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Automated electrode design on show

A Delcam product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 11, 2005

Delcam will demonstrate its latest developments in automated electrode design and five-axis machining at the Agie-Charmilles Machin 2005 exhibition.

Delcam will demonstrate its latest developments in automated electrode design and in five-axis machining at the Agie-Charmilles Machin 2005 advanced manufacturing and machine tool technology exhibition to be held at the company's new Coventry premises from 19th to 21st April.

Delcam's PS-Electrode software allows electrode designs to be generated more rapidly, so reducing costs and delivery times.

Users can quickly and easily define the region where the electrode will be needed, create the shape needed to produce the required feature in the tool, extend these surfaces to provide clearance from the main surface of the tool, and blend them into the shape needed to fix the electrode into its holder.

Close integration with Delcam's PowerShape CAD program gives the user full control over the design process at any point where he is unhappy with the result of the automatic operation.

Once the electrode design has been completed, set-up sheets for both its manufacture and its use can be produced automatically to a standard or a user-defined template.

The finished design can then be exported to Delcam's PowerMill CAM system for machining.

In addition, programming instructions can be supplied directly to control systems used by both Agie and Charmilles equipment, so eliminating time-consuming and potentially error-prone manual programming.

The benefits of five-axis programming with PowerMill will be demonstrated on Mikron's new high-speed, five-axis machine, the UCP 600 Vario.

The extensive range of strategies within the software includes machining through a point or to a point, or to or from a line; programming using a reference surface; swarf machining; and five-axis trimming, pocketing and drilling.

For all the options, PowerMill makes five-axis programming much easier than is possible with the more complicated software traditionally used by the large corporations in the aerospace and automotive industries.

The software also includes a powerful range of editing options to ensure that the most efficient possible toolpaths are produced.

This combination of flexibility and ease of use has enabled it to be used successfully in a wide variety of applications, including the manufacture of complex blades, blisks and structures by smaller aerospace subcontractors, port machining and composite trimming by autosport companies, and the engraving of bottle moulds in the packaging industry.

For companies that are new to five-axis machining, PowerMill incorporates many safety features to ensure that even complex operations can be programmed without any risk of gouging, either during cutting moves or during the leads and links.

For example, five-axis collision checking is automatically undertaken for the tool holder as well as for the cutter, while contact point analysis allows the user to ensure that only the cutting surface touches the component.

Furthermore, the machine simulation option for PowerMill includes collision checking between the various parts of the machine tool and the model, and also ensures that the machine does not attempt to move outside its operating limits.

An important advantage of five-axis machining with PowerMill is that the software works with the full range of different cutting tools, including end mills, tapered tools, and ball-nose, tipped-radius and off-centre, tipped-radius cutters.

Many of the other systems currently available are limited to using only ball nosed and end mill cutters, which are not always the most efficient.

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Other Delcam stories

Contact Delcam
  • Software speeds mouldmaking in Shanghai
    Leading Chinese automotive component supplier Yangfeng Visteon has increased its investment in Delcam software for its mouldmaking operations in Shanghai.
  • Link completes electrode design automation
    Delcam has made its PS-Electrode software for the design of electrodes even easier to use by providing a direct link to the CT Millennium control for Charmilles EDM equipment.
  • Electrode design software adds simulation
    The latest version of the PS-Electrode automated electrode design system offers an even wider range of customisation options and the ability to simulate the action of the electrode.
  • More customisation for electrode design software
    Delcam will preview the forthcoming release of its automated electrode design system, PS-Electrode, at the Euromold exhibition to be held in Frankfurt from 1st to 4th December 2004.
  • Automated electrode design on show
    Delcam will show the latest developments in automated electrode design with its PS-Electrode software at an Agie-Charmilles Open House at the company's new Coventry premises on 19th-21st October.

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