March In-person Mastercam Training at Cimquest
If you're looking to attend some in-person Mastercam training classes in March, Cimquest offers a great variety of classes at our various office locations. Our classrooms generally hold a maximum of 8 students and we strongly believe that our small class sizes are essential for maximum instructor/student interaction to ensure greater student success. All software enrollment classes are taught on the latest version. Here is what's on our schedule for March. Please use the button below for more details and to register. Training Details & Registration
CNC Machining for the Energy Industry
The energy industry encompasses both renewable and nonrenewable energy sourcing and the manufacturing of the parts both need. For renewable energy resources, like hydropower and solar power, these parts could be turbine blades, brackets for mounting solar panels, and more. The nonrenewable energy industry is dominated by oil and gas, which requires components like forgings and castings. Currently, the oil and gas industry is recovering from the pandemic at a breakneck pace. Travel and work are resuming worldwide, and oil prices remain high, a boon for the industry. Deloitte reports that oil and gas companies are focusing on financial health and debt reduction in response to their COVID losses, which means most are reevaluating how they make or buy their parts. Renewable energy sources are growing as well. The current administration in the U.S. is supporting sustainable infrastructure and actively trying to fill green jobs as the workforce returns. With this near unprecedented growth of both types of energy and a wide-open competitive market, many manufacturers that make parts for the energy industry are reconsidering their production process. Most are already using CAD/CAM software paired with powerful CNC machines, but the truly successful shops will be aggressively optimizing their machining. Why does the [...]
What’s New with Desktop Metal Shop System
Desktop Metal released some great additions last year and today we will spotlight some new 3D Printing materials. Many new 3D printers and materials will also be showcased in our upcoming 3D Printing Online Seminar Series which will happen over the next couple of months. Please stay tuned for more details on that and in the meantime let’s take a look at one of the new releases from Desktop Metal. New 3D Printing Materials Two new materials were released: 316L stainless steel CoCrMo alloy These materials, in addition to the already released 17-4PH stainless steel, greatly expand the capability for end-use parts. The PF1 Furnace and the High Purity Retort are also compatible with the Shop System™, granting access to the many benefits listed above. Together with updates to Fabricate® MFG, we’re excited to continue expanding the applications of the Shop System™. Keep an eye out for new materials in 2022! More Details
Mastercam CAD Features You Need to Know
CAD software, or computer-aided design software, is the tool that designers, engineers, and programmers use to model parts virtually. With CAD, you can create models from scratch, modify and optimize existing models, and even reverse-engineer physical parts. When a shop uses its CAD software efficiently, it can maximize output, part quality, and profits. Direct Modeling The last thing a manufacturer wants to worry about when working with a client’s model is having to go back and forth a hundred times to made edits to the file. Luckily, Direct Modeling allows you to make edits in-situ for any imported model, which eliminates the need to refer back to the original creator of the model. Time that would have been spent playing phone tag or dealing with misunderstandings can be focused on optimizing the part or even on other projects. New to Mastercam 2022: Programmers can graphically edit, move, and copy wireframe geometry simply by double-clicking an entity or by dragging their mouse. Push-Pull direct editing function allows the editing of multiple solid bodies at once by simply dragging geometries with the mouse or by entering a delta value. Users can control mass adjustments to imported assemblies even with no solid history. Solid Disassemble Manufacturers [...]
The Verisurf ANALYSIS module
Perhaps one of the most compelling aspects of Verisurf software is that it runs “inside” of the Mastercam user interface. This offers a very comfortable "look and feel" to program not only your CNC machines but also inspection devices such as CMM’s, portable arms, and laser trackers. The Verisurf ANALYSIS module can import a nominal CAD model. Perhaps it was the exact model used to develop CNC toolpaths in Mastercam. The scan of the manufactured part may then be imported. …and automatically aligned to the nominal CAD model. Then, when the Analyze function is executed, all of the data points both within and outside of the pre-defined tolerance range are shown. All points may be shown… …Or just those out of tolerance. Color Maps may be produced. And the data can be quickly and easily exported to nicely formatted reports. Please contact Joel Pollet with any questions via the button below. Contact Joel
When Business Risks Pay Off – A Guide to Insanity
Spoiler alert! Cimquest has achieved great recognition in the industry as a result of a risky business transformation started 4-½ years ago as well as my talented team who at times believed in this transformation sometimes more than I even did. The achievements are: Cimquest was the #1 global partner for Desktop Metal Cimquest was the #2 global partner for CNC Software (Mastercam) Cimquest was the #1 global partner for Xact Metal So I am both amazed and proud of what we accomplished over the past several years. I think the more interesting story is how did we get here? What needed to take place to reach this level of success in just the 4 years since we completely rebooted our 3D Printing business and restarted with zero 3D Printer customers and zero revenue. First off, when many of my peers learned that we were shedding a relationship with the only 3D Printer partner we had which comprised over 50% of our business to pivot to a model of best-in-class providers with a more diverse set of products they either thought I was crazy or I was making a smart move. In my own head, I probably questioned my own sanity but knew [...]