New focus on efficiency and speed

The latest release of the manufacturing software, available in the UK from 4D Engineering, offers new 2D/3D milling features, design improvements, powerful turning and mill-turn enhancements, and more.

Workpiece and stock material awareness has been added to select 2D toolpaths which allows tool motion on the top, bottom, or both values of the stock which provides a safer and more optimised tool motion. Users can also optimise finish passes on rough stock, giving more efficient and safer tool motion. The workflow for all 3D high speed toolpaths has been streamlined and gives finer control over exactly where to cut. High speed hybrid toolpaths now offer smoothing controls and deliver a finer finish, requiring less handwork.

When it comes to mill-turn operations, if users work with stringy materials such as aluminium or plastic, Mastercam’s new Chip Break control prevents problems by allowing the user to set length and time conditions, retract, and dwell options. Mill-turn machine definitions now contain tailstock and quill components, tailored to customers’ machines.

Exclusive to the latest release of Mastercam, is a new set of turning strategies, automated toolpath generation and support for Sandvik Coromant’s CoroTurn Prime inserts and PrimeTurning method. PrimeTurning provides superior metal removal rates with productivity gains of up to 50%, and increased tool life in a variety of materials.

The software update also includes new CAD tools for the shopfloor. Job shops can model their own designs, but they also get in models that need to be corrected or prepped for machining. Mastercam’s CAD functions are designed for the machinist: Angle Sweep improves the creation of more complex wireframe functions and when creating or editing primitives, there are now on-screen sweep and rotate controls which can snap to the AutoCursor positions of existing entities.

To make roll and unroll results easier to predict, Seam Control lets users visually rotate a seam to see how the geometry will respond, as well as snap to AutoCursor positions. The Hole Axis feature makes it easier to work with a large number of holes, especially holes with matching diameters that are selected as a group.

Also available in the Mastercam 2018 release is: access to Mastercam’s social media outlets, reseller information, the Mastercam Forum, and other helpful information; streamlined workflow with improved plane management, level and geometry control, toolpath analysis; Model Prep and Solid Model enhancements such as Multiple Undo/Redo for up to 25 functions and Solid Sweep which has more options and controls.

Other enhancements include: Collision Control and Multi-axis Link Safety Zone pages for multi-axis toolpaths that have been redesigned for Mastercam. Also, common direction has been added to the Tool Axis Control page for multi-axis toolpaths to keep the tool at a uniform tilt angle to reduce tool and machine motion.

MASTERCAM www.mastercam.co.uk