular CAM systems available today.

ModuleWorks continues to innovate with 5-Axis machining technology and will be showing the latest developments including the latest techniques for multi-blade machining. Additional collision avoidance options alongside improved motion control options mean multi-blade parts can be programmed faster than ever.
A new 3-Axis adaptive roughing toolpath will be shown for the first time. This new strategy combines smooth toolpath motion with constant tool engagement and chip load on the tool resulting in higher material removal rates and improved tool life when compared to conventional machining.

The latest developments in CNC Simulation and toolpath verification will also be on show and these offer faster performance and better quality of the final model - especially with large toolpaths.

Dr David Plater, Technical Director for ModuleWorks, comments “Manufacturers are continuing to look to the CAM vendors to provide ever more effective tools for programming complex components. Our latest 5-Axis strategies are optimized for complex applications while our new adaptive roughing toolpath bring huge productivity gains to almost all machining applications. We look forward to Euromold as the ideal opportunity to show our latest release to our partners and prospects.”

If you can’t attend EuroMold, please join the Webinar on 25th Nov. Reserve your seat at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/801066718

ModuleWorks Signs vectorcam GmbH As 50th Partner

ModuleWorks, the leading supplier of CAD/CAM components for 3-5-Axis toolpath generation and simulation have confirmed their partnership with CAD/CAM provider, vectorcam GmbH, to provide state-of-the-art Simulation technology for vectorcam.

vectorcam GmbH have become ModuleWorks’ 50th CAD/CAM industry partner and join the growing list of leading CAD/CAM vendors who have selected ModuleWorks to provide 3-5 axis toolpath and/or simulation technology for their products. CIMData figures indicate that ModuleWorks partner more than 60% of the leading CAM suppliers.

vectorcam is a modern and easy to use 3D CAD/CAM system for milling, drilling, turning and wire EDM used by more than 20,000 companies worldwide. Future releases of vectorcam will incorporate ModuleWorks’ machine simulation and toolpath verification technology to help ensure safe machine tool operation and optimal surface finish.

Mr. Günter Böhning, CEO, seen above concluding the agreement with Yavuz Murtezaoglu, ModuleWorks founder and Managing Director states “We went through a thorough evaluation of different solutions and ModuleWorks was a clear winner based on its extensive simulation and verification functionality and the ease of integration. Our engineers were able to achieve a basic integration in a matter of days and the new simulation tools will be available for our customers in the next release of vectorcam”.

Yavuz Murtezaoglu comments “Simulation is an increasingly important aspect of the manufacturing process with customers expectations of virtual prove out increasing as graphics hardware and software has become ever more powerful. Our technology is ideal for CAM vendors offering easy integration of high performance simulation technology and we’re delighted to have vectorcam as our 50th partner”.

ModuleWorks to show latest release of its CAM components, version 2011.8 at EMO

ModuleWorks, the leading supplier of CAD/CAM components for 5-Axis machining and CNC simulation, will show the latest release of its CAM components, version 2011.8 at the EMO trade fair for metalworking technology in Hannover (Hall 25, Stand L09) from 19th to 24th September 2011.

ModuleWorks is at the forefront of 5-Axis machining and Simulation technology, providing the machining and CNC simulation technology that powers many of the popular CAM systems available today.

4 and 5-Axis Machining

5-Axis machining has key improvements for the roughing of multi-blade components. Rest material settings allow the user to specify if all possible areas should be roughed out with the selected tool or only complete layers should be machined. An intermediate slicing option is also provided with user control over the number of slices and feedrate to be applied; this gives better control when machining the full width cuts as shown in the image.

SWARF machining now has the option to swap the drive curves. There are cases where the toolpath direction is ambiguous and this option allows the component to be machined from the other direction.

3-Axis Machining

The constant Z cycle now has a spiral option to generate a smooth toolpath with no plunges between paths as shown in the image. The toolpath is one continuous motion to give improved surface finish. The spiral toolpath can also be converted to 5-Axis with automatic tilt which will allow shorter series tools to be used.

Projection is now available for surfaces and STL meshes. Radial, Spiral and Offset Curve strategies are supported and these will generate either 3-Axis or full 5-Axis toolpaths.

Simulation

Dynamic sectioning is now supported which is useful for seeing the cross sectional detail on fully or partially machining components such as the example in the image. Improved zooming now allows instant zoom out without the need to recalculate the stock model.

Finally, stock transfer in now supported for Mill/Turn machines with dual spindle capability.

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ModuleWorks 5-Axis and Simulation software has been used in the manufacture of complex parts for over a decade and they have many 1000’s of users in the global CAD/CAM industry.

ModuleWorks to show latest dental CAD/CAM at IDS

ModuleWorks, a supplier of CAD/CAM components for toolpath generation and simulation, will be exhibiting their software component for the dental industry at the International Dental Show (IDS) in Cologne from 22nd to 26th March (Hall 3.1, Stand L30a).

ModuleWorks provide a fully featured component for dental CAD/CAM including 3- 5-Axis machining and full machine simulation. It is designed for use in dental CAD/CAM systems to manufacture copings, bridges, crowns, inlays and abutments.

David Plater, Technical Director for ModuleWorks comments “We’re seeing a lot of interest for our technology in the dental industry and partners are providing Dental CAM solutions using our components for toolpaths and simulation. IDS provides an ideal opportunity to show the benefits of our technology to the wider industry”.

The ModuleWorks team will be on hand at IDS to show their latest developments for dental CAD/CAM technology. The components have simple and open interfaces and can easily combined with dental design systems and virtually any dental machine tool. Toolpaths have been specifically optimised for dental applications and can be used with both STL mesh and NURB surfaces.

Further detail on the dental components, including a downloadable factsheet, worked example and video can be found at www.moduleworks.com/dental

In addition, there will be a Webcast to showcase all the new Dental functionality on Thursday 10th March.

Simulation Performance headlines new ModuleWorks 2010.03 release

ModuleWorks, a supplier of CAD/CAM components for toolpath generation and simulation, has announced the latest release of its CAM components, version 2010.3. The new release is now available and features many enhancements across the range of Simulation and 3-5 Axis machining components.

Simulation

Simulation headlines the latest ModuleWorks release. Stock removal now supports multi-thread processing for faster performance on multi-core processors, as can be seen in the comparison below which features a single core versus a quad core processor. CPU usage and workload is spread evenly across the different cores giving dramatic speed improvements.

Simulation also supports Python scripting to allow customisation of simulation to support special or specific machine features and allow realistic simulation of all machine components. A further innovation allows the tool to be manually positioned along the tool axis or to a given position, further improving visualisation of machine kinematics.

Toolpaths

5-Axis machining features improved plunge roughing with improved control over step distance, ensuring an even finish on heavily undulating shapes. Collision avoidance has additional control to smooth the avoidance motion required – a blend distance for the tilt can now be specified.

3-Axis constant cusp finishing now offers additional control to suit a wider range of target geometry. Additional strategies include from centre away, outside to centre, top to bottom and bottom to top.

ModuleWorks 2010.3 is available in both 32 and 64 bit versions as demand for native 64 bit technology continues to increase. Applications can take advantage of almost limitless memory and benefit from improved floating point calculation performance; very significant with mathematically intensive applications such as Simulation and Toolpath generation.

David Plater, Technical Director comments “This releases offers a balanced set of new features across the product range with an emphasis on outright performance of the simulation engine. By leveraging the latest hardware and software platforms, we’ve been able to offer our partners and their respective customers a real boost in productivity.”

ModuleWorks introduces new smoothing methods for 5-Axis toolpaths

ModuleWorks has been showing their latest techniques for automated 3-5 axis (tilt) toolpath conversion with new smoothing methods to improve surface finish

3-5 Axis toolpath conversion is a well established machining method and good when machining deep cores and cavities. By tilting the tool over during cutting, collisions can be avoided and shorter series cutters can be employed which leads to improved surface finish

ModuleWorks continue to innovate in this area with recent releases offering a host of new features to increase automation and increase performance and toolpath quality. The latest versions can also be used with STL (mesh) as well as traditional surface geometry

The recent 2009.9 release has introduced new smoothing methods that can be applied to both the tilt and rotary elements of the toolpath. Originally a requirement for STL data where triangulation can give inconsistencies in the toolpath, the new smoothing delivers dramatic improvements to the toolpath on all geometry

The effects of smoothing can be seen in the before and after images shown above and below. The images above show the benefits of smoothing tilt axis movement while rotary axis smoothing is shown left. In both cases a smoother transition with fewer tilt and rotational changes can be seen giving a much better toolpath and surface finish

David Plater, Technical Director for ModuleWorks comments “We’re constantly looking for innovations to improve toolpath quality and these latest smoothing methods have done just that. We’re seeing more demand for 5-Axis machining on STL geometry and the triangulation presents some additional challenges to our developers – advanced smoothing methods are some of the solution to these challenges”

ModuleWorks in partnership with Robotmaster to provide robot simulation technology

ModuleWorks, a supplier of CAD/CAM components for Simulation and 5-Axis machining, has announced a partnership with Jabez Technologies Inc., developer of Robotmaster. ModuleWorks will provide their simulation technology for Robotmaster.

According to Chahe Bakmazjian, President of Robotmaster, “ModuleWorks has been a true partner providing us with a powerful simulation and verification component and the support necessary to quickly implement it. Using ModuleWorks has allowed us to shrink our time to market and has added great value to our Robot Programming Software. “

ModuleWorks Managing Director, Yavuz Murtezaoglu comments “We are very pleased to have Robotmaster as a partner. Robotmaster is recognised as a leading solution for robotic programming and is widely used in the manufacturing industry and illustrates one of the many applications for simulation in manufacturing”.

Robotmaster was first released in 2002 and offers easy to use robot programming tools to generate CAD/CAM style robot ‘toolpaths’ which help maximize robot productivity and is widely used in the Aerospace, Transport, High Technology, Military, Medical and Industrial Manufacturing markets.

Early in the product’s development, it became apparent that a simulation was an important requirement and different potential solutions were evaluated. ModuleWorks was the standout solution because of its industry proven multi-axis simulation capability and strong manufacturing background.

ModuleWorks technology allows Robotmaster to simulate virtually any robot set up and currently provides simulation on robots with up to 11 axes. Simulation is used in conjunction with ModuleWorks’ sophisticated collision checking to optimize each robot task.

ModuleWorks acquires HeilTech Simulation Company

ModuleWorks, a supplier of CAD/CAM components for 3-5-Axis toolpath generation and simulation has consolidated its position in the simulation component market with the acquisition of HeilTech.

HeilTech's HSVerify product is known for its fast performance when simulating large toolpaths for 3-5-Axis applications. HeilTech’s HSVerify product has licensees in the machine tool and CAM industry that will now have the benefit of expanded technology and development effort. The company was formed in 2004 by Dr. Matthias Heil.

ModuleWorks Managing Director, Yavuz Murtezaoglu says, “There is a long history of high academic achievement in Germany and a wealth of practical engineering knowledge. Heiltech is one of those companies that successfully apply academic excellence to real-world engineering problems to achieve remarkable results. Now as part of ModuleWorks, we will be able to make this technology available to customers worldwide.”

Dr. Matthias Heil of HeilTech, is delighted to be joining the ModuleWorks team, "After more than 10 years of research and another 12 years developing simulation and verification technology in the commercial world, it is great to be joining a company that really is on the cutting edge of technology. I look forward to bringing all the latest developments from HeilTech into the ModuleWorks product family and I am convinced this will help ModuleWorks Simulation become the new standard."

Extract of Karlo Apro's book, 'Secrets of 5-Axis machining' now available online

ModuleWorks, the leading supplier of CAD/CAM components for toolpath generation and simulation, announced the availability of a downloadable full chapter from the new book, 'Secrets of 5-Axis machining' on its recently re-launched website, www.moduleworks.com

The new book has been authored by 5-Axis machining specialist Karlo Apro, who has 30+ years experience in the CAD/CAM and manufacturing industries and is currently a senior application engineer at CNC Software, the developers of Mastercam

'Secrets of 5-Axis machining' is written from an unbiased viewpoint and with engineers in mind. It unveils the different techniques and challenges of 5-Axis machining with explanations of the different machine tools, machining strategies and CAD/CAM systems. The book contains many full colour examples and comes with a fully-featured multi-media CD with AVIs and fully interactive ModuleWorks Simulation examples

Karlo Apro, the author comments "5-Axis machining is a real growth area in manufacturing and many companies are now utilising the technology to remain competitive. My book is based on my own experiences of supporting 5-Axis machining and is designed to minimise the learning curve for new users and provide advanced tips and tricks for more experienced engineers". He also talks about early response to the book "We had the first run of copies at the IMTS trade show and sold out well before the end of the show and we've had many more enquires since, so I'm delighted with the positive response."

Read more about this on-site or buy the book online at Industrial Press or Amazon.

For more information, please visit www.ModuleWorks.com/book.

About ModuleWorks

ModuleWorks is a software component provider for the CAD/CAM industry. ModuleWorks' expertise in 5-Axis simultaneous machining is recognised throughout the CAM industry and its software components and development services are used in many of the leading CAM vendors in the market today. ModuleWorks 5-Axis software has been used to manufacture complex 5-axis parts for more than 10 years and now has over 2000 users worldwide.

ModuleWorks launches Japanese version of Website

ModuleWorks, the leading supplier of CAD/CAM components for toolpath generation and simulation, today announced the launch of www.ModuleWorks.jp, a Japanese language version of its recently launched website to showcase its range of components for 3-5 axis toolpath generation, verification and machine simulation.

The new content has been launched to coincide with the JIMTOF 2008 trade show which takes place in Tokyo, Japan from October 30th to November 4th where ModuleWorks and far-east agent, Tecnolinc, will be attending to meet customers and prospects

Yavuz Murtezaoglu, Managing Director for ModuleWorks comments "Our new website has been well received since the summer launch and we have now extended it to provide Japanese content in line with our visit to Japan for the JIMTOF show. " He also commented on the high levels of interest from companies in the region for ModuleWorks' products "Japan is home to many of the world's largest Machine Tool and CAD/CAM vendors and there is strong interest in our multi-axis and simulation components from our current customers and a number of potential new partners."

ModuleWorks Announces New Release

ModuleWorks, the leading supplier of CAD/CAM components for toolpath
generation and simulation, is pleased to announce the latest release of its
CAM components, version 2008.9. The new release debuted at the recent IMTS
machine tool show in Chicago, USA and offers a wide range of new features
across the product range, further expanding capability for 3-5 Axis toolpath
creation and simulation.

The market leading 5-Axis component has been further refined with new
options for tool control and collision avoidance, both critical factors with
complex multi-axis machining. Improvements to the popular 3-5 Axis
conversion strategies offer more flexibility and automated tilt calculation
for efficient collision avoidance. This is especially useful for Mold and
Die applications where this technique allows short series cutters to be
employed, giving improved surface finish.

The recently released 3-Axis machining component offers a new strategy for
Flatland machining, an efficient production machining technique for
prismatic solids. This strategy automatically detects all flat regions on
the model and applies a finish toolpath to these areas. Other improvements
include faster performance and new smoothing options for roughing to improve
cutting conditions and allow higher feedrates to be employed.

ModuleWorks Simulation includes powerful analysis tools and further
productivity tools have been introduced with options to highlight height
and/or rotary changes in the simulated toolpath. As with the machining
components there are also significant performance improvements with the
2008.9 release.

David Plater, Technical Director comments "We are very pleased with the
reception the new software received from our partners and prospects at IMTS
and believe we have produced a release with a balanced set of productivity
and performance improvements to benefit all of our partners and customers
around the world".

For more information, please visit www.ModuleWorks.com
About ModuleWorks
ModuleWorks is a software component provider for the CAD/CAM industry. ModuleWorks’ expertise in 5-Axis simultaneous machining is recognised throughout the CAM industry and its software components and development services are used in many of the leading CAM vendors in the market today. ModuleWorks 5-Axis software has been used to manufacture complex 5-axis parts for more than 10 years and now has over 2000 users worldwide.

ModuleWorks to show latest CAM component technology at IMTS

ModuleWorks, the leading supplier of CAD/CAM components for toolpath generation and simulation, today announced it would showcase latest versions of its 3-5 Axis machining and simulation technology on booth D-3305 at the IMTS exhibition to be held in Chicago from 8th to 13th September.

In addition to the latest release of its flagship product for 5-Axis simultaneous machining, ModuleWorks will also be showing new component technology for both 3-Axis machining and machining simulation.

The new simulation component offers fast simulation of the machining process and includes full material removal and machine simulation options. ModuleWorks simulation has been designed with speed and ease of implementation in mind - David Plater, Technical Director comments “Simulation is an important aspect of the CAM programming and manufacturing process with customers expecting more and more of the prove out process to be carried out in a virtual environment within the CAM system and increasingly on the CNC control itself. Our simulation component offers a full range of visualisation and analytical tools to ensure maximum reliability, performance and productivity.”

ModuleWorks’ toolpath generation strategies have been extended to support a wide range of 3-Axis strategies to compliment their state-of-the-art 4- and 5-Axis multi-axis machining component. The new strategies include roughing and finishing with rest material detection and support for the latest high speed machining technology.

For more information, please visit www.ModuleWorks.com

About ModuleWorks

ModuleWorks is a software component provider for the CAD/CAM industry. ModuleWorks’ expertise in 5-Axis simultaneous machining is recognised throughout the CAM industry and its software components and development services are used in many of the leading CAM vendors in the market today. ModuleWorks 5-Axis software has been used to manufacture complex 5-axis parts for more than 10 years and now has over 2000 users worldwide.