Exploring the New Formlabs Elastic Resin
Formlabs recently announced their latest material – Elastic Resin and this article will take a closer look at it. Soft silicone and urethane parts are typically produced through moldmaking. These materials must be both highly elastic and strong. 3D printing them was once only possible on expensive industrial machine, but with Elastic Resin, companies can now simulate molded silicone, making it possible to print soft, resilient prototypes right on the desktop. Elastic resin is Formlabs' most pliable material with a shore durometer of 50A and an Elongation of 160%. Due to its high elongation excellent tear strength, parts printed with Elastic resin will bend, stretch, compress, and hold up to repeated cycles without tearing. Some key applications include wearables and consumer goods, robotics, and special effects props. It is also translucent, making it ideal for medical visual simulation and internal channels. With the addition of this material, engineers now have a larger range of durometer options. Elastic is great for softer parts that need to stretch over something or will be deformed repeatedly. While Formlabs' Flexible Resin can also be used for harder parts that won't undergo repeated loading, for example grips, handles, and overmolds. Wearables and robotics companies are using Elastic to [...]
Mastercam Announces New Post Processor
Mastercam recently announced the release of a new post processor developed with the technical expertise of Siemens CNC engineers. Introducing a 3- and 4-axis post processor for Mastercam Mill that supports the SINUMERIK 808D Control. Mastercam’s 3-Axis and 4-Axis MILL POST PROCESSOR for the SINUMERIK® 808D Control adds the power of Mastercam to the capability of this popular machine. This post processor package includes: CYCLE 832 Support for High Speed Settings Work offset support matching control capabilities 808D optimized Drilling Cycles (CYCLE 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 840) with full 4-axis support Numerical tool call with offset D# TOFFR functionality to support cutter compensation wear strategy Optimized Multiaxis toolpath using the FGROUP and FGREF commands A Siemens application guide “The development of this new 3-axis and 4-axis post for Mastercam 2019 and the markets that need the 808D Control demonstrates our ongoing relationship with Siemens, to bring the highest productivity gains to machine tools. This partnership began more than two years ago with the release of our 3-axis milling 828D/840D post processor for Mastercam 2017,” says Post Department Manager Pedro Sanchez, Jr., of CNC Software, Inc. It is cooperation like this that provides Mastercam users the opportunity to truly complement their CAM investment [...]
What’s New in Netfabb 2019
Netfabb® 2019 brings updates to two of the most powerful Netfabb features, simulation and latticing, in addition to cloud storage, new machine workspaces and new support actions. Multi-scale cloud simulation Small scale and part scale metal powder bed process simulation with the compute power of the cloud. Latticing Access to Netfabb manual latticing is now available at the premium tier with a new interface fully focused on ease of use. My machines workspace Setup and save your machine catalog and print settings. Replay support actions Automatic support adjustments to accommodate model geometry changes. For more information on Autodesk Netfabb, please click the button below. More Info
Mastercam 2019 Mill-Turn Improvements
Mastercam 2019 Mill-Turn makes machining on today’s high-powered turning centers and full-function machining centers simpler and easier than ever before. Machines that eliminate multiple setups, manual part handling, redundant fixturing, and reduce idle time can boost production and maximize profitability. Adjust Tool Projection After loading tools, you now have the ability to adjust the tool’s projection length by dragging the tool in the graphics window. Mastercam will display the tool and its locator component in the graphics window. Bar Feed The Bar Feed toolpath has been improved and is now supported in Simulation. There are also new options to help manage geometry including selecting geometry to move with the Bar Feed toolpath, specifying a level for the transferred geometry, and the option to delete the original geometry. New options are available to update the spindle origin, create new planes based on the new spindle origin, or update the work offset. And lastly, there are new options for specifying the destination and motion rate of the bar feed. Import and Export Options You can import operations from Lathe and Mill machine groups into Mill-Turn machine groups, whereas previously you could only import operations from other Mill-Turn machine groups. In addition, you can copy and paste or drag and drop operations from [...]
Cimquest Named #1 MC Reseller in the World
We are very excited and proud to announce that we have been named #1 Mastercam Reseller in the world. We would just like to thank our entire customer base for helping us to make this possible.
Moving into the New Year
A letter from our CEO As we reset the business year and pick ourselves off of the floor I reflect on the year gone by. Cimquest went thru a very challenging but necessary transition over the past 17 months which still, in part, continues today. We embarked on a journey leaving the safety of Stratasys and the valued business relationships with both our customers and vendor. This transition meant losing more than half of our revenue. However, in the process, we acquired additional valued customers utilizing the Mastercam CNC programming software. While the net of this changed still left us with over a 30% revenue shortfall, myself and our team really believed in our long-term strategy and continued to make significant time and money investments in our endeavor. In the past 8 months we have added 7 new people to our team in brand new positions and will be looking to add another 4 over the next several months. And, we will be soon opening our new Cincinnati Ohio office with a grand opening celebration in February. The good news is that our investments have paid off and Cimquest has just completed its best year and we are proud to announce that thanks [...]