Common Mastercam Multiaxis Myths
Few techniques are more touted or more feared in the subtractive manufacturing industry as multiaxis machining. Sometimes it can seem like it’s best to leave multiaxis to the big players—international aerospace manufacturers and giant defense shops—because it seems like they’re the only ones equipped for it. But so many of the ideas that circulate about multiaxis machining are really myths. We are here to bust those myths and to help you decide whether or not multiaxis is for you. Multiaxis Myth #1: You need a multiaxis machine to get started with multiaxis machining If the immediate start-up costs of multiaxis machining are holding you back, there’s good news: you don’t need a multiaxis machine to get started. Positional 5-axis machining, more commonly called 3+2 machining, uses a traditional 3-axis milling center. It differs from true simultaneous 5-axis machining in that the cutting tool is locked into a specific angle on the two additional rotary axes. With 3+2 machining, your spindle can move closer to your workpiece, allowing you to use shorter, more rigid cutting tools. This provides some of the benefits of multiaxis machining – reduced cycle times, better surface finishes, increased accuracy, and fewer machine setups – without your ever needing to [...]
NASA Sends Formlabs Parts to Space
Reprint from Digital Engineering 247 Parts will ride aboard the SpaceX Dragon Resupply Capsule. Later in the summer of 2022, SpaceX will launch its 25th commercial resupply services (CRS-25) mission to the International Space Station (ISS). On board, the cargo capsule will be 4,500 pounds of food and equipment for the crew members on board the ISS. This mission is part of the ongoing cargo contract between SpaceX and NASA and involves collaboration and partnership between the two entities. Among the pieces of equipment on the CRS-25 flight will be electroplated brackets printed on a Form 3 stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer from Formlabs. The brackets are designed to hold a laser during various experiments and will be exposed to the external environment of the space station. NASA engineers display the 3D printed and plated components in front of the Formlabs printers. Image courtesy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The 3D printed and plated parts will be exposed to the harsh environment of space and the results could inform how NASA, SpaceX, and possibly other aerospace manufacturers may incorporate additive manufacturing into potential future product plans. NASA engineers at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center have been working with the Formlabs [...]
Ultimaker 3D Printing Materials Promotion
From now until the end of October 2022 Ultimaker is running special promotions on their spools of filament. The more you spend, the more you save . . . Spend: Receive: $2,500 Purchase HW + 6 spools of filament and get 50% off the filament. $5,000 Purchase HW + 12 spools of filament and get 50% off the filament $10,000 Purchase HW + 30 spools of filament and get 50% off the filament. $20,000 Purchase HW + 66 spools of filament and get 50% off the filament. You can pick your own filament, or you can choose from the Pre-built filament packs below. Please contact us for more information. Contact Us Today
New Mastercam 2023 Multiaxis Features
As more and more shops adopt multiaxis practices, we have invested more into improving our Multiaxis product. Explore these three new Mastercam 2023 Multiaxis tools, created with users like you in mind. Unified Multiaxis Toolpath Boosting efficiency begins the moment a part file is opened in Mastercam. Instead of requiring a user to spend extra time and mouse miles searching through multiaxis options, all of the multiaxis functions are available in the Unified Multiaxis Toolpath. Once a user inputs the appropriate curves, they can access Morph, Parallel, Along Curve, and Project Curve all from one consolidated location. For example, in the Mastercam Manufacturing Lab, Applications Engineers use Unified to rapidly create and analyze cut types on the Witch Doctor BattleBot parts, where visual flair is just as much of a toolpath requirement as surface finish. Being able to experiment with these pattern options without the overhead of creating an entirely new path type each time means that users no longer have to settle for a path result just because they feel they’ve invested too much time to abandon it and try something new. Controlling the Tool Contact Point While minimizing burring is important for efficient machining, they remain inevitable in the vast majority [...]
JawsTec Purchases XYZ Printing SLS Machines for High-Speed Sustainable Part Production
JawsTec, a premier US-based printing service that offers custom rapid manufacturing for every industry, adds four XYZ MfgPro230xS SLS machines to its fleet of MJF, EOS, AMT, Dyemansion, and CNC machines. JawsTec CEO, Oscar Klassen, pointed out that the open platform XYZ SLS machines offer something other SLS manufacturers do not, the ability to use end-of-life powder from EOS and HP MJF, for high-quality printed SLS parts. On top of this, the functional sustainability of the powder, and the smaller build of the 230 allows for JawsTec to run 22-hour full build cycles followed by a 2-hour cooling cycle with zero negative effect on part accuracy, surface quality or the powder. "The adoption of the smaller platform for high daily throughput is a game-changer. We have a 4–5-day turn-around on most printing with options for an expedited 2 business day turn-around on 3D Printing Service, these machines allow us to print more of the expedited jobs for our customers." XYZ Printing Director for the America’s Industrial Printers, John Calhoun makes the point that JawsTec spent 2 months testing the reliability, accuracy, quality of parts, software, and workflow integration. The result of this test made the expansion to 4 units an easy choice. "XYZ [...]
Design X Essentials – New Light Version of Design X
Design X is a remarkable product that enables the creation of a fully-featured CAD model from a scan or point cloud from any device that can produce one of these files. It can return planes, sketches with constraints, dimensions, features, and can generally build completely native, history-based CAD models for a variety of the most common CAD systems including Solidworks, Solid Edge, Inventor, Pro-e, Creo, and NX. Today, the requirements for a fully native CAD model with history are somewhat less important than they were many years ago when most CAD systems were only history-based. CAD systems that were formally history-based now offer “Direct Modeling” tools or have released new versions of the product that support both Direct as well as history-based Modeling. This makes neutral and Kernel file formats such as Step, VDA, Parasolid, and ACIS just as productive for these modelers as history-based models. Introducing Design X Essentials Design X Essentials is half the price of Design X but still includes the vast majority of modeling tools that make Design X such an incredible system. While the transfer of a fully native, history-based model into a product like Solidworks isn’t part of Design X Essentials, it could still create Step or [...]