Mastercam X8 Is Retiring
Don't Lose Your Valuable CAD/CAM Investment! With the upcoming release of Mastercam 2020, you will no longer be able to update or receive support for your copy of Mastercam X8. If you update now, you have the opportunity for dramatic savings and revolutionary, industry-changing new technologies! Mastercam X8 was released nearly seven years ago. Although it still gets the job done, you are missing out on dramatic advances across the entire Mastercam family, including our breakthrough Dynamic MotionTM and Accelerated FinishingTM Technologies: Thousands of existing users have already taken advantage of the new technology introduced in Mastercam since X8 was released. Help Shape the Future of Manufacturing by updating today! Call us today at 866-277-8778 to secure your investment.
Mastercam 2019 Find Level From Geometry
There is an underutilized feature in Mastercam called Find Level from Geometry, that can be found inside of the Levels Manager. This is a useful tool when you look at part files that have lots of different levels, each with their own geometry, whether it is wireframe, solids, or surface models on the screen. Usually what users do is turn all their levels off and then one by one, turn each one back on to see if they can find which level has their geometry. This tool though allows you to quickly find what level your geometry is on so you can keep making changes to the right level and organize everything quickly and easily. First, let’s look at a typical part file inside of Mastercam. As you can see in the example below, in the Levels Manager there are 12 levels, each with at least 9 entities on a level. When importing assembly models or other solid models in Mastercam, they will typically assign themselves to a new level with the solid body name as the level name if the configuration is set up correctly. Usually, looking at these level names isn’t really clear what level contains which solid body and wireframe. [...]
Moldmaking with 3D Prints
Moldmaking with desktop 3D printing allows engineers and designers to get much more functionality from their 3D printer, beyond prototyping alone. Moldmaking opens a world of production materials and provides the ability to produce short-run batches and test mold designs prior to committing to expensive tooling. Download an educational White Paper from Formlabs to learn about mold making strategies including injection molding, thermoforming and casting elastomers. Just complete the form below and you will gain access to the White Paper.
Import Organic Shapes into CAD – Part 3
This post is Part 3 of the topic: Leverage and import organic shapes into CAD and today we will introduce you to Generative Design. In previous posts, we briefly discussed the value of having the ability to capture organic shapes for use in CAD design. To illustrate this process, scanned our engineer’s hand and then integrated that scan into CAD in order to design a rotating Nespresso Pod holder. Now, we will finalize the CAD design phase by using Fusion's Generative Design, to assist us during the model creation process. By now, the Nespresso pod holder is almost complete. The base integrates the hand and forearm and we have a carousel that sits and rotates on a turntable about the center of the palm. Now we need to determine how the turntable will connect to the pod holders. Traditionally, we would make our initial attempt and create a shape that we think would be structurally sound. We would then run that shape through FEA; make modifications, and repeat this cycle to ensure that we don't over design the part. A short cut to this iterative cycle is to use Fusion's Generative Design. In essence, the software generates a design or shape, based on [...]
Mastercam Divide Delete
Today we’re going to cover a new enhancement to the Divide/Delete tool in Mastercam 2019. If you were to use the Divide/Delete tool in the past, you had to manually select the pieces of wireframe that you didn’t want to keep. While you can still individually select each piece of geometry that you want to delete with this feature, this can be a time-consuming and cumbersome process. Now, you can trim your geometry efficiently with the outline of our cursor. To do this, start by going to go to the Wireframe tab, on the right side of the Modify group, and select the Divide/Delete icon which is located right next to the standard Trim/Break/Extend icon. Like most of the popular CAD packages out there, with Mastercam 2019 you are now able to click and hold down the left mouse button and drag your cursor around. This will allow Mastercam to automatically delete any piece of geometry that comes in contact with your cursor. You also have access to a Break option in your Options manager. Break will not delete the entities but allow you to break entities into multiple pieces based on the path of our cursor. As you can see, this new [...]
New High Efficiency Milling Training Available
The latest Cimquest Dynamic High-Efficiency Milling course is set to run March 19-21 at Mazak in Windsor Locks, CT. If you are looking for more ways to stay competitive in today’s rapidly changing manufacturing environment it is imperative that you stay on top of new and emerging technologies. This Manufacturing Training series will take you to the next level and improve your machining production. "I would recommend this class to others; it really makes you think of every aspect of the process, not just the programming side of it. I didn't think of work holding and tool holding before or if the machine could even handle these specific operations." - David Adams, HEM class attendee This training course will teach you how to implement, evaluate and select components for high-efficiency milling to get shorter cycle times, reduce tool wear and extend machine life. You will learn guidelines to selecting key components with hands-on interactions to build your ability in identifying and creating an efficient milling process. Limited Seating Available, Register Today! Click the button below to learn more and to register. More Info & Registration