Mastercam Drill Operations for Tapping
This blog post will discuss creating Mastercam drill operations for tapping. The order of operations for the tapping cycle will typically share common parameters from part to part. By creating custom drill operations, you can increase the efficiency of programming for these common features. Our example fixture plate has multiple drilled and tapped one half 13 holes. Starting with the chamfer drill toolpath, we took advantage of the solid feature defining the tapped hole. Remember that you can use the ctrl key to select all the matching diameters. Reset the whole sorting as needed and with the hole location selected, you can associate the spot drill to the toolpath. In the Cut Parameters, the depth for the transfer can be set to zero due to the chamfer being defined in the solid feature. The Linking Parameters were all set to incremental. By backplotting the toolpath we saw the spot drill was feeding to the proper depth matching the chamfer. Next, we opened a drill toolpath for the tap drill operation. Just close the whole selection utility and select yes to keep the drill toolpath. Use the left mouse button to select and drag the geometry from the chamfer tool path and release it [...]
xWASH Smart Affordable and Sustainable Washer from Nexa3D
Nexa3D, the maker of ultra-fast polymer 3D printers, recently announced the immediate commercial availability of xWASH, a new automated washer that works exclusively with its sustainable xCLEAN washing detergent to help manufacturers streamline, optimize, and scale their 3D printing and post-processing operations. The new xWash is a fully automated, smart cleaning washer that is designed to readily accept a full build plate from the company’s flagship NXE400 3D printer at volumes of up to 16 liters per print job. Customers using xWASH can experience significant post-processing cost reductions of as much as 75% compared with other post processing units and realize orders of magnitude throughput gains by producing consistent high-quality parts. “As demand for additively manufactured parts in volume production applications increases, the consistency of mechanical properties and finishing details is more important than ever, meaning there is greater need for automated, controlled, validated and sustainable post-processing solutions,” explained Kevin McAlea, COO at Nexa3D. “Our new xWASH matches the build volumes and process requirements of our ultrafast NXE400 3D printer, giving manufacturers repeatable and consistent control of their washing cycles. It also represents the final step in our end-to-end validated workflow, completing our suite of ultrafast photoplastic production system." Accessing an end-to-end post-processing [...]
Save Hours of CNC Programming Time with Mastercam OptiRough
You are probably spending a big portion of your time in an office environment programming complicated parts before they can be machined. Reducing programming time can free you up so you can program more parts and be more hands-on throughout the machining process. Thanks to the updates with Mastercam OptiRough in the latest Mastercam release, more CNC programmers have access to this time-saving tool. What is Mastercam OptiRough? The Dynamic OptiRough in Mastercam 2022 is the same widely-used and trusted technology that users have been employing for over a decade. The only difference is that now OptiRough has been added to all levels of Mill and Router, making it available to all customers. Experienced OptiRough veterans will be thrilled with the new ways to use its reduced cycle times and increased tool life in Mill. New users will be relieved by how easy it is to use this all-encompassing roughing strategy. With just a few clicks, a programmer can create powerful, safe, and efficient programs for their entire part. Access the Dynamic OptiRough toolpath from the 3D gallery in the Mill Toolpaths contextual tab. How Mastercam OptiRough Works Dynamic Motion applies optimized cutting motion to any set of geometry. When feeds, [...]
Metrology Minute – Flatness
In continuing our series on GD&T callouts, today's Metrology Minute focuses on Flatness. Flatness is a very simple callout that focuses on just how flat a particular surface is without making reference to any specific datum. Very often, a Flatness callout can determine whether a job shop is able to face mill a surface to its finished dimension or if grinding and perhaps outside services are required to achieve the necessary Flatness. If a specific feature on a part needs to be uniformly flat within a given tolerance, without affecting or including any other dimensions or callouts on a drawing, Flatness is commonly used. A Min and Max tolerance are provided, which essentially callout two parallel planes as compared to the nominal (exact) flat surface. The resulting surface after machining must be flat and lie within these planes to therefore be within tolerance. The callout below references two parallel planes within .030 meaning none of the resultant, manufactured surfaces can have any points that measure outside of that provided tolerance. Using the manual, traditional measuring methods, Flatness is measured using a height gage or CMM, dragging a probe over the surface however with today’s software technology for inspection, very often color maps may [...]
Optimize Your Manufacturing Process with High Efficiency Machining Training
by Harry Foxman – a reprint from (https://www.fabbaloo.com/news/lessons-from-cimquests-2021-xpand3d-event-part-one) written as a follow up to our recent xpand3D event. The author is referring to one of our presentations on High-Efficiency Machining. This discussion examined the recent advancements in CNC tool path strategies. Understanding these advancements and how you can take advantage of them are key to growing your business. Sometimes the decision is difficult to purchase the equipment necessary for High-Efficiency Machining (HEM). The discussion talks about the steps to prove and justify the purchasing of new equipment and training. Increasing efficiency could mean a number of things including cycle reduction, cycle time reduction, or metal removal rate. You also need to address what your goal is. Is it increasing profit or reducing costs? Based on the chart above you can see the majority of profit increase and cost reduction opportunities come from overhead, machining, and manpower costs. Too often businesses try to make improvements to just the cutting tool and see limited saving results. It is a combination of improving toolpath performance, cutting tool performance, and machine capabilities that help your business achieve HEM. When a new piece of equipment that could increase efficiency becomes available, there are several steps a company needs [...]
Is Metal 3D Printing Ready for Primetime?
By Joseph Castine A reprint from https://www.fabbaloo.com/news/lessons-from-cimquests-2021-xpand3d-event-part-one With the rapid expansion of the additive manufacturing industry, metal printing technologies continue to emerge, but this raises the question “Is Metal Printing Ready for Primetime?” The discussion by Nate Higgins (President, FreeFORM Technology), Ric Fulop (Founder/CEO, Desktop Metal), Bob Hedrick (President, CAMufacturing Solutions), Kenneth Fortier (Product Owner – Visualization and Simulation, Mastercam), and Rob Hassold (CEO/Founder, Cimquest) came together to discuss. The metal segment is one of the fastest-growing of the additive manufacturing market, with some of the technology only recently becoming affordable. This is due largely in part to Desktop Metal, a company dedicated to making this growing technology more accessible for engineers, designers, and manufacturers. Desktop Metal went public at the end of 2020 with a valuation of $2.5 billion. Desktop Metal’s recent acquisitions include Adaptive 3D for elastomer and rubber materials and EnvisionTEC for photopolymer printers. Within this industry, there are several metal additive manufacturing technologies emerging, including Binder Jet. Binder Jet is a technology that Desktop Metal has implemented in their Shop and Production Systems, since the printers use laserjet printing heads which can be found in paper printers around the globe, the systems can produce parts up to 100 times [...]