Solid edge mid-point snap

Here's a handy little extra that available in the new V34: mid-point snap on surface edges! In the past, only the beginning and ends of the surface edge would provide snap points. This was perfect in most cases, but occasionally the mid-point would be needed. Without the snap point, you would need to do a little extra work to extract the edge from the surface and use the center of the resulting line. Now, with the mid-point available its easier than ever to snap geometry right where you need it.

Old snap points

New snap points

New snap points

Join to closest snap point

The Line and Line Continuous functions now offer a check box to control whether the line snaps to the pointer location on the highlighted entity, or whether it snaps to the closest snap point on the entity. Originally these functions automatically snapped to the closest snap point but due to customer requests we updated them to snap to the pointer location instead. Once this was updated though, we had many customer requests to put it back just like it was. So, in this version we're making both sides happy with an easy way to switch between the two options directly in the dialog!

Join to closest snap point

Join to closest snap point

Project Curves: Curves on Curves

The Project Curves function is now capable of projecting separate curves together to create geometry! The project curves function has always been a handy way to create additional geometry by projecting curves, but until now the only thing to project to has been previously created surfaces. In some cases, these surfaces don't exist, which meant you had to take the time to create them prior to projecting the curves. With the new Curves on Curves option, this is all done for you in the background! Simply select the first curves, select the second curves, set the directions, and click OK. BobCAD does all the work for you.

Select first curves

Select second curves

Preview shown

Geometry created

Project Curves: Direction

The Project Curves function now allows you to determine which way the projection occurs with the new Direction option! In the past, the projection always occurred along the Z direction of the active UCS. This made sense, but it meant you sometimes had to update the UCS or even create new ones to get the intended result. Now you can control the direction directly in the Project Curves dialog without needing to adjust your UCS.

Direction: Along Z

Direction: Pick

Diameter text field

BobCAD-CAM V34 now offers a text field for Diameter in many of the CAD functions! In the past, these geometry creation dialogs only offered Radius. This wasn't a big problem since the text fields are also calculators. Though, it did mean that if someone were thinking about the diameter and could only enter radius, they would need to also type "/2" after entering the proper diameter so BobCAD could calculate the proper radius for them. But you asked for it, we heard you, and in this version that diameter text field is there waiting for whenever you might need it!

Layer Manager Updates

The Layer Manager now has a bunch of handy new options to make organization a breeze:

• Groups
• Modify to Current Layer
• Show only this Layer
• Select Layer Geometry

When we added Group folders to our CAM Tree, customers were ecstatic! Finally, you could use folders, and subfolders to help organize your tree quickly and easily. Now, with our new BobCAD-CAM V34 release we offer those same Groups, and even more to the Layer manager! The Modify to current layer option has been added to the quick access menu of the Layer Manager to quickly move selected items to the active later. You can now right-click on a specific layer to automatically select all geometry at once. And a brand-new feature allows you to right-click a layer and select Show only this layer to automatically hide all other layers.

Solid Chamfer Width

The Solid Chamfer function has been updated to include an option for defining the chamfer by the intended width. In the past the value entered in the Solid Chamfer function has always been Length which, as shown in the image below, is the hypotenuse. Since, in some cases, this is not a known value we have added the Width option to make the chamfer creation even easier!

Chamfer Width

Chamfer Length

Silhouette

The new Silhouette feature allows you to get the overall outline of the part as if it were flattened onto a two-dimensional plane. Getting the outline of a part can be difficult to outright impossible, especially in the case of an STL file. In the past, getting an intersection of curves with an intersecting plane, as seen in the image below, can fail to provide enough to create a proper outline.

Using the Project to Z Plane option in the Extract Edges function is useful, but produces curves for every selected edge, and it can take a while to manually whittle down to the desired geometry.

With the new Silhouette function, just select the geometry, set the direction, adjust options as needed and click OK. All the work is done for you! It even works with STL models!

Selection Manager

The new Selection Manager allows you select any number of entities and save them as a single selectable item so that you can select every one of them with a single click in the future. With each new version, BobCAD-CAM gets easier and easier to use, but no matter how easy, geometry selection can still take time. When many entities need to be selected, zooming, rotating, and panning the model to select the required geometry takes time. With the new Selection Manager though, there's no reason to spend a lot of time selecting the same geometry twice, ever! Simply pick your geometry and save your geometry as a Selection. Next time the same geometry needs to be selected, just give it a quick click in the Selection Manager and it’s all selected at once!

Select all desired entities

Save Selection

Single-click selection from now on!

Extract Isocurve

New to BobCAD-CAM V34 is the ability to extract isocurves from surfaces automatically. Now you can get wireframe geometry curves right from the information stored within the surface data! With the new Extract Isocurve feature, simply select the surface and set values for the U and V directions. You can even use your mouse in the graphics area to select the location for the curves to be created!

Solids / Surfaces

Selected surfaces

Geometry created

 

This function also gives you the ability to trim the isocurves being created or extend them to the extent of the surface in its untrimmed state. Notice the original size of the surface in the images below. The Trim Isocurves option gives you control over how the curves should be trimmed.

Surface / Wireframe

Trimmed surface

Trim Isocurves

Trim Isocurves

Mill Express

This new version has updated the user interface to allow the spindle direction to be updated with radio buttons in the tool page. While changing the spindle direction has always been possible be setting a negative Spindle RPM value, we have updated this version to make it intuitive and obvious for new users. With the new Spindle Direction radio buttons, a simple click is all you need to switch between clockwise and counterclockwise spindle directions.

Keeping your work offsets straight has never been easier with the new pop-up dialogs! Whether you're updating the work offset of your machine setup, or pasting features between setups, you always want to make sure you'll be posting out the proper work offsets for all your features. When you’re updating the machine setup, this meant having to go through each feature to update it as needed. When pasting a feature into another setup, it meant being sure to remember to update that feature as needed. With the dialogs, this is done for you automatically! When updating the machine setup, the Update Work Offset Number dialog appears allowing you to clear any features you do not want to update. Simply click OK and you're done. When pasting a feature into a machine setup with a different work offset, a dialog appears offering to update the feature automatically!

Updating the Machine Setup Work Offset

Pasting a Feature

The brand new Detect open edge option allows you to control how open edges on selected surface geometry are handled. In the past, features would create toolpath which brought the tool up to the edge without going over whether the geometry had open edges or not. In order to move the tool over open edges, wireframe geometry had to be created and selected to guide the tool over edges. Now, with the new Detect Open Edges option in the Mill 2 Axis Feature Geometry Picking dialog, simply select the check box to get the tool to move over the open edges, or keep it cleared to keep the tool from crossing those edges. Just another option to save you even more time!

Detect Open Edges

Detect Open Edges

The direction the hole will be drilled is now displayed in the workspace when using Standard Drill and Cross Drill. While we have shown the direction for Multiaxis Drill holes for some time now, the other methods have not shown direction. In order to add a little consistency between all of the drill hole methods, the direction of the drill hole is now shown in the workspace for all types.

Standard Drill

Cross Drill

Multiaxis Drill

Mill 3 Axis Premium

The new Deburring operation allows you to automatically create toolpath to trim complex edges or apply chamfers/fillets to the edges of your parts. For all machined parts, sharp edges must be dealt with. The burrs on sharp edges are a safety issue for the machinists working on them and can even affect the functionality of the part. While taking care of these edges on basic 2-3 axis parts is fairly simple, selecting each individual edge can be time consuming! The new Deburring operation makes this vital step of the machining process a breeze with automatic feature detection, automatic linking, automatic lead in and even automatic collision detection! Simply select your tool, select your geometry, and let us do the rest!

A part with this many edges would normally be a nightmare to deburr, but by just selecting the entire model, BobCAD-CAM V34 gives you all the toolpath you need! The Deburr operation will even do undercuts automatically when a capable tool is selected for the operation!

Mill 4 Axis Pro

The new Turn Milling operation combines turning with milling tools to power through materials in record time! In many cases turning operations are applied to the stock to remove material as quickly as possible. The only issue with turning material down quickly is when the chips don't break properly and form large piles against the part called bird nests. These can be dangerous to the part finish, tool, and the machinist. The Turn Milling toolpath can be a super-efficient way to remove a lot of material on your 4 or 5 axis milling machines or your Mill Turn machines! By combining the efficiency of turning with the chip slinging power of an endmill, you can have the best of both worlds and power through material quicker than ever without having to worry.

The new Deburring operation allows you to automatically create toolpath to trim complex edges or apply chamfers/fillets to the edges of your parts. For all machined parts, sharp edges must be dealt with. The burrs on sharp edges are a safety issue for the machinists working on them and can even affect the functionality of the part. While taking care of these edges on basic 2-3 axis parts is simple, creating a trimming path on complex multiaxis geometries can often take just as long as programming the entire part! The new Deburring operation makes this vital step of the machining process a breeze with automatic feature detection, automatic linking, automatic lead in and even automatic collision detection! Simply select your tool, select your geometry, and let us do the rest!

A part with this many edges would normally be a nightmare to deburr, but by just selecting the entire model, BobCAD-CAM V34 gives you all the toolpath you need! The Deburr operation will even do undercuts automatically when a capable tool is selected for the operation!

Mill 5 Axis Standard

BobCAD-CAM now allows you to convert your 3 axis toolpaths to 5 axis motion in order to use short, rigid tools in areas that could not be reached with a 3 axis move without gouging. In machining, tool deflection can spell disaster for part precision. One sure-fire way to avoid that is with tools that are as short as possible, but this can be impossible in some areas unless you can tilt into those hard-to-reach spots with multiaxis movements. With 3 to 5 Axis Conversion, you can quickly and easily turn your standard Mill 3 Axis Pro operations into robust 5 axis solutions to keep the precision you need while keeping programming at record low times!

In the image, you can see the arbor is colliding with the model and would not be able to cut that area if a 3 Axis gouge check were used.

By switching to 5 Axis, we can use a gouge check and have it tilt the tool to avoid collisions!

Mill 5 Axis Pro

The new multiaxis machining patterns bring the power and speed of the Multiaxis Roughing to finishing! The multiaxis roughing was a revolution in roughing multiaxis parts quickly and easily, but until now a similar solution for finishing did not exist. Generalized toolpath operations have all the settings you could possibly need, so they can be utilized in a wide range of situations. These generalized toolpaths could be applied to the floors and walls of multiaxis parts, but with all those settings they were not designed for ease and simplicity. This meant it could take a bit of toying with all the various options to get the desired result. Now BobCAD-CAM makes it quick and easy to get your floors and walls done with minimal input with these specialized toolpaths:

This path was designed to finish the floors of multiaxis parts. Pick your geometry and let us do the heavy lifting.

This path was designed to finish the walls of multiaxis parts. Pick your geometry and let us do the heavy lifting.

The new Deburring operation allows you to automatically create toolpath to trim complex edges or apply chamfers/fillets to the edges of your parts. For all machined parts, sharp edges must be dealt with. The burrs on sharp edges are a safety issue for the machinists working on them and can even affect the functionality of the part. While taking care of these edges on basic 2-3 axis parts is simple, creating a trimming path on complex multiaxis geometries can often take just as long as programming the entire part! The new Deburring operation makes this vital step of the machining process a breeze with automatic feature detection, automatic linking, automatic lead in and even automatic collision detection! Simply select your tool, select your geometry, and let us do the rest!

Mill 5 Axis Premium

The new Port Machining operation from BobCAD-CAM allows you to machine complex interior geometries with ease and precision. This is a must have for those in the industry! Applying toolpath to curved interior surfaces has always been possible, but it's also been a sure-fire way to test your patience and lose a lose a lot of hair in the process. Spending hours jumping back and forth between tweaking parameters and double checking the simulation to find the necessary combination of settings and values is a thing of the past! This toolpath is specifically designed to handle these geometries with the bare minimum input from the user. Port machining allows you to select the tool, the machining surfaces, and a few check surfaces to get the results you had to struggle so hard for in the past.

The new Multiblade operation allows you to create toolpath on multibladed parts faster than ever before. There's a reason impellers and blisks are used to showcase the multiaxis ability of CAM systems: Multiblade parts can be found everywhere from vacuums to aircraft and have always been the most challenging 5 axis parts to cut. Having to control everything aspect of tool movement on such complex parts requires intimate knowledge of the possible settings and hours of programming. The Multiblade operation has four patterns which are specifically designed to handle a particular aspect of the part. Roughing, Blade finishing, Hub finishing, and Fillet finishing are each designed to create optimum toolpath with very little input from the user. Use the Multiblade operation to flatten the learning curve and turn your hours of programming into minutes!

BobCAD-CAM now gives the Advanced Rough operation the power to automatically create index systems to tackle your roughing from multiple planes in the same operation. This allows you to use short, rigid tools in areas that could not be reached with a 3 axis move without gouging. In machining, tool deflection can spell disaster for part precision. One sure-fire way to avoid that is with tools that are as short as possible, but this can be impossible in some areas unless you can tilt into those hard-to-reach spots with multiaxis movements. With Auto 3+2 Roughing, you can quickly and easily turn your standard Mill 3 Axis Advanced Rough operation into robust 5 axis solutions to keep the precision you need while keeping programming at record low times! Choose your level of control with:

• Automatic - allows you to set a search angle increment, a maximum amount of stock to leave, and a maximum tilt range. We'll do the rest.
• Semi-automatic - allows you to do the same thing, but also allows you to specify a preferred direction of approach.
• Manual - allows you to take complete control and specify each allowable direction of machining.

Whether you want to pick each of the axis manually as seen below, pick a preferred direction, or just let BobCAD do the work for you, 3+2 Roughing can revolutionize your part programming.

The new multiaxis machining patterns bring the power and speed of the Multiaxis Roughing to finishing! The multiaxis roughing was a revolution in roughing multiaxis parts quickly and easily, but until now a similar solution for finishing did not exist. Generalized toolpath operations have all the settings you could possibly need so they can be utilized in a wide range of situations. These generalized toolpaths could be applied to the floors and walls of multiaxis parts, but with all those settings they were not designed for ease and simplicity. This meant it could take a bit of toying with all the various options to get the desired result. Now BobCAD-CAM makes it quick and easy to get your floors and walls done with minimal input with these specialized toolpaths:

This path was designed to finish the floors of multiaxis parts. Pick your geometry and let us do the heavy lifting.

The new multiaxis machining patterns bring the power and speed of the Multiaxis Roughing to finishing! The multiaxis roughing was a revolution in roughing multiaxis parts quickly and easily, but until now a similar solution for finishing did not exist. Generalized toolpath operations have all the settings you could possibly need so they can be utilized in a wide range of situations. These generalized toolpaths could be applied to the floors and walls of multiaxis parts, but with all those settings they were not designed for ease and simplicity. This meant it could take a bit of toying with all the various options to get the desired result. Now BobCAD-CAM makes it quick and easy to get your floors and walls done with minimal input with these specialized toolpaths:

This path was designed to finish the floors of multiaxis parts. Pick your geometry and let us do the heavy lifting.

This path was designed to finish the walls of multiaxis parts. Pick your geometry and let us do the heavy lifting.